"FifeSing" is a celebration of traditional singing, the songs and the bothy ballads - for singers and enthusiasts.
"FifeSing" is a celebration of traditional singing, the songs and the bothy ballads - for singers and enthusiasts.
This weekend of traditional singing takes place at The Fife Animal Park, Birnie Field, Birnie Loch, Collessie, by Ladybank, Fife. The first Traditional Singing Weekend took place in May 2003 and has been repeated annually since. FifeSing is a unique opportunity to meet, hear and talk with a selection of the finest exponents of Scottish traditional singing to be found today - and, of course, to participate in the singing.
The weekend includes: Singarounds and Sessions where all who wish can participate. Concerts featuring the guest singers and Workshops/Talks on topics related to traditional song and culture..
2008: 16th - 18th May 2008:
Guest Singers:
We welcome again Elizabeth Stewart from Mintlaw many of whose songs came to her from her family the Fetterangus Stewarts. For a first visit to our event we are pleased to welcome Brian Watson from Prudhoe in Northumberland - renowned for his rich repertoire of Geordie, Tyneside and Northumbrian song. The fine young singer Shona Donaldson from Huntly will join us for the day on Saturday. For a first time as guests we welcome Ellen Mitchell from Glasgow and Jimmy Hutchison from Newburgh. We will also be joined as usual by Ron Bissett the well known local bothy ballad singer from Falkland. Alex Clarke from Dundee, whose songs were received with great acclaim last year, joins us for the first time as a guest. We are also very pleased that the great North-east singer Jock Duncan from Pitlochry will join us for the day on Saturday.
Full programme and booking forms: http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing
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2007: 11-13th May 2007: The weekend will include:
Concerts ~ featuring the guest singers.
Singarounds and Sessions ~ where all who wish can participate.
Workshops/Talks ~ on topics related to traditional song and culture.
Guest Singers
We welcome again ELIZABETH STEWART (Friday to Sunday) from Mintlaw many of whose songs came to her
from her family the Fetterangus Stewarts and in particular from her aunt Lucy the noted traditional singer.
For the first time we welcome GORDEANNA MCCULLOCH (Friday to Sunday) who was first inspired to sing the
ballads after hearing Jeannie Robertson in the 1960s. We will also be joined again by RON BISSETT (Friday
to Monday) of Falkland the well known local bothy ballad singer and we welcome back our local, world
renowned singer and storyteller DUNCAN WILLIAMSON (Saturday & Sunday). We again welcome GORDON
EASTON (Friday to Sunday) singer, fiddle player and raconteur from Tyrie in Aberdeenshire. For the first time
as guest we will be joined by HENRY DOUGLAS (Saturday & Sunday) from Hawick with a repertoire of songs
from the borders. One or two other guest singers are unconfirmed and may join us for part of the weekend.
Workshops/Talks
Saturday morning ~ TIMOTHY NEAT: Hamish Henderson ~ the man. TOM MCKEAN: The archive collection of
songs and ballads recorded by James Madison Carpenter in the 1930s.
Sunday morning ~ ADAM MCNAUGHTAN: Glasgow music hall tradition. HENRY DOUGLAS: My border traditions
- songs from the Common Ridings and other songs from Hawick and the Borders.
Programme & Booking Form at:
www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing/FifeSing2007_4.pdf
Guest Singers:
Elizabeth Stewart from Mintlaw has been singing the old songs and ballads since childhood, inheriting a rich traditional repertoire from her family, the Fetterangus Stewarts - in particular from her aunt Lucy Stewart who became widely recognised after the release of recordings of her singing made in 1960 by the American collector Kenneth Goldstein.
Ron Bissett of Falkland was Born in Kincardineshire and came to Fife with his family when his father came as head shepherd to Kippo at Kingsbarns. Ron took his first job at Letham in 1950 - driving a pair of horse and living in the bothy. He learned some songs in the bothy and others from his mother and he was a member of the Fife Yokels bothy group when they competed in the Grampian TV Bothy Nichts competitions in the 1960s.
