Track Listing

1. Wedding/Because He Was
2. Our Kate/The Welcome Home
3. In Dispraise Of Whisky/Swig Jig
4. Road To The North/Hanging Bridge/All At Sea
5. Return
6. Kilfenora/My Laddie Sits Ower Late Up
7. Dunstanburgh/Kathryn's Favourite
8. Magpie/Rothbury Road/Cold Shoulder
9. Hut On Staffen Island/Random
10. Stories From The Debateable Lands
11. Our Kate

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59906 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The "debateable lands" of the title are the border regions between England and Scotland, a territory whose ownership was long in dispute and which therefore became a refuge for notorious outlaws and border reivers. Kathryn Tickell was commissioned to write an extended instrumental piece on the subject, and the result is the nine-minute suite "Stories From The Debateable Lands." It's an impressive centrepiece to an album already overflowing with great music, both old and new, beautifully performed by Tickell and her band. Most of the tunes here have a cross-border theme, even if it's occasionally tenuous: such as the Irish tune popular with regulars at the Cumberland Arms in Byker!. As ever on her albums, Tickell's own compositions stand out, showing off the Northumbrian pipes at their finest (she's a fine fiddle-player, too). The final track, "Our Kate" (written by Tickell for Tyneside author Catherine Cookson), is performed as duet for Northumbrian and Uilleann pipes, making for a ravishing end to a superb album. A final bit of folk trivia: the tune "Random", attributed here to James Hill, is the same one used by Fairport Convention in their song "The Widow Of Westmorland's Daughter". --Mark Walker

CD Description
Kathryn Tickell is acknowledged as one of the principal players of the Northumbrian smallpipes, the quieter cousin of the Highland and uillean pipes. Tickell played piano from theage of six, took up the pipes at nine, and by 13 she was learning the Shetland fiddle style. She recorded her first album in 1984, the same year that the Lord Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne named her official piper (the first person to hold that title in over 150 years). Tickell specialises in traditional Northumbrian music, Scottish and Irish tunes, and contemporary compositions, including her own.
The 1999 album DEBATEABLE LANDS comprises a suite of 11 instrumental tunes and medleys inspired by the music and heritage of the BorderRegion. It opens with a dextrous hornpipe medley, followed by the stately "Our Kate", written for local writer Catherine Cookson. Moving through many moods the suite climaxes in the evocative medley "Stories From The Debateable Lands". A duet of "Our Kate" closes the album gently. Troy Donockley plays alongside Tickell, probably the first time a Northumbrian and uillean piper have played together on record. Each piece on DEBATEABLE LANDS is worthy of mention individually andthey complement each other beautifully.

Customer Reviews

One of my desert island disks
I got a copy of this cd right before I left for Japan for a nine month stint. I couldn't bring even half of my cds with me, but threw this one into the bag after the first listening. I have never regretted that choice. This cd goes everywhere with me, and I never tire of it. Well produced, well played, beautiful tunes, great arrangements, I can't find fault with it anywhere. If you like traditional music, fine fiddle and small-pipe playing then this is the cd for you. Me, I can't live without it.

Debateable Lands = Home
There's something quintessentially British about this album. I was in Luton airport in about 2001, about to fly off to Strasbourg to work for a few weeks. I was feeling a bit apprehensive (never worked abroad before), I was in the tail end of a long relationship, I felt I was stepping into the unknown. I felt a bit lost, to say the least. Then this album came over the PA system (yes! at Luton airport, believe it or not.) I went straight to the record shop (there in the terminal!) and bought it. It kept me sane during the next few weeks and has been a loved possession ever since. Thank you, Kathryn! I treasure this album and would recommend it to anyone. It's HOME.