It's the story of my music and brain injury

About this recording

Fiddler and composer Karen Steven talks about her successful musical career - and the brain haemorrhage from which she was lucky to survive.

Karen was born in Reay and she also has family connections to John O’Groats and Island Roan. She recalls how she grew up in a very musical household and was a Highland dancer by the age of three. She learned to play fiddle while at Thurso High School, under the guidance of strings instructor (and folk musician) Ian Sinclair. “First and foremost It was lots of fun but it was also a great learning environment,” Karen says.

Her musical travels would take her at a young age to Cape Breton and California. Karen also recounts the story of how she played as part of a group for Bill Clinton when the former US president was staying at Skibo Castle.

Karen was struck down by a brain bleed on October 20th 2005. Six days later she underwent surgery to repair the torn artery and she owes her life to the neurosurgeon who treated her in hospital in Aberdeen. She wrote a book about her ordeal, and her recovery, which was published in the summer of 2023. It is entitled Nudged... A journey from music career to brain surgery and back again.

“I am very lucky to have come through that with no speech problems, no memory loss, no depression, no mobility issues,” Karen says in the recording. “It was a massive bleed but the best recovery, considering the statistics. I came out the other end, very luckily. But I totally went off my music, which was a major shock, because music is usually considered to be therapy. But for me, I just wanted to focus on other things - anything but music, at that point.”

Karen returned to Caithness in 2022 after 10 years in Aberdeen. She has released six CD albums and has guested on others. As a composer, her music has featured in two collections and in 2020 she published her book Karen Steven’s New Scottish Fiddle Tunes.

Karen spoke to Wick Voices during a tour in October 2023 that included appearances in Aberdeen and Inverness as well as Caithness and Sutherland.

Nudged... A journey from music career to brain surgery and back again, by Karen Steven, is published by Independent Publishing Network. It can be purchased from www.karensteven.co.uk as well as some local outlets.

The photo above is the main cover image from Karen Steven's New Scottish Fiddle Tunes, her first collection of original compositions.

With thanks to Murray and Ellie Lamont of Mackays Hotel, Wick, for facilitating the interview.

Excerpts from three pieces of music are used in this recording, all compositions by Karen:

1 Molly Reay's Dream, a slow air Karen wrote in 2023.

2 March for the Grey and Common Seal Haul-Out, composed for Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve.

3 Highland Dance Choreography, a tune Karen composed for the Tanya Horne dancers - with Karen on fiddle, Alastair MacDonald on accordion and an Aberdeenshire friend, Anne Taylor, on keyboard.