Julie Fowlis - The Making of 'alterum'

Julie Fowlis ‘In conversation’
Subscribe to the channel: / @juliefowlismusic
A short film with Julie, discussing the inspiration and the workings behind her acclaimed album ‘alterum’. A chat about the songs and the landscape, those feathers and that Texan wedding dress.
A film by Craig Mackay, Pictii. Sincere thanks to Alistair Ferguson and Steve Mochrie.
► Website: www.juliefowlis.com/
► Facebook: / juliefowlis
► Twitter: / juliefowlis
► Instagram: / juliefowlis

[@TheSeeking2know]

I am from Nigeria and always appreciate seeing present-day musicians from different parts of the world go back to study and revisit the past with respect and replicare it with the skill of modern scholarship and training.

[@hussam2271982]

I am an Arab from the country of Iraq, but what made me follow you is your strange and beautiful language. I hope to activate the translation so that I can understand the meanings of the lyrics of the songs in your songs. I wish you success in life.

[@timothylocklear9885]

It is indeed a beautiful tongue. I am learning it :)

[@philiplevins6702]

أخي السلام

[@edainofarnor5026]

She is as an artist, a pure light that shines in this rotten world of music we live nowadays. Thank you Julie!

[@Chris-tt5cc]

I'm so happy to see the ancient culture and language of my people represented so perfectly in your work. The beauty you have created it certainly otherworldly and the gods surely smile upon you.

[@benwrong6855]

It is a very powerful piece of music, pure nature!

[@Valhalla88888]

Julie you are a National Treasure greetings from Hong Kong 🇭🇰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@mackadoo25]

I am a beginner/intermediate Gàidhlig speaker in America. I grew up hearing and sometimes speaking many other languages but the Gaelic language has by far come to me the easiest; and I have no one to speak it with! Ali's foreword gave me chills. I felt seen by her words as I also feel the language echo in my bones. It's really a spectacular feeling to feel so apart of something that is really so unknown to me. Listening and singing songs in other languages has always been my favorite way to learn, so tapadh leat for making my learning so beautiful, Julie!

[@barrybignut7416]

It angers me that angels like Julie are not the role models promoted to our youth but the degenerate modern sleazy popstar image is forced upon our youth. We lack connection to our heritage and culture not by accident, we have a fight on our hands to preserve it. Julie thank you for your music it speaks to my soul and I am now taking up gaelic lesson to learn my native language.

[@scrimmy45]

Very well said.

[@stephendouglas4870]

Absolutely.

[@gideonstupke2257]

I'm quite young, at 22, and have never liked modern music. Julie Fowlis is one of the only modern artists that I listen to. Her music helps me escape to another world.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Ah - role model fetischism :P

[@AaronApanui]

I agree. Modern pop music is terrible and doesn't spread a good message, and pop singers themselves are a very bad influence on young people. They encourage indiscriminate sex, drug use, excessive alcohol consumption, and a morally questionable lifestyle fueled by material greed and financial gain. Pop singers are also some of nastiest people on earth, who often abuse their fans and treat them like crap. Folk music is deeply rooted in culture, language, and heritage, and it continues to stand the test of time. I'm surprised pop isn't an extinct genre.

[@olee5341]

Dear Mrs Fowlis, you achieved something amazing many people never will: You made people from all over the world enjoy scottish and irish folk music. And not only that - your special way of performing the music. I live in Germany but a smaller part of my family lives in Oban. Everytime I am sitting and watching Isle of Mull I listen to your songs. I hope you will go on for many many years and will share all this light in dark times like these.

[@kaitiebekah8837]

I have been learning Scottish Gaelic to connect with my roots. My blood is from the Scottish highlands so this music is very comforting. And like Julie said it's calling me home. You're amazing Julie. Your music is more important than you know.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Nah but the Highlanders aren’t calling for you.

[@daryllawrick976]

Wow! 100% Those precious aged songs when broken down, given space and an open atmosphere gives voice to our ancient culture. I hear our ancestors screaming to us from the past. (2 of my ancestors disappeared at Culloden) Add Julie’s voice and there is no comparison anywhere in music. She is a world heritage treasure. Period.

[@leaf4958]

I love the imagery and the music together. It's perfect.

[@3jdni]

I too feel like I am home when I hear the music, the magic, the language. I feel I almost belong in the Highlands with the faeries...

