Fiddle The magazine for Scottish music enthusiasts
My year as a SQUAD MUSICIAN ACCORDION SHOWCASE
Falkirk Fiddle Workshop CLUB REPORTS PLUS CLUB & DANCE DIARIES, REVIEWS, AND MUCH MORE...
39th Year No. 06 Feb 2016
£2.70
BOX&
Welcome
B&F • EDITORIAL
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...to the February issue of Box & Fiddle The magazine for Scottish music enthusiasts
Editor • Pia Walker 7 Tarvit Gardens Cupar, Fife, KY15 5BT Tel: 01334 657 850 Mob: 07715 115 489 editor@boxandfiddle.com Designer • Marie Irvine mamidesigns@hotmail.com Section icons by: FlatIcon
Cover Image Torchlight procession Photo: ©Roy Walker Printer • Meigle Colour Printers www.meigleprint.co.uk
NAAFC Chairman • Nicol McLaren 9 Sheila Road, Blairgowrie Perthshire, PH10 6RP Tel: 01250 874 526 nicol@boxandfiddle.com Vice Chairman • Iain Cathcart Tel: 01555 661 017 iain@boxandfiddle.com Secretary • Susan MacFadyen Carlung Farm, West Kilbride Ayrshire, KA23 9PU Tel: 01294 823 865 susan@boxandfiddle.com Treasurer • Willie Johnstone treasurer@boxandfiddle.com Executive Committee: Charlie Kirkpatrick David Cunningham Margo Maclennan Richard Ross Tom Orr
I’m writing this editorial looking out onto a very wet and dreich garden in what seems like never ending dismal weather conditions. Well the end of 2015 and the start of 2016 have, for many of us and for many reasons, been devastating. I hope for all of you that 2016 will get better. All clubs should be back in full swing now Pia Walker, Editor (I still need to hear from some of you with regard to your guest artiste lists and meeting dates for 2016!) If you don’t tell people you are open, you won’t get an audience. I hear from many of you that clubs are struggling and indeed some clubs have had to close. I also read many reports of clubs giving money to charities local and otherwise, which is a brilliant idea – we have to help others at times. Is there anyway we can help each other in the same way? I’ll leave it up to you to think about. We have The Inchyra Festival coming up. I hope you have encouraged your local talent to sign up to the various competitions. Why not hire a mini-bus and make it a day and night out! The dance in the evening is a superb experience and the concert at the end of the competitions is a wonderful way to hear some fantastic talent. The overall winners are also invited to play for the star-studded audience at the annual Celebrity Luncheon in June and if you don’t compete at Inchyra, it won’t be you! It will also soon be Baffi time – so begin to think who you would like to nominate in the various categories – nomination slips will soon be with your club and in your magazine. This is YOUR magazine and the way your audience, players and guest artists are able to link to other clubs and to our world of music and beyond, do wave it about a bit (more) and get people to buy, subscribe and to advertise in it. Finally welcome to Macmerry A&F Club opening its doors on the 14th February, I hope you get a lot of visitors over the door. And with all the coughs and sneezes going around - Scottish music is better than a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down!
Pia
Keep up with the latest news at
www.boxandfiddle.com Box & Fiddle (NAAFC)
The editorial team reserves the right to refuse or edit all copy. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor. Use of material and advertising from this publication is strictly prohibited without permission in writing from the editor. While every care has been taken in compiling Box & Fiddle to ensure that it is correct at the time of going to press, Box & Fiddle assume no responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions.
Contents
B&F • CONTENTS
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12
© PHOTO: NICOL MCLAREN
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21 Club News
News Oban’s 40th Anniversary; Orkney Social Evening; Letters
11 Take The Floor 12 My Year as a Squad Musician NAAFC Chairman Nicol McLaren shares his story as lead musician with the Jarl’s Squad
16 Historical Music of Scotland website
17 Accordion Showcase Written by Karyn McCulloch
20 Falkirk Fiddle Workshop We find out more about the group
Deadlines:
20 The latest news from our clubs
30 Club Diary You are never too old to go Clubbing!
37 Dance Diary Find the nearest dances and ceilidhs
39 Reviews A 2nd collection of original compositions; The Seafaring Fiddler; Caught & Released
42 In Memory Norrie Williams
44 Sheet Music Glengoyne Distillery by Bill Stewart
All articles, adverts, club reports and text for the magazine must be e-mailed to the editor by the 5th of every month at the latest. Copy received after this date cannot be guaranteed to feature in the next issue.
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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM
NEWS
News
Send in your story. If you have a photo that tells a story, send it in with an explanation.
