A CONVERSATION WITH SIMON KEMPSTON
- La Lena
- Jul 18, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 26, 2024
The skilled fingerpicking artist from Scotland talks to us after his set in Germany.
Whilst travelling in Germany, I attended an open air gig at a barn in Gefrees, Bayreuth and here I heard Simon Kempston play an intimate set that spoke to us all.
Kempston is a Scottish folk guitarist from Edinburgh whose music often tells a narrative about people in his life or is an homage to his Scottish heritage. Despite being a talented singer, it was his fingerpicking abilities that were most impressive. His instrumentals written whilst in Bosnia were particularly entrancing with the delicate plucking and melancholic tones, which left most audience members in a pensive trance. Although in a literal sense many couldn't understand Kempston's lyrics due to the language barrier, these instrumentals spoke to the entire audience. This is something I find particularly interesting, the ability that music has to unite no matter where or who we are. It acts as a unique form of communication that somehow we can universally interpret and thus are able to express ourselves without even needing to speak.
During the interval, I spoke with Simon Kempston to learn more about his music. He takes inspirations from many "Scottish guitarists like Bert Jansch, John Martin" and other popular folk singers such as "Bob Dylan" and big 70s names like "David Bowie and Springsteen" which can clearly be recognised in his playing, with his warm and charming tones. For Kempston, he has "always been around music [...] it has always been a part of [his] life" ever since taking music and piano lessons as a young child. Additionally, although his Scottish identity is not the "be all and end all" to his music, it is still very much "prevalent" and I would therefore recommend his music to anyone with Scottish heritage as Kempston's music is characterised by the country.
Whilst performing, Kempston told his audience that in order to pursue music "you have to really really love it or be a bit crazy in the head" which is a sentiment that I personally love and know that many artists alike find to be true. The music industry is one that contains a passion that is difficult to find in any other field, it's one that I deeply admire and you can clearly identify this passion in Kempston's music.
Take a listen:
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