Influences
With artistic influences as diverse as Strauss, Nureyev, Joni Mitchell, Cleo Laine and Anne Mortifee, Caroline's musical development has encompassed a variety of disciplines: ballet and choreography, clarinet and guitar, poetry and songwriting.
At the age of 20, she awakened her profound love for singing, and experimented passionately with opera, jazz and folk genres. She produced two recordings of original music with guitars, keyboards and percussion. Ordinary Girl and Wings received international distribution during the 1990s.
First
HarpCaroline's longing for an ideal musical expression came to a climax upon hearing one day in a meditation the ethereal melodies of a Celtic Harp. In the late 1980s the instrument had just begun its renaissance and harpmakers were few and far between in North America. Four years of further search led to her importing from Scotland in 1991 a beautiful cherry wood Clarsach, hand-crafted by John Yule of Midlothian.
She named her harp Morgaine Tahirih, after Morgaine la Fee, the Lady of Avalon who walked with ease between the world of men and the world of spirit, and Tahirih the Pure One, a brilliant 19th century Persian poet and fearless educator of women, martyred for her religious allegiance to the Bab, a young Siyyid from Shiraz.
Concert ToursSeveral years of study in the classical and Celtic styles of harp playing with Kim Robertson and Sharlene Wallace as mentors brought Caroline to the second stage in the development of her company, High Spirits Music. First, her songwriting and performing abilities have been sought after by presenters from Canada, the US and Europe. She has played in many cities and towns in Western Canada, from Victoria to Port MacNeill, Vancouver to Kelowna, Nelson, Prince George and Whitehorse, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Swift Current, and in Ontario cities, Stratford, London, Hamilton and Goderich.
Other requests have taken Caroline on tour to LouHelen School in Michigan, a celebration of racial diversity at the church of Abraham Lincoln's family in Springfield, Illinois and to enhance sessions on Spirituality, Consultation and the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations at the Landegg University in Switzerland, as well as Bedford and London, England. Her exquisite voice accompanied by the mystical and haunting vibrations of the Celtic Harp have delighted audiences of 50 to 1000.
RecordingsTwo solo recordings, O Most Mighty Ocean! and Suite: Mothers & Angels capture the essence of these Celtic and spiritual concerts.
Baha'i Faith
The Baha'i Faith has been a major influence in Caroline's music. With its central principles based upon an understanding of the unity of the human race, upon integrity, compassion and encouragement, and with an outpouring of spiritual literature from its Founder, Baha'u'llah, the Baha'i Faith offers profound insights and mystical lyrics for the songwriter's muse! Ancient spiritual truths are once again clothed with meaning, and have modern relevance for the longing soul.
Weddings
This sense of sacred space is also created for weddings and special occasions, and many brides from around Western Canada book early to have the harp lady set the atmosphere for their most important day!
Students and Harp Rentals
A second dimension has evolved with the growing stream of adults and children who have sought Caroline out to teach them to play the harp. She includes her daughter Siobhan in this group. Currently, she teaches private weekly lessons in Vernon and Kelowna, BC and maintains a harp rental program for new students. Three regular Harp Circles have sprung up amongst her students, and ensemble playing is just around the corner.
WorkshopsFrom 1999 to 2002, High Spirits Music has hosted an International Workshop in Chemainus BC, which will continue in the Okanagan Valley in the Fall of 2003. This major musical and social annual event draws harp players from the Pacific Northwest and throughout Canada to study and perform with the best of our Celtic Harp master teachers.
AnamCaraThe third stage of Caroline's business began in 2001 with the gathering together of two other Celtic Harp players and singers to form a trio called AnamCara. Debi Johnson, Kate Gibson Oswald and Caroline Mackay are unique in Western Canada (if not North America!) as a vocalist harp trio, and have a very busy touring schedule in winter, as well as a new CD.
Brand New CD!
In November 2002, the long-awaited 3rd solo recording, Tidings of Light, was released on the High Spirits Music label. On this CD, Caroline's arrangements include violin and descant recorder as well as the sensitive and moving piano of Anna Hostman from Victoria, BC. Her first Review describes the style as "...dramatic... almost classical in its scope, yet less complex and more emotional".
Further supporting and diversifying the work of the company, Daniel Schmitt married Caroline in 2001, and brought his remarkable craftsmanship to the harpmaking and sound systems departments of what is now known as High Spirits Music & Harps!
© High Spirits Music &
Harps