[@minina3425]

I have Celtic roots from Northern Spain. Gaelic is not mine per se, I’m not Scottish or Irish, but when I listen to it, spoken or in song, even though it’s not mine, it still feels like it is my own. Not my culture but in a way, my culture. I feel a huge sense of identification. Music is truly universal and a marvelous unifier.

[@Mairiain]

I'm grateful for this music. Thank you for keeping the world of our ancestors alive!

[@mariaterezapimenta2237]

Sou brasileira e logo.no RIo de Janeiro. Não domino o inglês, por isso escrevo em português, mas adoro a Escocia, sua história é suas cidades. Foi emocionante conhecê-las. Gosto muito de suas músicas e de ouvir vc cantar em gaélico.

[@bocceball63]

You are a true treasure....thank you for sharing the Gaelic culture with all of us. I can’t wait to hear more great music from you! I’m a fan for life.....you are amazing!

[@happycamper5012]

"I don't like to think that what I do as having any great importance" Oh, Julie... Your words couldn't be any further from the truth. You have touched so many of our hearts with your music. I know that I, for one, never understand a word of what you are singing in Gaelic, yet I love your music immensely!

[@daryllawrick976]

happy camper Absolutely her music and voice touches your soul. Amazing...

[@kengamble8595]

Within the span of a few short beats of my heart this music can take me to the joys of life, the grief of life, lived a thousand years ago, and still lived today ! If you are willing to give it a chance, the genetic memory of our ancestors will fill your soul ! THANK YOU !!!

[@daryllawrick976]

Ken Gamble So true. It’s soul shaking...

[@tdbsnr]

'We don't have to dumb the music down...' you most certainly don't, and mustn't ever do that. And the 'privilege' of speaking Gaelic, which connects us to a distant past (as you have mentioned before), is so important.

[@aufmischa]

this Album touches me deeply in my heart and soul.. i am a german but i feel a call to the north :-) when i hear galic i feel like home.. i dont understand it, but it sounds like i could understand. julie is a very wise woman. i love this interview

[@jgalt155]

Hello, being Scottish is a state of mind and heart, welcome to our global Clan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🤝 🇧🇷 .

[@jurgenbialla4258]

It's nice that the culture and language are passed on. This very emotional.

[@LaughingMan44]

Goes to show that blood, heritage, history and tradition are important. Not only are the various peoples in Europe losing their cultures and traditions, their people are in decline too. Very sad to see. I hope that one day people can find the love and connection for their peoples once again.

[@tonyd3266]

I figure we have helped over 1,000 Floridians hear and learn about Julie’s music and Scots Gaelic over the years, sometimes 10-15 at a time during the Highland games all over Florida. It sometimes takes shot of scotch to have them repeat a simple Scots Gaelic toast, but I’ve witnessed hundreds from all walks of life repeat the Scots - and every time it ingrains deeper and deeper in my soul and theirs. Each one an important step in their personal journey to a homeland they seek to find and try to imagine.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Yeah that because America is so individualistic that it does not have a uniting culture meaning that people latch on like starving rats for whatever culture they can find then have a dream of retiring to their “home” bro going a delightful culture with them.

[@jaantorv4991]

M Thankyou Ms. Fowlis for the marvelous insight to our Gaelic roots. I'm a Glaswegian and as a child heard many of the melodies sung by the older Scots - which is why, even though I have lived away from Scotland for many years, the music you make and songs you sing - resonate and dance in my head for hours. What a blessing - what mysteries it conjures - long live Gaelic story and song.

[@davidnollmusic363]

Yes, no need to understand Gaelic in order to love your music! It's so hauntingly beautiful!

[@antoonmeert2578]

Julie Fowlis learned me not to listen to but to love (folk) music as all great singers do what makes the difference with others.

[@richgouette]

Such a wonderful dialog from Julie. she is truly a Scottish National treasure, and I feel very blessed to have seen her in concert. My youngest will also be thrilled to hear a non Gaelic speaker in Julies music, as she can sing some of Julies music almost to perfection, yet not knowing the language.. It's an amazing thing to hear from so many online, who are so deeply touched by her music: who speak of a connection to something ancient, something very deep and strong and distant.. Who knows but perhaps our DNA can carry a trace or imprint of the far off, wild places once a part of our ancestry..?

[@theondebray]

How interesting. And yes, don't even think of dumbing anything down, in this present era, uplifting is needed. I so like how the Scottish trad musical culture is quite clear about the importance of both tradition and innovation, that culture is continuously evolving. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

[@yumi4440]

My dream is to live in a peaceful home where there were beautiful melodies as of the culture music you can hear in the highlands. But now, only I can see around is change... Polutions, turmoils, and others. I love Julie the way she tells stories by singing a song that brings me to the land what I dream.

