Jo Mango is the stage name of a British alternative folk and acoustic singer and songwriter from Glasgow, otherwise known as Jo Collinson Scott, a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland.[1] Jo Mango has also been the name of her band.

Jo Mango

Career

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Born in Yorkshire,[2] Scott grew up in rural north-east Scotland.[3] As a teenager she became involved in Aberdeen's music scene; her first band was called The Mangomen and included her twin brother.[4][3] In 1999[5] or 2000,[6] at the age of eighteen, she moved to Glasgow to study music and psychology, aiming to become a music therapist.[5][6][7] There she also developed her skills via open mic nights at the Glasgow bar Nice 'n' Sleazy's,[6] and by playing in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and a folk band named The Old Blind Dogs.[5]

Scott's first album, Paperclips and Sand, emerged in 2006.[6][8] 2006–7 saw Scott touring internationally as a member of Vashti Bunyan's band, and in the UK on the Zero Degrees of Separation tour alongside Bunyan, David Byrne, Adem, Juana Molina, and Vetiver.[9][3][10] At this time, Scott named key influences as 'Emiliana Torrini, Stina Nordestam, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Bjork, Kate Rusby, quirky indie acoustica'.[8][11] Other collaborations in the years around 2010 included work with Teenage Fanclub and Admiral Fallow.[5]

The Scotland Herald described Scott's 2013 EP When We Lived in The Crook of a Tree as "[a voice] so hushed and precise, that it sounds as if it were recorded inside your own head".[12][13]

In 2012, Scott completed a PhD in musicology,[3][10] with the thesis "Experiments in schizoanalysis: a new approach to analysis of conceptual music".[14] By 2015, she had become a lecturer in commercial music at the University of the West of Scotland.[15] She has also taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.[16]

In the mid-2010s, Scott's work focused on promoting ecological sustainability in music festivals,[17] leading to her EP Wrack Lines,[18][19] and a project called When Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday.[20]

In the years around 2020, Scott was undertaking creative work relating to prisoners' rehabilitation, leading to her EP System Hold,[21][22]: 5 [23]: 9  characterised in The Scotsman as 'featherlight piano balladry with subtle electronic beats' providing 'a chill-out meditation on themes of incarceration, monitoring and suspension of liberty'.[24] The work also involved Scott in a music festival called Distant Voices highlighting the music of people who had experienced the criminal justice system, and her composition of a multimedia piece named A Giant on the Bridge.[2]

Jo Mango band members

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At the time of the release of the 2012 album Murmuration, the band named Jo Mango comprised:[5]

Discography

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  1. Antidote (2003)
  2. Fluffy Brain (2004)
  3. The Moth and the Moon / Black Sun (2010)
  4. Wrack Lines (2016 – Jo Mango & Friends)
  5. System Hold (2019 – Jo Mango & Friends)

Studio albums

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  1. Paperclips and Sand (2006)
  2. Murmuration (2012)
  3. Transformuration (2014 - Remixes of Murmuration)

Singles

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  1. "My Lung" (2007 - Download Only)

References

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  1. ^ "Jo Scott". The UWS Academic Portal. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b 'A Giant On The Bridge: Music project aims to explore attitudes towards punishment and justice', Sunday Post (3 November 2021).
  3. ^ a b c d "JO MANGO INTERVIEW: "I'M A DR OF MUSICOLOGY" – FM famemagazine.co.uk". www.famemagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  4. ^ Anna Millar, 'No ordinary Jo: Mango's eclectic efforts bear fruit', Scotland on Sunday (26 February 2006).
  5. ^ a b c d e Rob Lavender, "Sweet as a Songbird", Metro [Scotland edition] (2 November 2012), p. 55.
  6. ^ a b c d "Jo Mango". The Sunday Times. 8 April 2007. p. 12.
  7. ^ Mickey McConagle, 'Mailmusic: R. E. M. Star Popped in for Music Lessons', Sunday Mail (17 June 2007), p. 30.
  8. ^ a b 'Local Spotlight: Jo Mango', Glasgow Evening Times (16 March 2006).
  9. ^ Earnshaw |, Helen. "Jo Mango Exclusive Interview". www.femalefirst.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  10. ^ a b Nicola Meighan, 'Interview: Jo Mango', The Herald (2 November 2012).
  11. ^ See also 'Singer Jo Mango shares her top five musical moments', Scotland on Sunday (20 May 2007).
  12. ^ Morrison, Alan (8 December 2013). "Review of Jo Mango: When We Lived In The Crook Of A Tree (Olive Grove)". The Herald (Glasgow). Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  13. ^ Fiona Shepherd, Ken Walton And Jim Gilchrist, "Album reviews: Siobhan Wilson | Beyoncé | The Pearlfishers | Jo Mango & Friends", The Scotsman (7 May 2019).
  14. ^ Jo Collinson Scott, "Experiments in schizoanalysis: a new approach to analysis of conceptual music" (PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2012).
  15. ^ 'Notes on Contributors', in Writing Creative Non-Fiction: Determining the Form, ed. by Laura Tansley and Micaela and Maftei (Canterbury: Gylphi, 2015), ISBN 9781780240268.
  16. ^ "Jo Mango".
  17. ^ Brennan, Matt; Scott, Jo Collinson; Connelly, Angela; Lawrence, Gemma (May 2019). "Do music festival communities address environmental sustainability and how? A Scottish case study". Popular Music. 38 (2): 252–275. doi:10.1017/S0261143019000035. ISSN 0261-1430. S2CID 165248983.
  18. ^ Combined Output Portfolio: Fields of Green: Jo Mango and Friends, Olive Grove Records, 15 January 2016, retrieved 4 February 2024
  19. ^ Connelly, Angela; Scott, Jo Collinson; Brennan, Matt (18 August 2015). "'Dead niche' green festivals need to move mainstream". The Conversation. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  20. ^ Connelly, Angela (24 June 2016). "When Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday". Planning, Property and Environmental Management.
  21. ^ 'Criminologist and songwriter re-imagine an alternative to prison system', Herald Scotland (24 November 2018).
  22. ^ McNeill, Fergus (July 2023). "Miller R, Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration". Punishment & Society. 25 (3): 791–797. doi:10.1177/14624745221114157. ISSN 1462-4745.
  23. ^ McNeill, Fergus; Urie, Alison (May 2020). "Collaboration before collaborative research: The development of 'Distant Voices'". Methodological Innovations. 13 (2): 205979912093727. doi:10.1177/2059799120937270. ISSN 2059-7991.
  24. ^ Fiona Shepherd, Ken Walton And Jim Gilchrist, "Album reviews: Siobhan Wilson | Beyoncé | The Pearlfishers | Jo Mango & Friends", The Scotsman (7 May 2019).
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