Stuart Ironside

What a special evening this was…loved being able to present the new album “Music from Somewhere Else: The Wildlands” in such a beautiful space with such a wonderful audience!

It’s been one week since release, and now this project has presented itself to the world in full. What a ride it’s been, if only I could write better words about it…all I have to say is a big mega aitäh!

Thanks to for sound, and for the opportunity to present, and for creating such an ethereal atmosphere - it was a delight!

🎥

With the album now a few months old, I’m listening back to the recordings and reliving the life cycle of these tracks

I wanted to take a second to highlight this one in particular, a beautiful Mandé song called ‘Soninké’ taught to me by . It’s one of the most complex songs of the tradition I play, and was one of the earliest arrangements I created from scratch. I’ve played this with so many people in the years since I learned it, and I’ve tried to absorb all of this knowledge and experience and create a guitar arrangement that fit all of the grooves, solos and melodies into one song.

But when we came to record it with , something felt…off. It was too all too much; the noise outside, the cold in my fingers, the feeling of ‘sweating and suffering without being useful’ (to rephrase something said to me once almost ten years ago in passing that has been living in my head rent-free since).

This take, the fourth and final, was the labour of me stripping away my ego and trying to get to the bones of the song. It was far from my favourite at the time, but now I think it’s up there! Sometimes, a step back from all your knowledge can be good!

What’s your favourite track from the album?