[@neurofire]

I've only recently discovered Julie Fowlis - so glad I did. I'm Glasgow born and although raised on foreign shores from an early age, somehow, the Gaelic influence on me is profound. Can't explain it - it just is...and it's the music that opens up the avenues into those life-shaping childhood experiences and memories. I've been back to Scotland a few times (including a brief stay in Tiree) and feel like I've come home with each visit. Julie Fowlis is a joy to listen to - as are the artists who she attracts to perform alongside her. Like Gaelic culture - she too is powerful and unique.

[@zubermesfin1679]

Amazing voice, amazing language.

[@iaincaillte3356]

I am generations removed from the landscape and the language but I feel a closeness listening to your music. You are an inspiration for me to remedy that generational distance. Tapadh leibh!

[@richardmichael7523]

Your music takes me back to times which I only see and read about in the past. Many times I listen to it and cry peacefully despite not understanding a word. So, thank you for connecting me to something that is very far away

[@jassmouse6759]

9 minutes in the video you explain how Scottish people feel the loss of connection to the culture. I am 2nd generation Australian (i have NO blood connection to the land) however it is my home, it is also not my home. My blood is Scottish, English and Irish (however more Scottish and English) I grew up with Scottish surroundings with everything in my everyday life and I do feel that loss of connection even though I have never lived in Scotland and you are right it is one of the hardest feelings to describe to someone who is not of Celtic descent. From music to food to clothing, my childhood has been mostly Scottish influence and yet I can't speak the language and I feel disconnected even though I grew up with the "influence". my family are connected to the Forsyth clan and my great grandmother and grandfathers family are from Coalburn and Lesmahagow in South Lanarkshire :) (my family is also connected to one of the Kennedy family lines in Ireland... not sure what one :S still looking into that) I've never connected so much to music other than this album, thank you :)

[@1roanstephen]

Unfortunately, I cannot understand the lyrics of what you sing, but I feel them. Bless you for your work.

[@tahirsutube]

Very interesting video! I love your music and must buy your album!!!

[@judeross3875]

So grateful for sharing this. So incredibly healing for me and many others. When a language and culture is suppressed and taken from a people there does feel like an incredible ache and loss. I have started to reconnect with this beautiful language thank you so so much xx

[@MarcelGomesPan]

We have myths very similar to the Kelpie and Each Uisge in Scandinavia.One is "Bäckahästen" ( "the brook horse"), a water horse bahaving in a similar way and also "Näcken (Swedish), Nökken or "Fossegrim"(Norwiegian) "Nökke" (Danish ) often taking the shape of a naked man playing the violin, luring, usually women, into the water. We too make songs about our "version" of this spirit. Im gonna love this album to pieces!

[@bogscholar691]

Everything about this album is just gorgeous! The music and the visuals are absolutely stunning, it's really cool to see some behind the scenes content. Amazing work!

[@herning69]

I love your accent...

[@Beauferal]

Your music always moves me Julie and I guess it feels comfortable, like home to me too though I have not Gaelic either.

[@TheXitone]

Ciamar a tha thu ? {kimar a ha oo ?} How are you ? Tha mi gu math {ha mee goo ma} I'm good thanks . There you go for starters x

[@Beauferal]

@@TheXitone I've not been keeping up with my social media. Tapadh leat! X

[@piltdownman2151]

Your music brings tears to my eyes and a longing to come home. Everything I’ve ever heard from you tells my heart I’m truly missing something.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Ya know that the reason why this is because America doesn’t have a uniting culture and you have to latch on to anything that you can find it is really pathetic.

[@robinroberts2152]

Enjoying your music from Utah, US. Thank you for bringing my ancestry alive in me through your music and language. You are truly a gift to this world. I am visiting Scotland this summer for the first time and am so excited to connect with my roots. 💝🙏

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Yikes Americans really latch on to anything they get to their roots rather than have a united culture for a country their are individuals that latch on to culture which the modern people from wherever the American DNA is from don’t consider them as equals

[@peterjhillier7659]

Thank you Julie

[@rpfcreates4476]

Came from AC Valhalla, now a fan of the records!