Celebrations 40th Anniversary Celebrations of the Oban Club Our November club night was a special night celebrating 40 years of the club, with a packed audience which included folk who had travelled from as far afield as Gretna and Shetland. Our guest band for the evening was the Charlie Kirkpatrick Trio. Charlie with Derek Hamilton and Gordon Young provided us with first class West Coast music along with a lot of hilarity and craic! Morven MacLeod, daughter of the late Duncan Campbell who was one of our founder members, presented the club with a generous cash
donation, which enabled us to purchase a new keyboard for the club. This was much appreciated by the committee and a lovely gesture in memory of Duncan who did so much for the club over the years. Morven and another founder member Neil Sinclair from
Connel were invited up to cut the 40th Anniversary cake, which was shared among the audience along with tea and coffee provided by the club. The night came to a close with the usual stramash. Here’s to the next 40 years!! Anne McFadyen
Congratulations to Shona on her marriage to Darin on 29th December.
B&F • NEWS
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NAAFC Festival News New Events for the 2016 festival Following up suggestions passed to the committee we are pleased to announce an Accordion Workshop to be led by Liam Stewart and a Fiddle Workshop by Marie Fielding.
Yince mair that’s anither year away, My best friens aye seem tae lead me astray, I don’t remember much o’ Hogmanay, They neeboors fra Hell. You’ll no believe the price I had to pay, I still don’t feel well.
IMAGE: © RETRO VECTORS
My New Year Resolution
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My bloodshot een hiv a permanent glaze, My skin resembles yon bright green beige, My memories are aw a misty haze, Aye lots forgotten. Promise next year I’ll mend my errant ways, I still feel rotten.
These will be FREE of charge.
Noo I’ve made it absolutely clear, My resolution for this time next year, Is tae cut doon on my whsky and beer. But I’ll no tell a lie, There’s yin ither think I’ll no go near, That’s anither steak pie.
If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact Margaret Knight email: magsknight19@gmail.com or phone 0131 660 1926.
I am jist aboot shair it was tae blame, Aw my neeboors they seem tae think the same. Noo jist let me admit frae whence it came, It fell aff a lorry. I felt richt prood as I cerried it hame, But noo I’m sorry. Davie Grahame [Yes Davie, it is always the food!]
Take The Floor 6th Feb – Alasdair MacLeod SDB 6th Feb – Archive Session 20th Feb – Repeat of Jim Lindsay programme from 14th November 2015 27th Feb – Robert Nairn SDB
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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM
quad SMusician my Year as a
PHOTOS: © ROY WALKER & NICOL MCLAREN
An Interview with Honorary Viking and Chairman of the NAAFC, Nicol McLaren
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our editor braved Frank the Fiery to go to Edinburgh on the 30th of December 2015 to see the awesome sight of the Torchlight Procession led through Edinburgh by the Jarl’s Squad from Shetland. Amongst the torch-bearing Vikings was a face well-known to us all and your editor decided to interview this musician about his year with the Squad.
Nicol – when you were asked to join the Jarl’s Squad as their lead musician, what was your first thought? I was absolutely overwhelmed! I’ve been going to UHA since 1993, always with the band. 2015 was my first time with any squad. When were you asked to take part? In 2010 Neil Robertson (Jarl Olav Haraldsson) asked if I would lead his musicians in 2015 - 5 years ahead of ‘his year’. UHA is well planned; Jarls, for example, are elected 16 years ahead of their time!
Tell me a little about the preparations that you had to do? A prerequisite of the role is to write the Jarl’s signature tune for his year – which can’t be revealed to the public until UHA day! Every year all the parts of the Jarl Squad’s representation of a Viking King and his band of warriors are made from scratch by members of the Squad. The Jarl starts planning many years in advance, so ‘production’ can start in February when ‘The Bunker’ (Jarl Squad Headquarters) is handed over to the incumbent Jarl. Whenever I had a free weekend I went up to
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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM
Historical Music of Scotland website by Karen E McAulay
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www.hms.scot
previously wrote about our fiddle music research, the Bass Culture project in the Box & Fiddle. After compiling all the tune book details, along with brief biographies of all the people associated with them, and adding comments about the books, our software developer worked with project leader Dr David McGuinness to turn all this into a usable, searchable website. The website is now up and running at www.hms. scot – and will be launched in February. What we need now is for everyone to visit the website and to give your feedback! The website is much more than a huge great list of books. Finding the books was the first part, but equally important was our wish to enable musicians to look at the books themselves – the whole books, not just codes or opening snippets of tunes. We weren’t trying to duplicate or replace Charlie Gore’s index, but to complement it. While I was checking catalogues for tune-books, I was also looking to see which could already be read online. The best online collection at the moment is the National Library of Scotland’s Digital Gallery. It’s a vast collection of different kinds of historical material with some great Scottish material. The EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House obviously has an English focus, but there are a few Scottish gems amongst their digital offering too. (They call it The Full English.) IMSLP (the Petrucci Music Library) and Archive.org have patchy coverage too.
