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The Silkie of Sule Skerry

by Chloe Matharu

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about

Here is an electronic soundscape including field recordings of seal song, waves, seaspray, and electronic elements to create an awe inspiring backdrop to the ethereal nature of the voice and harp. The Silkie of Sule Skerry is a traditional Orcadian ballad, in Scots, that tells the tale of a seal that can take on the form of a man. He returns for his human raised son after seven years so they can both return to the sea as seals, only to be shot by a hunter.

lyrics

In Norway land there lived a maid
'Hush, baloo' this maid began
'I know not where my bairn’s father is
By land or sea does he traivel in'

It happened on a certain day
When this fair maid lay fast asleep
That in came a guid grey silkie
And sat him doon at her bed feet

'Awak, awak ma fair pretty maid
For oh how sound as thou dost sleep
I’ll tell thee whaur yer bairn’s faither is
He’s lyin close at your bed feet'

'I am a man upon the land
I am a silkie in the sea
And when I’m far from every strand
My dwellin ‘tis on Sule Skerry'

And ye’ll nurse ma little wee son
For seiven lang years upon yer knee
And at the end o seiven lang years
I’ll come back again wi white money

An he ye’ll wed a gunner guid
An a gey guid gunner it will be
And he’ll gae oot on a May morning
He’ll shoot your son and the grey silkie'

And she has wed a gunner guid
A a gey guid gunner it was he
And he went oot on a May morning
He shot the son and the grey silkie

'Alas, alas this woeful fate
This weary fate that’s been laid on me'
She sobbed and sighed and bitter cried
Her tender hert did brak in three.

credits

released July 28, 2023
Trad Arr. Chloe Matharu
Harp and Voice Chloe Matharu
Recording, Production and Mixing Tomekeeper Productions
Mastering Nick Robbins

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Chloe Matharu Scotland, UK

"Her music is truly haunting" BBC Radio Scotland

Chloe is a multi Award winning singer songwriter and harpist on the West Coast of Scotland. Her songs are inspired by her time at sea as a Navigational Officer in the Merchant Navy and the natural world, as experienced from sea. Through music she lends a voice to the modern day seafarer. ... more

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