[@davidmolloy126]

Hiya Julie, I love your work and it's so refreshing to see the Gaelic language alive and kicking. The feathers from a roadkill? It's a wonder your not still scratching!! xx😁🎶

[@TheSubtextQueen]

Lovely video very interesting to see your production of your newest album

[@joannapiontek206]

Julie ❤ Du bist außergewöhnlich. Mehr DAVON ❣️ GEHT DAS? 🎉

[@Nuala41]

Great stuff, love your music!

[@handsupfortrad]

This is fabulous

[@PhilipSalen]

fantastic interview; amazing songs; listening makes me want to learn gaelic

[@leftmono1016]

Stunning album. Just when I think it can’t get any better it does! We travel up from near Birmingham to Barra at least once a year and listening to your music instantly takes me back there. I wish I could understand the words as I’m sure the stories are fascinating but I guess that’s the entitlement of Gaelic speakers and will always be closed to me. But I’m fine with that, and it seems right.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Entitlement?

[@annmarietornabene]

After watching this video, I am compelled to leave some comments. First, I feel there is so much more to you wearing the feathers and dress for this body of work. There is a warrior here as well as what you said about the esoteric, other-wordly aspect and I think the combined concepts are so very strong and powerful. In addition, I want to share how I found your music. I am American with an Italian heritage. Oddly enough, perhaps, the Irish/Scottish and particularly the Gaelic language in song resonates within me so when you said that it speaks to all of the Scotts and Highlanders, I wonder if I am one of the few people not from the culture that feels this way? I don't speak or understand the language but what I feel when I listen IS the deep connection that is within your culture and I also feel the romantic aspect to it - a sense of isolation (maybe not the best word?) from the rest of the world or even, again, the mythic/mystic aspect to it. It's a special language that has been used in song for so long and as I am a lover of fairy-tales and research them at times for my own artwork, I feel that they are passed down in the same fashion. I love and adore this concept. In terms of the music, what resonates the most, though, I think, is when these words are put into music that has a bit of a contemporary feel. I don't know if it is your voice or the arrangements but almost all of the music that I have of yours, has this mix. I will stop there and say thank you so much for your wonderful gifts and your tremendous hard work that you put in in order to share this with the world. Much love and light to you. :)

[@annmarietornabene]

Thank you for your reply, Max and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Yes, it's very important to just connect with our hearts. Most definitely. And blessings to you from France, my new home. AnnMarie

[@djdarksidejungle559]

but in my house your a superstar i really like all your stuff julie and so do a lot of other people really good folk music

[@cycloptical26]

Love the album, love the album cover art!

[@drjohnkelliher6853]

~ I’ll finally get to listen to Alterum this afternoon.

[@stephenmcneil3014]

Fantastic music

[@ashleighk4052]

There’s not a lot connecting me to my Scottish heritage, all I have is gaelic music, and more specifically your music.❤️thank you

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Lol

[@SuperPeterpit]

Great lesson... Thank you for sharing... You probably forgot this juggling busker who met your man and daughters, in 2016, for the Heb celt... But... How to say it... Your're a lighthouse... A really important person of this IMPORTANT question: What will we do with ours inheritages....Thank you, Julie... :)

[@bw6138]

I wrote a Celtic type song called "Greenery", it has a Spring visual to it. I want to sing Gaelic on it as a tribute to my ancestors.

[@slavatyan3504]

Òran an ròin my favorite song in this album. Amazing artist =)

[@jasonpierce30]

Beautiful music

[@dubhlochan]

So why not come out to Edmonton folk festival, Alberta and tell us more. Duncan Chisholm will vouch that it’s a great venue!

[@AAMacKenzie]

What would it take to entice you to come and perform for all the Kiwis who love you down here in Aotearoa???

[@fatheroblivion45]

Interesting video. Thank you :)

[@djdarksidejungle559]

julie is brilliant

[@jasonlee3247]

Beautiful music and a beautiful lady. As a Yorkshireman I find it difficult to make a connection with the distant islands of Scotland, but it doesn’t matter as I enjoy the music, even if I don’t understand the words x

[@stevegrant913]

Tha seo dìreach àlainn, tapadh leibh gu mòr Julie.

[@bradleybohus4097]

Intelligent and wonderful album

[@luisolave5991]

podrias subir todas tus canciones seria genial, sobre todo Biodh an Deoch Seo 'n Làimh Mo Rùin. i love this song from chile

[@karimerrahmane4058]

Je cours acheter ce nouvel album.

[@dasreicht]

I'm from the UK, apparently that is interesting to this comment section.