about seeing the original editions, with extra context like a particularly informative dedication, comments about playing the pieces, or their provenance. We uploaded digitized copies of 22 entire fiddle tunebooks from the Special Collection at the University of Glasgow and the Local History section of the A K Bell Library at Perth. They were all published in the late 18th and early 19th century. We chose them because they looked particularly interesting from a musical point of view, or were central to the repertoire. We listed every tune in these collections, so you can compare how different compilers treated the same tune. You can look up tunes and be taken directly to the page in the book or books where they appear. There are also full book details and locations for the other 200+ collections that we had looked at, thumbnail biographies of those compilers or publishers too and hyperlinks to any digitized collections that we found. If you visit our website, even if we haven’t digitized and indexed a book as part of our own project, we provide pointers to where you can find them either as hard or as digitized copies, including advice as to whether they are modern transcriptions, with or without accompaniment, or genuine digitized facsimiles of the original books. Hopefully in the future different material will be added, if more research funding becomes available. Meanwhile – happy fiddling! l
OUR ‘ADDED VALUE’ DIGITIZED INPUT People should be able to see what the original books looked like. Some collections have been republished in modern editions; this gets them back into circulation again, but there’s something special
FIND OUT MORE Twitter @BassyCulture Project blog http://bassculture.info/ Website www.hms.scot There’s a link on the homepage for giving feedback.
B&F • FEBRUARY 2016
O
n Sunday 25th October 2015 some of Scotland’s finest accordionists assembled in the Renfield St Steven’s Church in Glasgow for the first ever Accordion Showcase. The event was organised by Roy Hendrie (ably assisted by Alan Shute) to try and keep the accordion alive in Scotland. A great concert of all music styles played on all types of accordion and a trade area, which does exactly what it says on the tin: Showcases the accordion. The trade area opened at 6 pm, with displays of accordions, accessories, CD’s and demonstrations of the Limex midi system. Traders from all over the country attended, from Bellshill to Birmingham. The place was soon filled to capacity with people viewing accordions, trying some out, listening to demonstrations – and having a good old blether with old friends! Then at ca. 7.30pm it was time for the main event: The Accordion Showcase. Not a spare seat was to be had, a complete sell out! Not surprising really, with a line-up of top-class musicians, and we were treated to a feast of music from traditional Scottish dance band music, to classical, jazz and folk. Roy Hendrie welcomed us and thanked all the traders, all the helpers for attending and supporting the event, not forgetting Gary Blair and members of the Jimmy Blair Orchestra for assisting during the
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ACCORDION
by Karyn McCulloch
day and with the refreshments stall. The MC was the one and only Mr John Carmichael. John kept the evening running smoothly in his own inimitable style, and even told a story or two, while the stage was being set up for the next artiste. First artist on stage was Liam Stewart from Galston. Liam demonstrated his remarkable accordion playing skills. He started, quite appropriately, given the venue with a church organ sound akin to the Kelvingrove gallery. Then it was onto some West Coast style tunes, complete with a flute! A helping of French music was next, with some fancy finger work. I don’t think anyone had expected to be singing along with some ABBA music. Liam then turned the bass end of the accordion into a drum kit, and gave us his very own drum salute. Pipes then joined in, complete with drones! A haunting
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B&F • CLUB NEWS
Club News Just remember to seek permission to publish the photos and tell us the name of the photographers.
To ensure a more readable section, please only send in max 250-300 words. A photo tells a better story, so add one or two of those too. Why not of your audience? If you don’t have a report to write, then mention someone from your club or a special event and send in a relevant photo. Information in Club News helps attract visitors to your club, so make sure your club sounds like the place we want to go to.
