When Anne Wood visited Pakistan to meet the father she had never known, the experience opened up another world that stayed with her. More than thirty years later, the renowned Scottish violinist tells her story in When Mountains Meet, a cross-cultural hybrid of storytelling and song that bridges continents and musical styles. Told as a conversation between Scottish and South-Asian music, a vibrant live score composed by Wood combines alap, raag, reel and strathspey, with vocals performed in a mix of English, Gaelic and Hindustani to tell Wood’s deeply personal story.
When Wood first wrote to her father, ‘He didn’t know I had been born, but replied quickly to my tentative letter introducing myself, completely accepting me into his life as we developed a fiery but loving father-daughter relationship.’
Wood’s musical pedigree stems from her Sutherland roots, and as a founder member of folk/jazz fusion group, The Cauld Blast Orchestra up to her current tenure as a member of ‘godmothers of grunge’, The Raincoats. Inbetween, Wood has worked with the likes of Michael Marra, Elvis Costello and Massive Attack, and played on the score of Stanley Kubrick’s film, Eyes Wide Shut.
For When Mountains Meet, Wood co-opted harpist Mary MacMaster, percussionist Rick Wilson and sitar player Rakae Jamil to accompany storytellers Iman Aktar, Hassan Javed and Jamie Zubari.
‘The show’s inspiration came from my search for identity, belonging and connection with a land very different to my own, and a father I had never met but who never felt like a stranger.’
When Mountains Meet, The Studio, Edinburgh, 25-26 April, then on tour until 28 May.
The List, May 2024
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