Post by Tradional Music Forum on Jan 25, 2021 16:53:25 GMT
A weekly two minute catch-up for members from the
TMF Director's desk
These are some of the things that have caught my attention this week.
• Twitter lit up earlier this week when writer and comedian David Baddiel wrote, 'I like folk music, except when the singers sing in that...sort of operatic but with a local dialect way. It's probably the proper traditional way.' Not quite sure what he meant but lots of responses directing him towards people he should listen to, including even from the likes of Russell Crowe. Celebs endorsing our music never does any harm.
• Talking of celebs, Live Music Now Scotland CEO and TMF Board member, Carol Main and I were signatories to a letter in the Times (paywall unfortunately) demanding a better response from the UK Government to the Brexit-enforced restrictions on European touring. It got good coverage in the media, largely due to Elton John and the like having signed it.
• The sea shanty thing looks to be dying down a bit. It reminds me a bit of the crazes you used to get at primary school when all of a sudden out of nowhere it became the marbles season or whatever, fading away as quickly as it had come. The always interesting Adam Neely explores the form - and tells us that The Wellerman isn't actually a shanty strictly speaking.
• Excited to be able to get a Parish Maps project up and running with a little bit of project money we managed to secure. Three artists, including Poozies fiddler Sarah McFadyen, and shantywoman and textile artist, Jan Bee Brown, will work with communities in Hoy, Huntly and Restalrig in Edinburgh to create maps of their communities that reflect the things they value locally.
• As the Covid pandemic drags on and on, further support for venues comes in the shape of the Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund Unfortunately for a lot of folk and box and fiddle clubs who meet in hotels, pubs or community centres the fund won't apply for the most part. They'll only benefit if the venue they meet in has presenting music as its main function.
• Scotland's Sounds, the National Library of Scotland's project encouraging safeguarding and preservation of Scotland's informal sound archives, had an enjoyable networking event earlier this week, with over forty different local projects represented. Traditional music and song features heavily along with oral history. Anyone with any recordings is encouraged to get in touch.
• Showcase Scotland went online this week, illustrating once again the surprising degree of conviviality that can be created online. Using a mix of What's App and Zoom the event generated a lot of good will, banter and a bit of business for Scottish musicians too. There's not one participant though who isn't looking forward to meeting again in person next year. Huge congratulations to Lisa Whytock and her team for pulling off a successful event against the odds.
• One of the undoubted highlights of Showcase was the short film Sgeul-Rùin: Gaelic the Untold Story put together and presented by Mary Ann Kennedy. The film is a moving distillation of the importance of music to Gaelic language and culture. It won't be available online for various licensing reasons, but the plan is to show it at as many festivals and events as possible here and abroad. Look out for it.
• Musical highlight of the week for many has been the return of Celtic Connections online, with superb production values and a stellar line-up. Stand out for me, and I suspect many others was Duncan Chisholm's performance at Kelvingrove.
• It looked as if we were going to manage a bulletin this week without an obit, but sadly yesterday evening came with the news of the death of Willie Haines, a great character on the Edinburgh folk scene. From Dundee originally Willie was a fount of ideas and schemes, and he was responsible for the Blackfriars Music shop, the Thistle and Shamrock Ceilidh Band, and a driving force behind Edinburgh's Festival of Ireland. He was also a musician, an excellent concertina player. RIP.
All the best
DF