Gordon Easton (b.1923) is from the Blackhills of Tyrie near Fraserburgh, where his family has crofted for generations. He learned many of his old songs from his mother and grandmother and is well-known for his fiddle, jew's harp and 'moothie' playing, not to mention his considerable skills as a 'diddler'. He has competed and sung at TMSA festivals for over twenty years and has won regularly in many categories and is an honorary life member of the TMSA.
Duncan Williamson was born in a bow tent on the shores of Loch Fyne in 1928, the seventh of sixteen children. At fifteen he began a traveller's life working alongside dry-stane dykers and thatchers, learning the craft of a horsieman and earning his way in the scrap metal trade. His traditional tales and ballads, transcribed for publication by his second wife Linda, have brought him widespread fame with invitations from far and wide. He has lived many years in Fife and, now retired, lives in Ladybank.
Gordeanna McCulloch began her singing in Norman Buchan's famous Ballads Club in the 60s where she heard and was inspired by the great Aberdeen ballad singer Jeannie Robertson. She went on to sing with Glasgow folk band The Clutha, travelling extensively at home and abroad singing powerfully and mainly traditional songs and recording several albums with the Topic label. She now sings solo and with the Glasgow based Eurydice Choir.
Henry Douglas was born in the Yarrow Valley and has farmed all his life, mainly at Howahill near Bonchester Bridge. He is an enthusiast for Borders' poetry and song and has won the Traditional Singing competition at Newcastleton - most recently in August 2006. Very active in the Border common ridings he was Official Hawick Common Riding Song Singer from 1985 - 2000. He cites the late Willie Scott as his great friend and mentor.
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing
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2006 Guests: Special overseas guest this year is traditional singer Anita Best (pictured) brought up in the fishing outports of Newfoundland. We again welcome local bothy ballad singer Ron Bissett of Falkland and a return visit by Gordon Easton singer, fiddle player and raconteur from Tyrie in Aberdeenshire. For the first time as guest we invite Maureen Jelks from Dundee and we welcome back our local, world renowned singer and storyteller Duncan Williamson and Sheila Stewart traditional singer and standard bearer of the Stewart Family of Blairgowrie. All hosted as usual by committee and singers Peter Shepheard, Tom Spiers and Arthur Watson.
The Fife Traditional Singing Weekend
Friday - Sunday 12, 13, 14 May
at the Fife Animal Park, Birnie, Collessie
Tickets: See order form through the FifeSing link:
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing
Downloadable brochure in pdf format at
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing/FifeSing2006.pdf
This year (2006) we are extending our weekend to provide a series of events over Five Days with our Special Guest Anita Best – from Newfoundland.
Additional events
Thursday 11 May at 8.00pm at the
Acoustic Music Club, Kirkcaldy
Anita Best from Newfoundland
with Shepheard, Spiers and Watson
in the Polish Club. Bennochy House, Forth Park Drive, Kirkcaldy
Tickets: £6.00 at the door
Further information as it is available from the links:
http://www.easystages.co.uk/folkinfife.htm
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ssw/sswgigs.htm
Monday 15 May at 7.30pm
Old Songs and Bothy Ballads
The Ship Hotel, Newburgh
A unique event. Anita Best from Newfoundland
with Ron Bissett (Falkland), Jimmy Hutchison (Newburgh), Jim Aitken (Newburgh)
and Shepheard, Spiers and Watson.
Tickets: £5.00 at the door.
Further information as it is available from the links:
http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing
The booking information for the event can be found at website: http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing/fifesing.htm
The Fife Animal Park has a paddock for free camping and caravan with on-site toilet facilities.
Hotel and B&B Accommodation : Local hotels in Falkland (The Covananters tel: 01337 857224), Freuchie (Lomond Hills Hotel tel: 01337 857329) and Auchtermuchty (Forest Hills Hotel tel: 01337 828318). There is Guest House B&B accommodation at Redland's Country Lodge, Ladybank tel: 01337 831091 and Ardchoille Farmhouse, Dunshelt tel: 01337 828414. There is also the Falkland Backpackers Hostel tel: 01337 857710. For further information contact the Tourist Information Centre in St Andrews tel: 01334 472021.
