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Talitha MacKenzie, a native of New York, has been singing all her life. Growing up in multicultural New York, she became enthralled with traditional singing from all over the world. Having first heard Gaelic song at the age of seven, she was in her teens when she began to collect field recordings of old-style traditional singing. With nothing but a Teach Yourself Gaelic textbook, she began the arduous task of learning the language, so that she could perform songs that she loved.
By the mid-1980's she had recorded an album with Boston-Irish group ST. JAMES GATE and her first solo album, SHANTYMAN!. After several years of touring solo across America and performing mouth music with Scottish dancebands, Talitha moved to Scotland in 1987, where she performed with the Scottish Folk Ensemble Drumalban.
In 1988, she co-founded the duo Mouth Music, whose groundbreaking eponymous album (featuring contemporary World Music arrangements of traditional Gaelic songs) topped charts in Music Week and Billboard, receiving international critical acclaim.
Talitha has spent much of the past ten years composing, teaching and directing the a cappella Women's Group Sedenka, who have performed at the Edinburgh Peace Festival, the International Festival of the Sea and the Thames Festival (London), among many other venues. |
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