THE birth of Carmina was a literary affair. Pippa Marland and Rob King were studying English literature at Bristol University when they met at a seminar in 1987 - he had a mandolin under his arm - she had a microphone poking out of her bag.

They went back to her house and Rob picked up this battered old guitar she had in her kitchen and Pippa started singing... and it went from there.

They are the compositional and inspirational heart of Carmina (Carmina is a Latin word meaning songs or poems), and together with the world-class musicians who have joined the band they have created a sophisticated sound which, based around their strong original material, draws in elements of traditional and contemporary Celtic music, jazz, soul and rock.

Pippa, Rob and Ian chat to This Is Live's Zoe Kirk about their travels, inspirations and latest album, My Crescent City, which saw them collaborate for the second time with Irish music legend Donal Lunny - who also produced the album.

Watch them performing Bird of Paradise.

Carmina website

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