How to get there?
The Fife Animal Park is on the B937 between Collessie and Ladybank: on the left about half a mile south from the A91/B937 crossroads. There are good train services from Dundee or Edinburgh to Ladybank station. Taxi (tel: 01337 828630 or 828722) from Ladybank to the Fife Animal Park.
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The guest singers for 2005: : (13th - 16th May 2005)
Elizabeth Stewart from Mintlaw, is recognised as one of Scotland's foremost ballad singers. She has been singing the traditional songs and ballads of the northeast since childhood, learning her art from her family, especially her aunt, Lucy Stewart. She is a member of the Fetterangus Stewarts, a family steeped in the oral traditions of the travelling people. Elizabeth is also a gifted player of traditional music on the piano and, like her mother Jean, led her own Scottish country dance band.
Ron Bissett of Falkland is a well known local bothy ballad singer. He was a member of the Fife Yokels that competed in the Bothy Nichts programme on Grampian TV in the 1960s and often leads a concert party for local events in Fife. Ron was born at Cowden of Drumlithie in Kincardineshire and came south with his family when his father came as head shepherd first to Goddens near Kilspindie in Perthshire and then to Kippo at Kingsbarns. Ron took his first job at Letham in 1950 - driving a pair of horse and living in the bothy.
Jock Duncan from Pitlochry was brought up in the ballad-rich farming country around New Deer and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire where he developed his love of traditional ballads and songs. Fiddle, melodeon and bothy ballads were the staple diet at the Saturday 'splores' that took place most weekends. He has won numerous traditional singing and bothy ballad competitions and is acknowledged as one of the foremost traditional singers - a 'national treasure'. He is a mine of knowledge of songs and ballads and of a farming way of life now long past.
Joe Aitken is one of the finest exponents of North-East bothy style. He is a haulage contractor from Kirriemuir, one-time berry farmer and a favourite singer at festivals throughout Scotland from Muchty to Keith and, of course, his own local Kirriemuir Festival. He picked up his songs from some of the great traditional singers including Jimmy McBeath. In January 2004 he was winner of the Champion of Champions Bothy Ballad competition in Elgin.
Sheila Stewart from Blairgowrie has a style of singing that is strong and passionate and distinctively her own yet in the finest mainstream of the Scottish tradition. She carries on a tradition inherited through her family the Stewarts of Blair - her ballad singing mother Belle and piper and storyteller Alex. Belle and Alex had their own berry farm for some years in the 1950s and it was then that Belle composed her famous song The Berryfields of Blair. Now recovered from her recent illness we welcome Sheila back to FifeSing2005.
Stanley Robertson of Aberdeen is a master storyteller, ballad singer and piper. He learned his tradition within his extended family many of whom were musicians and singers. Stanley has strong traveller roots - his father's sister was Jeannie Robertson the renowned ballad singer and Lizzie Higgins, her daughter, was his cousin. Stanley is author of several books of traditional tales and reminiscences of traveller life and of his time in the fish trade. He is currently the keyworker for the Heritage Lottery funded Oral and Cultural Traditions of Scottish Travellers Project at the Elphinstone Institute in Aberdeen.
Louis Killen: Born and raised in Tyneside in a musical family of Irish/Scottish extraction, Louis was a founder member of the Newcastle Folk Club in 1958 and an original member of the High Level Ranters. He recorded several seminal albums with Topic in the 1960s and then emigrated to the USA where he continued a career in folk music, joining the Clancy Bothers between 1971 and 1976. He is noted in particular for his knowledge of shanties and maritime songs. Now back on home ground we welcome one of the most knowledgeable singers and influential voices of the folk revival.
FifeSing2005: You The Participants. You are invited not just as an audience but as a participant. As in past years, the traditional singer guest artistes are intended as a catalyst, and all participants will have opportunity to contribute to sessions in the weekend celebration of traditional song.
