After a whirlwind year-and-a-half spent being lauded as an award-winning musician, harpist Mera Royle has released her first full album.

’Woven’ is a seven-track collection of music, produced over the course of a rollercoaster year and, along with her first EP, ’The Ballaglass set’, released in August 2018, acts as almost a bookmark of her time which saw Mera, 19, named as the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year for 2018, becoming the first harpist, and also the first Manx musician, to win the award.

It is also a collection of music that she said she has taken her time with, looking back on her experiences and creating something she feels is more representative of where she is now, as a composer and musician.

’I felt with my first release that I just recorded a few tunes that I liked and banged it all together,’ said Mera.

’This one, however, I really wanted to think about.

’I called it "Woven", as there are so many different styles of music and tunes takes from a lot of different cultures, and it feels like I have woven them together.’

Mera has created a varied collection of tunes and songs which she has both written and taken inspiration from, and they all mark a bright and original direction for traditional harp playing.

’Bastilles’ is a mix of tunes from the pop group of the same name, and ’Tubular bells’ is a minimalistic cover of the Mike Oldfield classic.

Elsewhere, alongside some Cornish and Galician folk tunes, there are original compositions, such as ’Moon At Dawn’, and ’Deep in the Earth’, written alongside fellow composer David Kilgallon.

Mera’s time as the BBC young musician is now drawing to a close, with the new recipient due to be announced in October.

Mera said that her life since winning the award, in April last year, has become much busier, but it has been a very rewarding time.

’Now that the BBC award is coming around again, I feel like I am ready to move on from it and give it to someone else,’ she said.

’The award did let me get my feet into many doors, which has been the most I have benefitted from it.

’When I listen to all the previous winners, you think "my god, some of these people are legends now". It doesn’t match up, in my head, that I am in the same category as those guys. But it has given me a lot of confidence, definitely.

’My favourite memory is going to play at the folk festivals,’ she continued.

’I played at Cambridge, Towersey and Cropredy. I have never done anything like that before, but it was so much fun. It was so nerve-wracking.

’We must have played in front of 20,000 people at Cropredy. I actually found that easier than playing at, say, the Peel Centenary Centre, where everything is a lot more intimate and the audience are very close to you.

’Another highlight is that I was interviewed on BBC North West Tonight, and my friends all said they saw me on the telly.

’I also played a session for BBC Radio 2 for the Mark Radcliffe show, at their Manchester studios.

’That was really cool, seeing the radio show being produced first-hand and realising you are actually part of it.

’I have had some unbelievable experiences this year, which I am very grateful for.’

Mera has also represented the Isle of Man at the Celtic Congress, in Cornwall, at the Isle of Media showcase in London and, most recently, at the Lorient Inter-Celtic festival, along with her bandmates, the accordionist Owen Williams and whistle player Raygie Dolloso.

’Lorient was the best thing I have done. I loved it, and it was the best way to end my year as the young musician,’ she said.

’We played one concert in an underground empty reservoir, which is like this stone tank with these enormous columns. Then I came third in a harp competition, which I am pretty chuffed with too, as there were some very experienced players there.

’We also played at the main stage l’Espace Bretagne, and at the Loic Raisson trophy concert, for the best group of the festival. That was probably one of the best performances I have ever done. I came off stage feeling amazing.

’Sometimes we were playing about three times a day. It was a very full-on time, and by the end of the week we were exhausted and ready to go home. But it was incredible.’

Having completed her A levels, Mera is now heading to Newcastle University to study folk and traditional music.

’Woven’ is available online, priced £7, from meraroyle.bandcamp.com

by Mike Wade

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