Elsa Jean McTaggart in tune for Boat of Garten concert
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IT took longer than you might expect for musician and singer Elsa Jean McTaggart to find her voice to perform her own songs.
Elsa — who plays fiddle, whistle and guitar as well as singing — harboured a wish to be a musician from the time she was a young girl.
She learned fiddle for six months when she was 10 and bought herself a cheap fiddle when she was 17.
But it wasn’t until three years later studying science at Aberystwyth University that she was invited along to an open folk session to play.
Elsa said: "I’ve a terrible phobia of singing in front of people, so that took a long time.
"I moved to Ireland to work on a stud farm and I carried on writing my own songs — but even in Wales there had been nowhere really to do my own songs even though I always wrote them.
"So I ended up on the traditional music scene in Ireland and having my science degree allowed me to do a masters in Irish traditional music."
Elsa fulfilled her ambition to work as a musician at 22 and got steady work as a traditional musician.
A move to Gran Canaria with an Irish band developed into a solo set, though it wasn’t until 2008 that Elsa put together a full solo show.
"I had an invitation to go to Gran Canaria, so I ended up playing Irish music in partyland! But though I was always writing my own stuff, I never really got the chance to play it," the singer and musician confessed.
As well as playing with others — Elsa toured as fiddle player and support for Finbar Furey in 2010 – she finally started to promote her own music in 2011.
Elsa has appeared three times at the Edinburgh Fringe and also regularly plays everything from community halls to festivals.
There are also four albums — one of her first concert, one of instrumental tunes and two of her own songs.
Now Elsa and her husband Gary — whom she met out in Gran Canaria — have moved back to Scotland.
"When I met Gary I told him what I had always wanted to do, but we had a baby, so I needed to earn money.
"We saved up in the winter in Gran Canaria to come over here for the summers.
"Though it’s lovely in Gran Canaria, it’s Spanish culture and you are working full-time in partyland.
"But we have played three times at the Fringe — it would have been four but I got sick one summer."
Now Elsa is finally getting her chance to perform more of her own work.
"Three weeks ago, we gave up Gran Canaria as a living and I’m hoping to do this full-time now.
"So we’ve taken the plunge!"
Elsa had a scare when her voice disappeared a couple of years ago.
"Through exhaustion and stress, I totally lost my voice," Elsa said.
"A lot of it was through ‘muscle tension dysphonia’ from trying to work through laryngitis and sore throats.
"But now I’m singing better than I ever have because I’ve had to learn again."
During the voice troubles, Elsa also developed a mini-show she could perform without her voice — The Mercenary Fiddler.
"That’s another good thing that’s come out of this, I had to concentrate on doing a fiddle show and it’s taken front of stage so that if the voice wasn’t there I could carry on.
"It’s a set of popular tunes and I’ve got the whistle and the box as well, so there is plenty variety."
Elsa enjoys performing with Gary who also accompanies her on piano accordion, piano and keyboards.
Elsa said: "Our favourite thing to do is going to community halls and we set up a whole evening.
"I do the first half with my own original set and then the second half is The Mercenary Fiddler which I also write songs for, but they are more entertainment than my journey through life. The set mainly has things people know like The Devil Went Down To Georgia and Lord Of The Dance."
Last summer, Elsa returned to the Edinburgh Fringe to perform for the first time with her sister, the singer songwriter Miss Irenie Rose.
"Gary was staying in Gran Canaria and because I had been sick, I had a break and took the camper and went to Ireland and Scotland with Irenie, chilled out, met people. No pressure, no real gigs. Just doing odd things that turned up here and there. And we did the Fringe."
Over the next few weeks, Elsa and Gary are packing in some North gigs, last weekend at the Boat Festival in Portsoy, before some dates in Rum and Muck and working up from Boat of Garten to Inverness, then Wick.
"Gary is an amazing musician —and he can keep all the names and places and dates in his head and organises the ferrys and the flights. I get to be the dreamer," laughed Elsa.
"It’s absolute bliss. We just look at each other and say ‘Why on earth wouldn’t you choose this life?’."
- Elsa Jean McTaggart comes to Boat of Garten on Tuesday, July 14, and Hootanannys on Thursday, July 16.