More programme information, booking etc: http://www.springthyme.co.uk/events/fifesing2005.html
The guests for 2004 were:
The Singers
Ron Bissett of Falkland is well known in Fife as a local bothy ballad singer. He was a member of the Fife Yokels that competed in the Bothy Nichts programme on Grampian TV in the 1960s. His father and mother were both singers. We welcome him back for a second year. Ron was born at Cowden of Drumlithie in Kincardineshire and came south with his family when his father came as head shepherd first to Goddens near Kilspindie in Perthshire and then to Kippo at Kingsbarns, where the farmer Andrew Mayes was also a well known bothy ballad singer. Ron took his first job at Letham in 1950 - driving a pair of horse and living in the bothy.
Jock Duncan from Pitlochry was brought up in the ballad-rich farming country around New Deer and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire where he developed his love of traditional ballads and songs. Fiddle, melodeon and bothy ballads were the staple diet at the saturday 'splores' that took place most weekends. He has won numerous traditional singing and bothy ballad competitions at Auchtermuchty, Keith, Elgin and Strichen. Jock is acknowledged as one of the foremost traditional singers - a 'national treasure'. He is a mine of knowledge of songs and ballads and of a farming way of life now long past. We welcome him back for a second year.
Gordon Easton has farmed for many years a small croft at Wellhead of Tyrie near Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire. He was brought up with songs and music in the family, he plays fiddle and jews harp and has a great store of North East songs and ballads. He has been a past winner of the Elgin Bothy Ballad Championships and has won also at Strichen. He has been guest at TMSA festivals in Auchtermuchty and Keith. He is also a master at rural crafts including rope making and, of course, has been a horse ploughmnan in his younger days.
Geordie Murison is an equipment contractor from Mill of Craigiecat near Stonehaven. He is an enthusiast for traditional songs and bothy ballads with a fine repertoire many of which he has gleaned from singers in his area around Stonehaven and from beyond. He has been a guest at several festivals including Auchtermuchty and Keith.
Elizabeth Stewart is from Mintlaw beside Peterhead and has been singing the traditional songs and ballads of the north-east since childhood. Her mother's sister was the noted traditional singer Lucy Stewart of Fetterangus who became internationally known through her recordings made by the famous American collector Kenneth Goldstein around 1960. Elizabeth's mother was a noted musician and Scottish dance band leader and Elizabeth used to play piano in her mother's band both as a child and as a young woman and later had her own band for many years.
Sheila Stewart from Blairgowrie has a style of singing that is strong and passionate and distinctively her own yet in the finest mainstream of the Scottish tradition. She carries on the song tradition she inherited from her family the Stewarts of Blair - her ballad singing mother Belle Stewart and piper and storyteller father Alex Stewart. Belle and Alex had their own berry farm for some years in the 1950s and it was then that Belle composed her famous song The Berryfields o Blair. The family recorded several albums in the 1960s and Sheila has recently recorded a new solo album of her songs and ballads.
Roisin White is from Armagh and is a fine exponent of traditional songs mainly from the north of Ireland with songs in both Irish and English. She has been a guest at Cullerlie (in 2001) and last year at the great traditional gathering at the Whitby Folk Festival. Many of her songs show evidence of historical and traditional links between Scotland and Ireland. Her songs come from her mother and from other singers in the rich traditions of her area.
Duncan Williamson who now lives in Ladybank just a mile or two down the road from the Fife Animal Park is recognised worldwide for his outstanding contribution to the Scottish traditional folk tale repertoire. We hope Duncan will be with us for part of the weekend. Duncan was born in a traveller's bow tent at Furnace on the shores of Loch Fyne in Argyll in 1928. In summer they wandered the highlands, working on farms or selling their wares of tin and heather and baskets of woven willow. Duncan took an interest in song and story from a young age soaking up his enormous repertoire from family, friends, thatchers and dry stane dykers.
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