ANNAN ST ANDREW The December meeting took the form of a festive dinner dance. A superb meal was prepared and served by Shona and her band of helpers with those present being offered turkey or roast beef with roast and boiled potatoes plus all the seasonal trimmings. This was followed by a choice of sweets. Music for dancing was provided by Brian Griffin from Lockerbie, who played an electronic piano accordion. Brian is an accomplished musician who plays harmony accordion in the Iain MacPhail Scottish Dance Band, playing solo, has performed at venues across the world. The music was superb and from the first dance until the last, the floor was thronged with dancers. The organisers wish to thank all who have supported the club over the past year and to them and to all members of the community extend their best wishes for the year ahead. BEITH We had an excellent turnout for our December meeting,
John ‘Jolly’ Caskie, Biggar
which took the form of a club night. Players during the evening on accordion were John Cowan, Lyn Matthew, Janet Graham, Archie Gardiner, Susan MacFadyen, Robin Wilson, Jim Hendry and Stuart Faulds. On fiddle we had Shona MacFadyen, on harmonica Andrew Clacher, on piano Jim Law, John Strachan and Susan MacFadyen and on drums Graham Reid and Alan Brown. A great night of music included a lot of festive favourites, which had the audience singing along enthusiastically. Susan, Shona and I then took the opportunity to thank everyone for there
support and wished them a very happy festive season. Elma BIGGAR Our December meeting on 13th took the form of a club night without a guest artist. On reflection that’s probably a bit of a misnomer when your local artists belong mainly to Keith Dickson’s School of Music and, as if things weren’t normally first class, this time he had persuaded several new faces to come along. On accordions during the evening were Charlie Todd, India Smith, Fin Hope with dad Jamie also
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B&F • WWW.BOXANDFIDDLE.COM
Club Diary Please contact editor@boxandfiddle.com for any corrections to the diary. Please note that the column for Guest Artistes have moved to between Club and Venue
February 2016 DATE
CLUB
GUEST ARTISTE
VENUE
TIME
CONTACT
1
Thurso
Matthew Maclennan SDB
Pentland Hotel, Thurso KW14 7AA
7.30 pm
Ian Wright 01847 892 050
2
Campsie
Iain Buchanan SDB
Glazert Country House Hotel, Lennoxtown G66 7DJ
7.30 pm
Billy Hutton 0141 776 2344
2
Fort William
Donald Macleod
Railway Club, Inverlochy, Fort William PH33 6LY
8.00 pm
Alisdair MacDonald 01397 701 505
2
Islesteps
Roddy Mathews Trio
Locharbriggs Social Club, Locharbriggs DG1 1XS
7.30 pm
Ian Gray 01387 760 276
2
North East
Barbara Anderson
Royal British Legion, Keith AB55 5EN
7.30 pm
Mrs Petrie 01542 860 246
2
Seghill
John Morgan
Seghill Comrades Club, Cramlington NE23 7TQ
7.30 pm
James Youngson 01670 356 410
3
Dingwall
Barbara Anderson Duo
National Hotel, Dingwall IV15 9HA
7.30 pm
Elspeth Weir 01349 877 675
3
Glenfarg
John Stuart
Glenfarg Village Hall, Glenfarg PH2 9NZ
8.00 pm
Russell Robertson 01577 830 642
3
Montrose
Wayne Robertson Duo
Park Hotel, Montrose DD10 8RJ
7.30 pm
Ron Ramsay 01241 879 487
3
Orkney
Club Night (Visitors welcome)
The Reel, Kirkwall KW15 1KD
7.30 pm
Jim Marwick 01856 874 474
4
Crieff
Matthew Maclennan
The British Legion, Crieff PH7 3EB
8.00 pm
Irene Anderson 01764 654 298
4
Isle of Skye
Strathpeffer Dance Band
The Royal Hotel, Portree IV51 9BU
7.30 pm
info@skyemusic.co.uk
4
Lewis and Harris
Elizabeth Mackenzie Trio
Caladh Inn, Stornoway HS1 2QN
8.00 pm
Janette MacIver 01851 704 870
4
Oban
Michael Garvin
The Royal Hotel, Oban PA34 4BE
7.30 pm
Anne McFadyen 01631 562 077
