Kirkpatrick-Harris-Kirkpatrick-Harris-Norwich 1977

Sue Harris is an English

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

classically trained as an

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

ist, but best known for her

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

performances with the

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

Biography

Harris is fluent in reading and writing music and switched from her original instrument, the

, to the

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

in the mid-1970s. In making that switch, she became one of the foremost performers on that folk instrument, though at the time it seemed just a matter of expediency. She was married to John Kirkpatrick, a prominent melodeon virtuoso in England. On getting pregnant with their first son, she found herself unable to maintain the breath control needed to play the oboe. She performed on both instruments with the Albion Country Band on their debut album '' Battle of the Field'' (1976), and also recorded and performed as one half of a duet with Kirkpatrick. Harris has also performed with

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

and Linda Thompson, and has been a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on various broadcast plays, as well as for live

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

. She is also a singer and has written music for choral groups. More recently, in 2008 she was leader of the "Wild Angels Community Choir" in

Welshpool Welshpool ( ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, historically in the Historic counties of Wales, county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn. The c ...

, Powys, Wales. Following the World Dulcimer Congress held in

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern (, locally also: ) is a spa town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is ...

in 2015, Harris formed the English Dulcimer Duo with Lisa Warburton. The duo has toured extensively, performing a repertoire of English and Welsh tunes.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Hammers and Tongues'' (Free Reed Records FRR 020, 1978) * ''Pastorela'' (Beautiful Jo Records, 2002)

Albion Country Band

*'' Battle of the Field'' (

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

, 1973)

The English Country Blues Band

* ''No Rules'' (1982) * ''Unruly'' (2014)

John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris

* ''The Rose of Britain's Isle'' (1974) * ''The Bold Navigators'' (with Jon Raven) (1975) * ''Plain Capers - Morris Dance Tunes From the Cotswolds'' (1976) * ''Among The Many Attractions at the Show will be a Really High Class Band'' (1976) * ''The English Canals Songs, Narration, Contemporary Extracts'' (with Jon Raven) (1976) * ''Shreds and Patches'' (1977) * ''Facing the Music'' (1980) * ''Ballad Of The Black Country'' (1981) * ''Stolen Ground'' (1989) In 2009

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken ...

included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a pa ...

'' ''The Rose Of Britain’s Isle / Glorishears '' from ''The Rose Of Britain’s Isle'' as track thirteen on the second CD.

Martin Wyndham-Read, Sue Harris and Martin Carthy

* ''The Old Songs'' (1984) * ''Across The Line'' (1986)

Various artists – Sue Harris, Old Swan Band et al.

* ''This Label is Not Removable'' (2007)https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/thislabelisnotremovable.html

Tufty Swift

* ''Hammers, Tongues And A Bakewell Tart'' (2007) (CD reissue of ''Hammers and Tongues'')

References

External links

PastorelaChoir leader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Sue Living people English folk singers English folk rock musicians English composers Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) The Albion Band members Topic Records artists