Night & Day UK Tour 2017 - A Quantum Leap For A Performer

Oh. My. God. Another tour is finished!!! I reached more people that ever before, performed in more places than ever before, and for the first time, played with this lot (see above)!

The idea was to bring together 5 of the UK's most talented young folk and acoustic musicians to perform my new music to a much wider audience than I would have by myself. Mission accomplished!

This band features Jack Cookson, Ciaran Algar, Lukas Drinkwater and Evan Carson whose collective accolades are an essay in themselves. They are a powerhouse of music, and it was a pleasure to bring them all together for this project.

"Not so new and unusual are the musicians Saskia has hooked up with, each of whom have previously been given column inches within these pages" Northern Sky Mag

I have to say, this whole tour has brought about a renaissance for me with my original music. I know it hasn't been that long that I've been performing, but, with every concert on this tour, and with the new musicians I had backing me, I have experienced a new side to performing that I felt as a potential within myself, but now finally was able to bring out! Anyone at the launch concert might agree (see Fatea's review here: ​http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/live/Saskia.php/)

"a quantum leap for a performer who has mainly been a solo artist until now" Fatea 

"Saskia was full of smiles the whole evening and she had the right to be" Fatea

It wasn't just that night that I was full of smiles - it was every night. Every gig, every venue, every show. This tour brought out something new within me. Something that smiles!

After the launch concerts, I went on to do live sessions at BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Radio Gloucestershire. You can listen to the session on BBC Glos here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05l1fzt until Dec 18th.

All of this is happening for two reasons:

1) I ran a kickstarter campaign in February. 109 people backed it, raising a total of £8000 for me to make a new recording. Pretty phenomenal really!!! My campaign reached it's goal within 10 hours of launching, and kept climbing, and without that boost, I wouldn't have been able to bring in so many talented musicians, and to record and produce a world class album with a world class producer. This album is the foundation of my future in music, and I couldn't be more proud of it. (side note, if you want to listen/download it, you can do so, for free, here: saskiagm.bandcamp.com/album/night-and-day)

But, once I recorded the album, I was left with the problem of how to get funding to promote it!! Apparently, the rule of thumb is to double the recording budget. So, I scrambled for resources to give this music the platform I felt it deserved, and put together a tour, working with all the promoters I had met previously, and bringing together as many people as I could find. But, none of it would have been possible without...

2) ...my second round of Arts Council Funding! Which went to the musicians I worked with, the PR I was able to get, and general costs of the tour.

I feel incredibly blessed to have had so much generosity come my way, and so much support for my music from the Arts Council, from my Kickstarter backers, from the media, and from the thousands of people that have heard and liked my music! From the people that came out to the shows, to those who put me and my band up while on the road, the messages of encouragement on social media, and people recommending me for gigs, media placements and to their friends. Thank you so much for contributing to this UK tour, and for allowing me and my music to develop and to flourish.

We are here to create and keep on creating original music, which I am labelling 'Anglicana' as Anglicised Roots music, and to share that music through live experiences with the public, again, and again, and again!

To the next one!

Love,
Saskia