we chat to Elisabeth Flett a BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Musician Semi-Finalist
Who inspired you to take up music?
I was lucky enough to grow up in a household full of music - my mum is a music teacher and my dad is an enthusiastic amateur musician - and that lovely nurturing environment combined with various great courses and workshops throughout my childhood and teenage years gave me a love of music and a really exciting ‘taste’ of all the different kinds of music that exist out there in the world.
What makes you optimistic?
Cute small children and cute large dogs.
what’s the most depressing thing in the world today?
The lack of kindness.
what is your biggest regret in the world?
I don’t know if I have one regret that’s larger than any others- the major regrets I have are all centred around not treating people with enough compassion or kindness.
which ambition is the one you most like to fulfill ?
Publishing a book! That would be fun.
which three albums would you save from a burning house?
As a millennial who streams all her music online I don’t actually own any physical albums to save, but in this hypothetical situation it would possibly be Donald Grant’s The Way Home, Kate In The Kettle’s Swimmings of the Head and Kinnaris Quintet’s Free One. But if you asked me again tomorrow I’d almost certainly give a different answer!
What is your definition of success?
Being able to pay rent and buy food, feeling creatively fulfilled and being reasonably well-known and well liked in my field.
what would be your definition Failure ?
Being that person with which no-one wants to work because you’re known as “difficult”. The horror!
what’s your favourite restaurant /café anywhere in the world?
This is a hard one! There’s a lovely cafe in London called Local Hero which was my favourite haunt every Thursday when I taught at a nursery nearby in 2017-2020. I’d visit the independent bookshop across the street, more than often buy a book there and then read it over my “avocado and feta smash” lunch at one of Local Hero’s handmade wooden tables. There were usually several dogs and babies passing through and the cafe sound system always had a great playlist. Happy times.
is there one trait in yourself that you’d like to change?
A tendency to want to control all the variables in any given situation. I’d love to be 10% more “chill”. (Not gonna happen...)
How did the podcast 15 Minutes With: The Quick-fire Podcast About Women In Folk Music, come about ?
I performed as part of the Women In Folk festival at King’s Place in 2019 (curated by Rachel Newton) and attending the various panels really had an impact on me. There were all these stories being told by women, descriptions of the sorts of experiences and issues I’d naively presumed were a thing of the past. I decided that a podcast would bring together some of these collective experiences and decided on a set list of questions to make it easier to compare these accounts and get an understanding of just how bad the situation is for women in the industry. (One of the questions was, “Have you experienced any discrimination in the music industry?” and I’ve only had two confident replies of“No” across 35 interviews.) S1-S3 of the podcast is available to stream on Soundcloud for free if you’re interested in hearing more! (There’s jokes and lighthearted moments alongside the more serious discussion so it’s not too maudlin, don’t worry...)
Did you enjoy taking part in BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician ?
Absolutely! The BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2021 semis were a lovely breath of “normality” - meeting new people and playing live music, hooray! - after so many months of COVID nothingness. I’m looking forward to listening to the Semi-Final highlights on BBC Radio Scotland on the 15th.
Apart from everything of yours work on Bandcamp what one piece should someone new to your work buy 1st?
As it’s just come out I feel duty bound to encourage you all to buy my new EP “Barbed Wire Goodbyes”, out on Bandcamp, iTunes and Spotify! Another recommendation would be trio “Solasta” (myself, Jamie Leeming & Hannah Thomas) - our album “A Cure For the Curious” is available to buy on iTunes and stream on Spotify.