Moeche
Parish church of San Xurxo de Moeche.
Moeche Location in Spain.
Coordinates: 43°35′N 7°57′W / 43.583°N 7.95°W / 43.583; -7.95
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Galicia
Province	A Coruña
Comarca	Ferrol
Government
• Mayor	Julio López Romeo
Area
• Total	48.50 km2 (18.73 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total	1,416
• Density	29/km2 (76/sq mi)
Demonym	Modestinos
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CET (UTC+2)

Moeche is a municipality in the province of A Coruña, Galicia, north-western Spain. It is home to a 14th century castle, in the parish of San Xurxo. It has a square plan, with a 18 m-tall keep.

v t e City Councils of the three Regions of Ferrolterra Ferrol Ares Fene Ferrol Moeche Mugardos Narón Neda Cedeira San Sadurniño As Somozas Valdoviño Eume Cabanas A Capela Monfero Pontedeume As Pontes de García Rodríguez Ortegal Cariño Cerdido Mañón Ortigueira

v t e Municipalities of the province of A Coruña Abegondo Ames Aranga Ares Arteixo Arzúa A Baña Bergondo Betanzos Boimorto Boiro Boqueixón Brión Cabana de Bergantiños Cabanas Camariñas Cambre A Capela Carballo Cariño Carnota Carral Cedeira Cee Cerceda Cerdido Cesuras Coirós Corcubión Coristanco A Coruña Culleredo Curtis Dodro Dumbría Fene Ferrol Fisterra Frades Irixoa A Laracha Laxe Lousame Malpica de Bergantiños Mañón Mazaricos Melide Mesía Miño Moeche Monfero Mugardos Muros Muxia Narón Neda Negreira Noia Oleiros Ordes Oroso Ortigueira Outes Oza dos Ríos Paderne Padrón O Pino A Pobra do Caramiñal Ponteceso Pontedeume As Pontes de García Rodríguez Porto do Son Rianxo Ribeira Rois Sada San Sadurniño Santa Comba Santiago de Compostela Santiso Sobrado As Somozas Teo Toques Tordoia Touro Trazo Val do Dubra Valdoviño Vedra Vilarmaior Vilasantar Vimianzo Zas

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Fred Morrison is one of the world's leading pipers^[1] and is a globally renowned composer of music for the bagpipes.

Morrison is known for his unique, powerfully exuberant, virtuosic and highly improvisational style which combines the Gaelic piping tradition of South Uist with contemporary and eclectic influences. One of the few pipers to have achieved success in both the competitive piping and folk music scenes, Morrison is a virtuoso of the Great Highland Bagpipes, the bellows-blown reel pipes, the Irish Uilleann pipes, and the low whistle.

Fred Morrison was born in 1963 ^[2] near Bishopton, Renfrewshire, Scotland where he grew up, regularly visiting his paternal family home in Geirinis, South Uist. Taught piping by his late father - also named Fred - from the age of nine, Fred Morrison Junior became immersed in the rounded-out, driving piping style of the Outer Hebrides. His father taught him through the traditional method of canntaireachd, the sung vocables used to convey pipe music before notation came on the scene, and Morrison attributes much of his approach to that. "I hear that singing in my head every time I play," he told one interviewer.

His formidable prowess on the Highland Pipes gained him honours in the Scottish competition piping circuit (the most exacting in the world), including the gold medals at the world's premier piping competitions at the Northern Meeting in Inverness and the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban, and he has taken the prestigious Macallan trophy at Brittany's Lorient Festival seven times.^[3]

At a time when Scottish piping was broadening out into the burgeoning traditional music scene, Morrison was experimenting, taking on broad eclectic influences from elsewhere and developing a formidable technique that puts a unique spin on some of the most well-worn items in the repertoire. He was soon in demand as a solo performing artist, before joining the short-lived "supergroup" Clan Alba (with Dick Gaughan, among others) before joining Capercaillie for three years, during which time he played in and helped arrange the Highland group's music for the film Rob Roy.

As his reputation spread, he took to the bellows-blown Scottish Lowland or reel pipes, which have been experiencing a revival in recent years - their reeding conducive to the kind of cross-fingering and vibrato which Morrison employs in his playing. He has also become known as a virtuoso on the Irish Uilleann pipes and low whistle.

Morrison was voted "Instrumentalist of the Year" in the Scots Trad Music Awards for 2004.^[4]

In 2004 he wrote a large-scale work with the orchestral composer Mark Sheridan. It was called "Paracas", as Gaelic word meaning "Rhapsody of the Gael".^[5] It was premiered at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January 2005. It involved several pipers, other folk musicians and singers, and an orchestra and chorus.

Until 2004 he worked mainly as a solo artist or as a session musician with other well-known groups. In 2006 he formed the Fred Morrison Band with Paul Jennings, Duncan Lyall, Douglas Miller and Innes Watson.

Morrison's album Outlands was released on 5 November 2009.

Quotations from reviews[link]

"Morrison’s formidably virtuosic playing on bellows-blown Border pipes – with some dexterous interludes on uillean pipes – comes as close to jazz as you’ll hear in piping.” Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman

“ . . .playing on lowland and uilleann pipes that at times could have soundtracked the air guitar championships. Except, Morrison makes what these poor souls mime to sound tame by comparison . . . Morrison is as sensitive an accompanist as he is magnetic when leading . . . Go and be gobsmacked." Rob Adams, The Herald (Glasgow)

“But it was Morrison who delivered the ‘coup de grace’ with a performance that was almost shocking in its mesmerizing subtlety and brilliance.” Alastair Clark, The Scotsman

Discography[link]

Solo albums

• The Broken Chanter (1993)
• The Sound of the Sun (2000)
• Outlands (2009)

Fred Morrison and Jamie McMenemy

• Up South (2003)

Various artists including Fred Morrison

• Celtic Colours (1998)
• Piping Up (2000)

References[link]

1. ^ Living Tradition magazine review: http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/cdldl1284.htm
2. ^ Who's Who in Bagpiping
3. ^ All Celtic Music
4. ^ http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-hianewkvv.RefLocID-hiacg5005001.Lang-EN.htm Highlands and Islands Arts Journal
5. ^ Paracas

External links[link]

• FredMorrison.com
• Myspace site
• Solo live performance on YouTube
• Two tracks from the new Fred Morrison Band