Edinburgh-based Irish singer Michelle Burke, who is in the capital for a slew of concerts, says she is looking forward to involve the local audience to ensure that they have "good fun".
Burke's project titled "Step Into My Parlour" is a cohesive mix of music, storytelling and having cupcakes with audiences at the tables. Burke will perform at the opening reception of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) 2016 here on Friday.
The 11th Edition of META is being held from March 5-11 at LTG and Ficci Auditoriums here.
"I will be performing with a piano player and a guitarist. We have brought visuals and props. It is going to be good fun. We want to get the audience as involved as we can," Burke told IANS in a telephonic interview.
Interestingly, the concept of "Step Into My Parlour" germinated accidentally when Burke and her sister discovered a dusty scrapbook lying in the attic of their grandfather's workshop.
"The whole thing came as an accident. My grandfather was a cobbler. He had a workhouse, where they had a scrapbook, which belonged to my great grandmother. It featured newspaper clippings from The Irish Times. She had collected clippings from the women's section of the newspaper. She had lot of housekeeping stuff, poems, songs... That kind of started the idea," she said.
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Asked how she fuses Irish music with her unique concept, Burke said that she tries to have her "own stamp" on it.
"We kind of have our own stamp... We have a harmonica, trombone that are not really in Irish music. The songs are telling a story. Even the musicians are Scottish and I also live in Scotland," she said.
Asked if she was fond of any Indian artistes, Burke said that she follows the Scottish-Indian band India Alba, which features a collaboration between two Indian and two Scottish musicians whose combination of Indian classical and Scottish traditional backgrounds have created a unique and interesting sound.