Scottish Folk News

1. New at Foot Stompin': Includes Honk Toot Suite, Five Hand Reel
2 Kids Stuff!
3. Snippets: Tale of a Stolen Concertina; The Red Hot Chilli Pipers on TV
4. Game for a Laugh - Colin Campbell
5. Reviews: includes Simon Thoumire & David Milligan, Rory Campbell
6. Foot Stompin' Radio programme
7. New Books: Michael Grey's Music for Everyone
8. Foot Stompin' Celtic Music Discussion Forum: Scots Singers, it's just a wee 'doze' o' 'Scotch Fiddle'!
9. Events
1. New at Foot Stompin' Celtic Music (10% discount on all sales after first
purchase.)
TOOT TOOT!! Honk Toot Suite - Éamonn Coyne and Kris Drever : Renowned tenor banjo player Éamonn Coyne teams up with guitarist Kris Drever. This eminently appealing collection of tunes and songs showcases the gifts of each of these talented Celtic musicians. Traditional tunes and songs complemented by the addition of several original compositions. The CD brings together and highlights the duo?s interest in the quirky side of the music they play, culminating in a swingy and groove orientated mix of tunes. One of the most enjoyable duet albums to be released in the genre in recent years. Hear a track on our radio show. £12.60 (£13.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/guitarmusic/honk_toot_suitecd
A FINE DEBUT!! When Leaves Fall - Lauren MacColl: The debut CD from the 2005 BBC Radio Two Young Folk Award winner, fiddle player Lauren MacColl. The recording features MacColl's 'spellbinding and starkly beautiful' playing of traditional highland, and self penned material. With Barry Reid - guitar; James Ross - piano; Luke Daniels -accordion. . £11.70 (£12.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/fiddle_music/when_leaves_fall
SOMETHING SPECIAL !! 5 Hand Reel - Five Hand Reel: The renowned 'folk/rock' band Five Hand Reel got together in the early 1970s. A change of personnel saw renowned Scots singer Dick Gaughan join them in 1975 going on to make three albums with them between 1976 and 1978. The first titled 'Five Hand Reel' was voted "Folk Album of the Year" for 1976 by Melody Maker. Although Dick left the band in 1978, the band continued to tour and went on to record another album in 1979 before finally splitting in 1980. Now, the three much requested original albums, Five Hand Reel, For A' That and Earl O' Moray featuring musicians Bobby Eaglesham (vocals, mandolin, guitars, dulcimer, side drum), Dick Gaughan (vocals, guitars, tin whistle, cittern), Tom Hickland (vocals, fiddle, keyboards), Barry Lyons (bass, keyboards), Dave Tulloch (percussion, side drum) have been digitally re-mastered and issued as a double album under the title 5 Hand Reel. This set is something really special! £12.60 (£13.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/celtic_bands/5_hand_reel_cd
FAR AWAY PLACES!! The Wilderness - Margaret Scollay: A CD of fiddle and piano music from Shetland. There is also an accompanying book of the tunes. Margaret is a Shetland musician playing a lovely selection of her tunes plus a few from other Shetland musicians on fiddle and piano. There's everything here from slow airs to reels and these are not all strictly fiddle tunes as most are very suited to accordion and band use. So whether you are someone who enjoys listening to well played traditional style fiddle music, or a musician looking for some exciting new tunes to learn this CD will satisfy both. . £11.70 (£12.99 for first time customers)
Also available is The Wilderness Collection, a well-presented spiral bound book, with excellent notes printed on good quality paper with the running order of the music corresponding with the CD tracks. Bowings and chords. . £11.70 (£12.99 for first time customers)
CD: http://www.footstompin.com/music/fiddle_music/the_wilderness_cd
Book: http://www.footstompin.com/books/fiddle_music/wilderness_vol_12_book
WATER MUSIC!! The Splashing Rocks of Melness - Lee MacKay: This debut CD features lovely dance music played by the talented young accordionist Lee MacKay and friends from Caithness. The title track was penned by Lee for the much admired coxwain of the Thurso lifeboat. . £11.70 (£12.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/accordion/the_splashing_rocks
2. Kids Stuff (big & wee)
Bears, Crows & Centipedes - Alastair McDonald: We love this! A collection of fun songs for children but which will appeal to all ages with such favourites as Coulter's Candy, Sam the Skull, and of course, Matt McGinn's "The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede", - so, are ye ready tae sing?
