Scottish Folk News

A big hello from Foot Stompin' bringing you more news reviews and events from the great trad music scene here in Scotland.
1. New at Foot Stompin': Includes Runrig and Dougie MacLean
2. Snippets: Change of Government in Scotland; Sandy Meldrum
3. The Scots Musical Museum (1787 - 1803)
4. Ayepod.net includes Christine Kydd Scots Song Course and free podcasts.
5. Reviews: Includes Siubhal, Blithe and Braw
6. Books: Includes Scottish Fiddlers and their Music
7. Blog Watch: Simon Thoumire
8. Foot Stompin' Celtic Music Discussion Forum: includes Lispin Leghorn, Musical Youth
9. Free Ringtone: Finlay MacDonald Band
10. Events
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1. New arrivals at Foot Stompin' Celtic Music (10% discount on all sales after first
purchase.)
IT'S ALL HERE!! Everything You See - Runrig: The great Runrig are on fine form here. For many people the ?live? situation is where Runrig are at their powerful and passionate best, and it was often felt that the ?live? sound had never been captured effectively on studio recordings. Runrig have opted to use the studio as a separate creative entity, where song based material has been dressed in the sheen of production values that can then be stripped back to transfer to the very different ?live? performance environment. This time ?everything you hear? will be, more or less, ?everything you see? in the ?live? situation. A fantastic iconic Scottish band. £12.60 (£13.99for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/celtic_bands/everything_you_see
AN ORCADIAN SHOWCASE!! Orkney Folk: This excellent compilation is a snapshot of the folk music scene in Orkney at the start of the 21st century. Made to help mark the 25th anniversary of the Orkney Folk Festival and to reflect the current folk music scene in the islands, some of the artists here have taken Orkney's music to the biggest stages around the world, but it also features many less familiar names who deserve to be heard by a wider audience. £10.79 (£11.99for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/compilation/orkney_folk
A 'MUST HAVE' ALBUM!! The Essential Dougie MacLean (double CD): 26 tracks from one of Scotland's most admired musicians. Containing old favourites, new favourites and one previously unrecorded track it's a bumper double album with two whole hours of great music. £13.50 (£14.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/scottish_song/the_essential_dougie_maclean
PIPERS ON PARADE!! Princes Street Parade - The Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band. We thought this CD was irresistible! If the Royal Mile is the heart of historic Edinburgh, then Princes Street is the heart of the city itself. Princes Street is a famous mile-long shopping thoroughfare - shops on one side and the glorious open vista of Princes Street Gardens nestled below the castle on the other. During the summer festivals this is where you will see parades striding along the spacious and elegant road and most likely led by a pipe band. This CD features The Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band under the leadership of Pipe Major Donald Shaw Ramsay strutting their stuff in 1956. You can imagine the kilts swinging and the feather bonnets and plaids flying in the breeze as the band marches to the lilting melodies and infectious rhythms of Scotland?s own music. £9.89 (£10.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/bagpipe_music/princes_street_parade
A WEE CHOOKY DOO!! Little Bird - Amy Geddes & Sandy Wright: Following their success with their Debut CD 'Over the Sky to See', Amy and Sandy continue to go from strength to strength with this excellent follow-up. Amy's fiddle playing is lovely and Sandy is a brilliant and inventive accompanist and surely one of Scotland's most gifted guitarists. £11.25 (£12.50 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/celtic_bands/little_bird
2. Snippets
Change of Government in Scotland.
It has been a time of change in Scotland. From the voting that took place on 3rd of May with the well now recorded 140,000 spoilt ballots and the first change of governing party in 50 years. The new party in charge is the Scottish National Party and our First Minister is Alex Salmond MSP (elected 16th May). As with all new governments we?re expecting some changes and we wish the SNP all the best. Historic timers indeed!
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2007/05/16082856
Sandy Meldrum joins up
Ace piano player Sandy Meldrum will be joining 'Jock rockers? The Red Hot Chilli Pipers and will tour with them through the UK and Europe over the summer.
http://www.footstompin.com/artists/sandy_meldrum
Seonag NicChoinnich (Joan Mackenzie) RIP
Sad to relate that the iconic Gaelic singer, Joan MacKenzie from Lewis, passed away on 13th May aged 78. She was presented with the Gold Medal by the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret at the same time as Calum Kennedy. Among contemporary Gaelic traditional singers from the Isle of Lewis, there is widespread agreement that the radio broadcasts that Seonag Niccoinnich made in the 50s and 60s, have not only been a great influence on their own work but also made a unique and vital contribution to the survival of this rare and beautiful art form.
http://www.footstompin.com/artists/obj55223
Wedding Bells
Best wishes for married bliss to Boys of the Lough & Deaf Shepherd guitarist and bouzouki player Malcolm Stitt who marries Chloe in The Isle of Man on Saturday.
http://www.footstompin.com/artists/alphabet/ac/boys_of_the_lough
3. The Scots Musical Museum (1787 - 1803)
Foot Stompin' are delighted to say that they have added this important publication to their stock. This is something every lover of Scots music and Robert Burns should own.