[@djdarksidejungle559]

i am blown away by julies talent i am really blown away and are any of ya friends single and wat to jam julie man i am really blown away with gealic mucic and your friends

[@ethanphelps4562]

Go raibh míle maith agat I speak semi fluent Gaeilge but also feel a deep love and connection to Gàidhlig Thea is beautiful

[@johnanthonygonzales8714]

For some reason I prefer your Gaelic songs over the English versions, why I don't know, because I do not comprehend the Gaelic language, but somewhere inside of me I feel a connection. I was raised Spanish and then English in school. Even so Gaelic speaks to me. Haven't figured out why that is ...... Perhaps someday I will learn , and understand.

[@Murph_gaming]

Probably because you know English and are familiar with it while Gaelic is a mystery and thus appear as exotic to those of us who speak English.

[@ruggierot.7185]

I love you beautiful star

[@rollangrant8347]

✌️👋❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏

[@user-uv9zr8qs2c]

I would love to learn gaelic but its so hard and I have nobody to teach me,but first I think ill have to relearn my language

[@anndra8687]

I'm learning it now. I'd recommend taking a course, the are a lot of distance learning courses out there. Sabhal Mòr Ostaig does a lot of distance learning.

[@markcockerham646]

The app Duolingo offers Irish. It is a difficult language to learn, but it can be done.

[@zeebad17]

Gaelic with Jason on youtube is great, I'm from Aberdeen in Scotland local dialect is 'Doric' I'm Scottish learning Gaelic from a guy from Maine!

[@dennis12dec]

Scottish Gaelic is now on the Duolingo app, recently launched on St. Andrew's Day, go check it out and start learning, Slainté 😄.

[@snowcelt]

That connection and loss with our own language is also felt by irish people too. I speak better German and Finnish than Irish.

[@kelseakidd6041]

I want to learn scottish gaelic so bad, I want to help bring it back to life, to teach my children, and my grandchildren. But where does one even start?

[@anndra8687]

Take a wee course. There are a lot of distance learning options if there's nothing near you.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

It is not dead are you ignorant or stupid?

[@drjohnkelliher6853]

!

[@MaryChrisMaryCdiliapo]

〰〰Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ ♪💓

[@Khumry]

the british languages welsh irish scotts from the middlest 1000s years ago

[@bluerainbow956]

There is something very shamanic about this music. In Essex England we had a shamanic dancer named Keith Flint who is well known for writing a song about starting fires. He killed himself recently and its his funeral this Friday. I pray that he found his way to the other world.

[@MarcusBarnabassisSystersSonne]

I love your music. My family is from Scotland, and so your words and music are very meaningful to me. I am an Orthodox Christian, however, and I have noticed something missing from your beautiful art, words, music, talent, and Scottish pride (and recovery of Scottish culture). Orthodox Christian saints like Niamh Calum Cille are extremely ancient in Scotland (Iona) and so I was wondering if you have any songs about him. It was the Roman Catholics that decimated Scottish culture and forced Latin and then English, not the Orthodox like Saint Columba. Niamh Calum Cille retained Hibernian culture absolutely, only with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God made Flesh carried from place to place. I hope you call out the name of Jesus Christ. He will bring you the Light that is your birthright as a Christian. p.s.--I just found your song about Calum Cille!

[@hussam2271982]

I ask you to activate translation to remain languages ​​so that human beings can understand what it means to speak your song.

[@tdbsnr]

Its on the sleeve notes.

[@brendancarroll9376]

I’m sure I saw Donald Trump on the accordion 😃

[@leonaguayo3972]

Es una pena lo mal traducido que está este trabajo una tremenda falta de profesionalismo

[@robertdonnell8114]

I feel a deep sense of loss of not speaking Gaelic or Pictic. I do not even know what is lost, The songs, the folktales, the history It is just gone...

[@djdarksidejungle559]

but the live arts and touring its not their business so they don't care their business is bombs and security and ripping people off via the banks and debt not going to a music of the highlands festival and its sad to see how things have panned out like this but might be hope but even next yr lot of stuff going to be cancelled and the big festivals

[@yumi4440]

My dream is to live in a peaceful home where there were beautiful melodies as of the culture music you can hear in the highlands. But now, only I can see around is change... Polutions, turmoils, and others. I love Julie the way she tells stories by singing a song that brings me to the land what I dream.

[@Artur-hg1qg]

Well my Dream is that the people who have this dream really consider the locals as the raising house prices are not going to help the locals here especially when our jobs are not increasing not only that most of these people who have this dream want to be alone creating ghost towns and houses for locals that would help the economy rather than be a drag on it.