The wee Kirkcudbright centipede wis very very sweet
She wis ever so proud of every wan O' her hundred feet,
Early every moarning, Her neebours cam tae glance
She always entertained them wi a beautiful wee dance.
As leg number 94 gave 95 a shunt
Legs number 1 and 2 were twisting up at the front
As legs number 9 an 10 were wrigglin up the side,
Legs number 73 and 4 were doin' the Palais Glide...
£11.25 (£12.50 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/scottish_song/bears_crows_centipedes
3. Snippets
Stuart Cassells & The Red Hot Chilli Pipers
As reported in our last newsletter Piper Stuart Cassells with The Red Hot Chilli Pipers will be contestants on the popular BBC1 Television programme " When Will I Be Famous?" which airs this Saturday 24th February at 9.35pm. This Scottish group combine fast paced innovative piping with a variety of lively percussion and are guaranteed to spice up any event. "When Will I Be Famous?" is a live show for all the family hosted by comic Graham Norton, showcasing the very best variety acts from the UK and around the world. Each week, different acts put their skills to the vote with the winner taking home a cash prize of £10,000. Tune in to the programme and vote for Stuart and the boys. Lets get more Scottish trad music on TV. You can read about the show here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/whenwillibefamous/index.shtml
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers: http://www.footstompin.com/artists/red_hot_chilli_pipers
Tale of a Stolen Concertina
Jock Tamson's Bairns musician Norman Chalmers, was devastated when he found that his van had been broken into and a case containing all of his instruments including his much-loved Wheatstone black wooden-ended aeola 48 key concertina stolen.. As soon as Foot Stompin' heard the news, the details were flagged up on the website discussion forum. Later that day, a person came into the wonderful 'Folk Revolution' trad music shop in Glasgow and offered to sell them a concertina (and some very special whistles). Smelling a rat(sic), a member of staff checked the Foot Stompin forum and, making the connection was able to retrieve at least some of Norman's treasured items.
Billy Kelly RIP
We were sad to hear of the sudden death of concert promoter Billy Kelly. He did so much work including his festivals, concerts, Tune Up tours and McEwan's Sessions. Billy had a passionate understanding of the music, and his breadth of knowledge was reflected in all the amazing acts he brought to Scotland.
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=74678
4. Game for a Laugh
We thought you would like these two items music and mayhem from self-confessed failed organic farmer and would-be boxie player, comedian Colin Campbell.
Colin Campbell - The Collected Songs: (Double Audio CD): Colin Campbell is the popular entertainer in the North East of Scotland famous for his portrayal of the various humorous aspects of farming and crofting in Scotland. His is clever, observant humour about Scottish rural life which, if the laughter on the Cds is anything to go by, touches the spot for his audience. This is a double CD from his popular live concerts with such gems as Road Rage Cowboy and Mrs Mac's B & B. £12.60 (£13.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/music/comedy/the_collected_songs_cd
Colin Campbell - Local Radio Volume 13 (DVD): 80 minutes of laughter and songs from a Scottish Farmer. Colin? Campbell's hilarious sketches and songs can be appreciated even better at this live performance, where his tales of local mayhem have his audience in stitches. £14.40 (£15.99 for first time customers)
http://www.footstompin.com/dvds/scottish_dvds/local_radio_13_dvd
5. Reviews
CD. Intrepid - Rory Campbell: Reviewed for Scotland on Sunday by Norman Chalmers
Widely admired as the piper/low whistle expert with Old Blind Dogs, Campbell is one of Scotland's trekkie pipers, boldly taking the instrument to new universes, while respecting his traditional background - his father is a respected Barra singer. The son also sings, and here gives us some in Gaelic and English, both traditional and self-penned, while the instrumental sets - on bellows pipes, and with Johnny Hardie's fiddle and Donald Hay's drums - move through continents, cultures and genres. This powerful music has a Scottish soul and an appealingly international outlook. http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com
Hear a track on our radio show. http://www.footstompin.com/music/bagpipe_music/intrepid
CD. Chì Mi?n Tìr - Iain Angus MacLeod: Customer Review 5 stars
A fantastic CD,with great variety,great timing and feeling in this music.A real west coast sound and you could not get more west coast than "Chi Mi'n Tir 'san Rbh Mi 'nam Bhalach.Well done guys.... Sheila Mackay
http://www.footstompin.com/music/celtic_dance/chi_min_tir
CD. Siubhal - James Graham: Customer Review 5 stars
A brillant album and different from all other albums I have about gaelic-music. His voice is clear as glass. He's a pure Scottish! Highly recommended!!!....Iris Kaiser
http://www.footstompin.com/music/scottish_song/siubhal
Live Concert: Simon Thoumire & David Milligan at Celtic Connections Festival 2007 Reviewed for The Scotsman by Sue Wilson. Five Stars
THE Scottish duo of Simon Thoumire and David Milligan unites small and large members of the keyed instrument family, with Thoumire on concertina and Milligan on piano - here, a Steinway grand. Both players' backgrounds in jazz as well as folk, have long marked them out as two of the most inventive talents on the contemporary Celtic scene, and their set was nothing short of electrifying.