A handsome two-volume facsimile contains 600 songs which makes available again one of the greatest collections of Scottish songs ever published. Robert Burns was a song-writer and editor of genius and his contribution of more than 200 original and revised traditional songs places the collection on an artistic level unmatched by any other. This edition ((Hardback Vol 1 (368pp) & Vol 2 (434pp) in a slipcase) includes an index of Burns's contributions with a full critical introduction by Donald A Low, a leading scholar in the field.
The original Scots Musical Museum was a major publication that had a pivotal role in the collecting and tradition of Music of Scotland. It was by no means the first collection of Scottish folk songs and music, but the six volumes, with 100 songs in each, collected more pieces, introduced new songs, and brought many of them into the classical music repertoire.
The project started with James Johnson, a struggling music engraver / music seller, with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. In the winter of 1786 he met Robert Burns who was visiting Edinburgh for the first time, and found that Burns shared this interest and would become an enthusiastic contributor. The first volume was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume 2, and would end up responsible for about a third of the 600 songs in the whole collection as well as making a considerable editorial contribution. The final volume was published in 1803.
As well as collecting old songs, Burns wrote new words to old tunes, and many of the songs now attributed to Burns have older roots. Songs in the collection include Auld Lang Syne, Lord Ronald, my Son (better known as Lord Randal) and My love is like a Red, Red Rose. Burns' songs include Scots Wha Hae, Green Grow the Rashes, O, Flow Gently Sweet Afton, Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon, Ae Fond Kiss, Comin' Thro the Rye and John Anderson, My Jo.
The collection became popular internationally, and songs and tunes were arranged by composers such as Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Burns collaborated with George Thomson in A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, published from 1793 to 1818, which adapted Scottish folk-songs with "classical" arrangements. While this brought songs to new audiences, many of the songs and tunes continued in the folk tradition, both in Scotland and America.
The Scots Musical Museum (1787 - 1803) £36.00 (£39.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/books/obj26854/scots_musical_museum
4. Ayepod.net new song course and free podcasts available.
New downloadables at our sister site Ayepod.net includes a smashing 'Scots Song' online teaching course from Christine Kydd, one of Scotland's most admired traditional singers and a series of FREE podcasts of Scottish music.
'Scots Song' Teaching Course with top singer Christine Kydd: Over a series of six lessons Christine offers a cross section of songs suitable for you, the ?intermediate? singer- some examples chosen to illustrate the kinds of songs in Scots Tradition, some cultural, language and historical context, as well as giving you some great- fun- to- sing songs! Fee £38 (approx $76)
Scots Song Course: http://www.ayepod.net/webcasts/teaching/ck_scots_song.htm
Free Podcasts: Ayepod.net are giving away free podcasts of Scottish music. We have two strands - Ayepod Radio featuring the latest releases in Scottish music and Ayepod 11 Questions where we ask Scottish musicians to talk about their lives and music. Check them out here: http://www.ayepod.net/podcasts/podcasts.htm. They are also available on Itunes so do a search for Ayepod or look under Scotland and you?ll find them.
5. Reviews
CD 'Siubhal' James Graham: Customer Review 5 Stars
I recently picked up this CD by chance on a visit to Portree, Skye, and I have played it over and over again since that time. James has a pure, warm and stunningly beautiful voice. If you are not reduced to tears by at least two of these songs, then you aren't really listening. I hope we hear from him again soon!...Kathryn.
http://www.footstompin.com/music/scottish_song/siubhal
Book 'Blithe and Braw' (Nostalgic and Neglected Traditional Scots Poems): Customer Review 4 Stars
It was a very good read and very good value for money...David Murray
http://www.footstompin.com/books/traditions/blithe_and_braw
Shetland Folk Festival: Live Review for The Scotsman by Sue Wilson
AS SCOTLAND awoke to its equivocal new political dawn, the country's best post-election party was just kicking off in its northernmost archipelago, with the annual shipment of musicians arriving for the 27th Shetland Folk Festival.
Returning to a heroes' welcome were Irish headliners Four Men and a Dog, still cherished in local memory from their only previous festival visit, 14 years ago. Their Friday night double-bill with native sons Fiddlers' Bid was, like most of the weekend's 19 concerts, a sellout, and both bands rose triumphantly to the occasion........
Read the full review: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=708832007
Fiddlers Bid: http://www.footstompin.com/artists/fiddlers_bid
6. Books
Scottish Fiddlers and their Music : A history of the art, illustrated with photographs and music examples - giving over 100 complete reels, strathspeys, laments and slow airs. Mary Anne Alburger's admirable book. documents the development of the tradition for more than half a millennium from the fiddlers on James IV's payroll, through the manuscript and published collections of the 17th century to the traditional players and composers of the 20th century. An enjoyable read with lots of sample tunes and illustrations. It tells you all about the Scotch Snap and the up-driven bow. Extended treatment is given to such outstanding composers as Niel and Nathaniel Gow, William Marshall, Simon Fraser and James Scott Skinner. The new public for this music, both inside and outside Scotland, will find this book especially informative. £15.30 (£16.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/books/fiddle_music/scottish_fiddlers_and_their_music
The Denny & Dunipace Collection Volume 1: A new collection of pipe music for the Great Highland Bagpipe from a long-established pipe band based in the heart of Scotland?s central belt, this first volume of tunes contains over one hundred previously unpublished compositions alongside a few previously published 'classics'. The vast majority of these tunes have been composed either by past or present members of Denny and Dunipace Pipe Band Association or in some cases by composers associated with the current members of the Association. £14.40 (£15.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/books/bagpipemusic/denny_dunipace_book
7. Blog Watch: Simon Thoumire
Our founder Simon Thoumire has started an online blog detailing all the bits of work he does with Foot Stompin, Hands Up for Trad and many other projects. It will keep you up-to-date with all the goings on of the Scots Trad Music Awards, Hall of Fame and his many writing projects. You can check it out here.
