Orchestra Macaroon

Orchestra Macaroon is a British musical group.

Using various combinations of piano, double-bass, drums, percussion, yang qin, brass and several species of bagpipes, Orchestra Macaroon play original instrumental music which has its roots in a range of traditions from Scotland, Brazil, Galicia, Ireland and Jamaica. Most of it written by Colin Blakey, Orchestra Macaroon's music comprises traditional grooves (ie from the Afro traditions), Celtic-style melodies, and improvisations rooted in the jazz and Chinese traditions. The music has no boundaries - it sometimes sounds a little ska, occasionally Scottish in a pipery sort of way, maybe with a hint of jazz, often imbued with flavours of samba and reggae. In his writing Colin Blakey (once a member of The Waterboys, and collaborator with Donovan, amongst others) places the emphasis primarily on groove. A traditional groove is usually chosen, and from this an 'ostinato' bass loop is derived. This in turn suggests options for harmony, and then, last of all, a melody is crafted, which ties the other elements together.

Orchestra Macaroon emerged out of ongoing collective musical explorations of the relationship between groove, melody and improvisation which were held on Easdale Island, Argyll, Scotland, during 2003 by Colin Blakey, Phil Bull and Steve 'Wee' Brown. The experiments resulted with the recording of an album in 2004 called 'Breakfast In Balquhidder', on which they were joined by an international cast of musicians.

Playing on 'Breakfast In Balquhidder' were:

• Colin Blakey - piano, gaita, percussion; Steve 'Wee' Brown - double bass
• Phil Bull - drums, percussion
• Stephen McNally [1]- gaita, whistles, percussion; Lorne Cowieson - flugelhorn, trumpet, percussion
• Kieran Gallagher - congas, bongos, berimbau, clay pots & other exotic rhythm instruments
• Paddy Martin [2]- highland pipes, uilleann pipes, whistles
• Kim-ho Ip - yang qin
• Ron Blakey - clarinet
• Steve Wickham - violins

Reviews

The album was reviewed in

• The Guardian 29/10/04 [3]
• Scotland On Sunday 24/10/04
• FT Magazine 27/11/04
• Edinburgh Guide Jan 05
• Scots Magazine Feb 05
• The Living Tradition Jan/Feb 05

External links

• Transcriptions of the melodies