Rarely, if ever, have I heard material and arrangements of such difficulty, complexity and sophistication wear those qualities so lightly, be it in the pair's many marvellous reworkings of traditional-style tunes - brimming equally with wit, mischief and virtuosity - or in their version of a fiendishly intricate piece by the Russian pianist/composer Misha Alperin, itself spliced with a Jelly Roll Morton-ised fiddle reel.
Another highlight was Thoumire's slow air My Mary, a setting of a William Cowper love-poem addressed to a dying wife, with Milligan's introduction of it as "a very beautiful tune" proving the understatement of the night.
http://www.footstompin.com/music/modern/the_big_day_in
6. Foot Stompin' Internet Radio Programme
This show features: Intrepid by Rory Campbell, Kintulavig by Jenna Cumming, Lightweights and Gentlemen by Lau, Honk Toot Suite by Eamonn Coyne & Kris Drever, No. 1 Scottish - Traditional Music from the RSAMD, Executive Club by Marie Fielding
7. New Books
Michael Grey - Music for Everyone (Volume 5). A collection of tunes for the Highland Bagpipe. With many major solo titles to his credit, successful books of music on the shelves, compositions in the repertoires of bands the world over, Michael Grey is undoubtedly one of the world's foremost pipers. Ten years since his last book, Michael has produced his long-awaited fifth book of music, "Music for Everyone". This jam-packed, almost double-sized 68 page extravaganza has almost 80 tunes covering outstanding music for pipers of all experience levels. This glossy production features photographs from the collections of both Michael and his many contributors, including Gavin Stoddart, his father, George, Allan MacDonald, Bruce Gandy, Donald McBride, Sean Somers, Rob Menzies and more. £11.70 (£12.99 for first time customers) http://www.footstompin.com/books/bagpipemusic/michael_grey_vol_5
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!
Scots Singers
Does anyone know any Scots Singers preferably not Gaelic and not Jacobite songs?
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=75736
Regional Playing Styles
I'm researching a project for my Ethnology degree which is about what influences regional styles in traditional music. For example, a lot of people have talked about 'playing with an accent', language having an influence on a regional playing style, landscape, and dance....
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=75561
.... it's just a wee 'doze' o' 'Scotch Fiddle'!
Aaaaaah - the good old days!: "The staple diet (in the Bothy) was brose - oatmeal and boiling water - which many servants had to make do with, three times a day.....
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=75376
9. Events
21st - 27th February: Bellows and Bows - Tune Up Tour: With Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, The Savoy Doucet Cajun Band and Bengan Janson & Bjorn Stabi. Kicking off in Aberdeen and ending in Edinburgh. More details:
http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=75506
22nd February: Michael Marra 8pm., The Star Folk Club, St Andrew's in the Square (off Saltmarket) Glasgow. Widely acclaimed as one of Scotland's most talented & original songwriters and performers.
http://www.starfolkclub.com
24th February: The Highland Annual - A brilliant annual ceilidh which takes place over 3 floors of in Edinburgh University's Teviot House. Non stop song, music and dancing to great ceilidh music from 9pm - 3am. There's also an open stage. Guests include Farquhar MacDonald, Meantime, Fergie MacDonald Maeve MacKinnon and more http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/february/obj26880
24 - 25th February: Cello & Scottish Harp Festival: The first ever Scottish Harp and Cello Festival will be held in Milngavie, near Glasgow (Scotland) on the weekend of February 24th ? 25th. There will be classes and workshops during the day and a concert and ceilidh on the Saturday evening.
http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/february/obj72573
3rd - 4th March: Spring Fling: A great two day event in February at the Gaelic College on the Island of Skye which combines some of Scotland's finest tutors with a group of highly enthusiastic participants- the result is a fabulous weekend of instruction and cèilidhs. Great fun for participants and tutors alike.
http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/february/obj14225