http://simonthoumire.vox.com/
8. Foot Stompin' Celtic Music Discussion Forum:
Here are some of the topics under discussion at the moment on our Foot Stompin' Celtic Music Forum. Feel free to join in!
Nae Regrets - Grit
Can anyone identify the original artist on Nae Regrets on the Martyn Bennett CD Grit.
I'm finding it very interesting to find the original songs and hear them as they were originally http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82899
Lispin' Leghorn
Can anyone help me out with the words of the last verse of The Lispin' Leghorn?
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82906
Musical Youth
The Brunton Halls and Theatre Complex have started to pipe out loud classical music at the rear of their premises to deter the rowdier element of Musselburgh and elsewhere ("They're no' aw from roon aboot here") from congregating and causing a nuisance. I'm not sure if it's working as they still seem to be around although they maybe don't stay as long. The trouble is they just move elsewhere(displacement) and the music is louder than they were!!!...
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82852
9. Free Ringtone: Finlay MacDonald Band
We?ve just uploaded a new ringtone from the Finlay MacDonald Band?s new CD ? ReEcho. It?s a stompin? number which will soon let you know the phone is ringing!
http://www.footstompin.com/ringtones
10. Events
18th May: A celebration of Irish music in Glasgow. A night of stunning music at The National Piping Centre, 30-34 McPhater Street, Cowcaddens, Glasgow. Tickets £6.
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82893
17th - 24th May: Superb harp player and singer Corrina Hewat (with David Milligan on piano) continues her tour in the English Midlands. Here's where you can see her:
Thur 17 HEADON VILLAGE HALL, 7.30pm 01777 248 053
Fri 18 HARVINGTON VILLAGE HALL, 7.30pm 01386 870 817
Sat 19 CLEEVE PRIOR MEMORIAL VILLAGE HALL, 8.15pm 01789 773 814
Sun 20 BURTON LAZARS VILLAGE HALL, 7.30pm 01664 567 752
Tues 22 SPILSBY THEATRE, 7.30pm 01673 838 130
Wed 23 BRACEBOROUGH VILLAGE HALL, 8.00pm 01778 560 417
Thur 24 TEALBY VILLAGE HALL, 7.30pm 01673 838 294
http://www.corrinahewat.com
19th May: Frankie Gavin & Tim Edey: A fantastic concert featuring master Frankie Gavin the fiddler from De Dannan and boxplayer/guitarist Tim Edey with Scotland's own Dick Gaughan . 8pm at The St Bride's Centre, Edinburgh , 0131-346 1405 Tickets £12/10. More dates:
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82100
21st - 27th May: The Doune and Dunblane Fling 2007: A festival of concerts, ceilidhs, workshops and events for people of all ages. Plus concerts, sessions, shows and games, workshops, drama, dance, poetry, craft fair plus dungeon storytelling at Doune Castle. A friendly festival in a lovely setting, everyone very welcome. B&Bs in Dunblane, campsite nearby. Guests include Malinky, The Killer Pylons.
http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/may/obj13465
25th - 26th May: Isle of Skye Music Festival: This great Music Festival will once again be held at Ashaig Airstrip, Broadford on the stunning coastline of the Isle of Skye. Guests include Seth Lakeman, Burach,Skippinish, Session A9, Breabach, Giveway, Arthur Cormack, Avernish, Fred Morrison, Meantime, Fiona Mackenzie and Brian O Headhra. WEEKEND TICKET - includes camping and parking £75.
http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/may/obj26772
25th - 26th May: Biggar Spring Gaitherin'. Enjoy fabulous songs, tunes, workshops and concerts in the beautiful market town of Biggar, South Lanarkshire. Fabulous traditional music classes with top Scottish traditional musicians. Guests include Emily Smith, Simon Thoumire, Shona Mooney Band, The Cast, Clare McLaughlin, Marianne Campbell, Harris Playfair .
http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/may/obj53905
25th - 27th May: Le Weekend Festival Stirling: Scotland?s trailblazer of experimental music celebrates its birthday with a special line up of alluring alchemists of sound. The Tolbooth, Stirling. More details:
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82983
29th May: Elphinstone Institute Public Lecture. ?Niel Gow?s Lament for the Death of his 2nd Wife: The Changing Performance Style of Slow Airs since the Early 19th Century? with Iain Fraser. 7.30 - 9pm New King?s 1, King?s College,
University of Aberdeen. Admission £2 includes refreshments.
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=82628