Carolyn is a well known for her research, performance and teaching of Cumbrian fiddle and border bagpipe tunes.
She has played almost 1000 gigs with Lakeland Roots band “Striding Edge Band ” (http://www.striding-edge.org.) since 1996, and formed the community band “The Lakeland Fiddlers” in 1998.
She is currently consolidating her 24 years of work with the “Lakeland Fiddlers” through developing a solo show of tunes, poems and songs using a loop pedal to layer harmonies and textures, so creating a soundscape reflective of this environment we know, love, and work, within.
Her fiddle style is unique; energetic and focused, with plentiful use of double-stopping (ringing strings) and ornamentation, developed over almost 50 years of playing various authentic traditional styles.
Her repertoire is also unique, focussing for the last 25 years on the tunes composed by the Lakeland Fiddlers of the 18th and 19th centuries, who jotted their tunes into manuscript books, as well as her own self-composed tunes.
Her composition “Cissy Middleton of Gawthrop” will be published by Faber in March 2023 in “Tunes from the Women”, a compilation of 100 tunes made by women, chosen by and compiled by Kathryn Tickell.
CONTACT CAROLYN
carolynfrancis1958@icloud.com
