From Orkney to Glasgow with trad musician Graham Rorie
Graham is an award-winning folk musician based in Glasgow.
Nominated for ‘Musician of The Year’ at the 2023 Scots Trad Music Awards and a finalist in the 2021 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Graham has been making a name for himself as a performer, composer, session musician and producer since he graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Traditional Music Degree.
“There's, there's lots of different versions of Scotland that I've experienced because I grew up in the Orkney Islands and been living in Glasgow for almost 10 years so very much had the city side and the island life too but I think a spring morning in Orkney is very hard to beat as long as the fog's not come in overnight.
There's something about it, just a little bit of a sea breeze and this time of year, late April, early May, you can just feel it in the air, probably related to having had a really long winter and you're starting to feel that change and everybody's got a bit of positivity about them.
Because there's over 70 islands in Orkney, there's 20 of them inhabited probably, I would start my day probably at my parents house on the island of South Ronaldsay.
I get back there a lot. They get the sea out of three sides of the house and then the hill at the back so you can take in all that it's got to offer from that spot.
I’ll start me day at the kitchen window, if I was being exact.
I think it was really healthy to go away from Orkney to fully appreciate it now after that time of passing, because it's a tricky place to be like 18, 19, finishing high school and there's just less to do.
But you appreciate the quality of that. After going away but I think most of it was just excitement. Initially you're going to the big city and a lot of people struggle with it because it's so different and you're so used to the sea and being outside and then you've got the River Clyde and that's as close as you're getting but because they're almost polar opposites I found it really easy to not make any comparisons and just have the two different entities.
You'd kind of have your city time and then when you needed a break, make the trip home and have a rest. I like having the balance of the two, you can't really compare them because they're so different.
Glasgow, the music scene for any genre is pretty incredible. It's a really high standard of playing and singing. So it's a really lovely place to go and play and learn and people are really receptive to it as well, which is always quite nice.”
Graham’s perfect day:
Where: Orkney Isles, including visits to Old Man of Hoy, Lochinver, Fruitmarket in Glasgow,
Food and drink: Coffee from Spitfire in Glasgow, venison pie from Lochinver Larder, anything produced on Orkney, including Orkney Fudge Cheesecake, a homemade sticky toffee pudding
Music: sessions at the Fruitmarket, the Orkney Folk Festival