4
Turriff
Kevin Cheyne Scottish Dance Band
Commercial Hotel, Cuminestown AB53 5WJ
7.30 pm
Pat Steele 01888 562 486
6
Uist and Benbecula
Club Night (Visitors welcome)
Church of Scotland Hall, Benbecula HS7 5QA
8.00 pm
Angus MacDonald 01870 602432
7
Arbroath
Janet Graham SDB
Arbroath Artisan Golf Club, Elliot, By Arbroath DD11 2PE (Doors open at 7.30pm)
8.00pm
Tony Simpson 01241 875 326
7
Gretna
Marian Anderson Trio
The Gables Hotel Gretna, Gretna Green DG16 5DQ
7.15 pm
David Bell 01228 523 957
9
Blairgowrie
Graeme Mitchell SDB
Red House Hotel, Coupar Angus PH13 9AL
7.45 pm
Helen Aitchison 01821 670 302
9
Dunfermline
Wullie Scott
Sportsman Bar, Rosyth KY11 2NX
7.30 pm
Bob Adam 01383 306 142
9
Renfrew
Jimmy Blair Orchestra
Moorpark Masonic Halls, Renfrew PA4 0SA
7.30 pm
Ian Murchison 0141 889 4711
9
Seghill
Club Night (Visitors welcome)
Seghill Comrades Club, Cramlington NE23 7TQ
7.30 pm
James Youngson 01670 356 410
10
Alnwick
Ewan Galloway & his 5-piece Band
The Farriers Arms, Alnwick NE66 2XX
7.30 pm
Leonard Brown 07758 723 355
B&F • DANCE DIARY
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Dance Diary
View the Scottish Country Dances online at www.dancediary.info/index.html Contact: ceilidh@dancediary.info Tel: 01389 767718 or send your entry to: Alasdair Graham, 1 First Avenue, Dumbarton G82 2PU
Ceilidh & Old Time Dances
Regular Weekly Events
DATE
TOWN
HALL
BAND
TIME
COST
CONTACT
COMMENTS
Every Monday
Dumbarton
St Patrick’s Hall
Recorded
7.30pm
£4
Door - 01436 268 238
Jim & Sue
Dundee
Abertay University
Recorded
7.00 pm
£1
Door/Pia - 01334 654 427
Class
Kirkwall
St Magnus Centre
Live Music
7.30-10pm
£3/£1
Door - All Welcome
Orkney Dance Assoc.
Bonnyrigg
Pitcairn Centre
Live Music
7.30-10pm
£4
Door (Jennifer Johnstone)
Ceilidh & Old Time
Coupar Angus
St Anne’s Church Hall
-
7pm-9pm
£2.50
01828 628 480
Ceilidh-Tracy Thom
Every Wednesday
Garelochhead
Parish Church
-
2pm-4pm
£2 (tea)
01436 671 089
Social Club
Glasgow
St Andrews in Square
Live Music
7.15pm -9.30
£5.50 Bar
Door (Tricia Matthews) 01324 716855
Ceilidh & Old Time Class
Midlem
Village Hall
Live Music
8pm-10pm
£2 (tea)
Door 01835 870 244
Old Time Dance Group
Stornoway
Primary School
-
7pm-9pm
-
01851 704 870
Ceilidh & Old Time
Every Thursday
Kirkton
Village Hall DG1 1ST
Live Music
7.30pm -10pm
£3 refreshments
John M Caskie 01387 710 975
Old Tyme Dance Group
Every Friday
Stornoway
Primary School
-
7.30pm - 9.30pm
-
Janette Maciver 01851 704 870
Ceilidh & Old Time Term Time Only
Ceilidh & Old Time Dances
February 2016
DATE
TOWN
HALL
BAND
TIME
COST
CONTACT
COMMENTS
6
Largoward
Village Hall
Dave Husband S.
8pm-11pm
£5 Tea
07961 437 615
Weekly Dance KY9 1HZ
6
Inverness
Kirkhill C. Hall
George Rennie
8pm-12mn
£5 Tea
01463 870 508
Social Dancers - B.Y.O.B.
12
Lockerbie
Town Hall
Neil Hardie
7.30-11.30
£7 Adv. T
01576 202 665
A.& F.C. Dance B.Y.O.B.
12
Aberdeen
Ashdale Hall
Garioch Blend
8pm-12mn
Advance T
01224 713 674
Blackburn – Charity + Raffle
12
Irvine
Volunteer Rooms
Ian Muir
7.30-11.30
£7 B.Y.O.B.
01292 316 815
Ayrshire Ceilidh Club
12
Foulden
Village Hall
Dod Hutchison
8pm-12mn
£6 [No Bar]
01289 386 400
Supper Dance – soft drinks sold
12
Bridge of Earn
The Institute
Johnny Duncan
8pm-11pm
£5 [No Bar]
07952 026 633
Pay at Door
13
Largoward
Village Hall
Willie McFarlane
8pm-11pm
£5 Tea
07961 437 615
Weekly Dance KY9 1HZ
13
Canonbie
Village Hall
Nicky McMichan
7.30-11.30
£6 Tea
07704 727 463
BYOB & Food.
13
Inverness
Daviot Village Hall
Lindsay Weir
8pm-12mn
£5 BYOB
01540 651 377
Cairngorm Ceilidh dancers
14
Blairgowrie
Royal Hotel
Gordon Pattullo
2pm-5pm
£5 [Bar]
07719 838 452
Includes Stovies
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