2-Minute Catch up

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.


The World's Room, the monthly traditional singing club which the TMF runs, has been in abeyance this last wee while, as so much else. It was part, though, of a joint Burns celebration with the Howth Singing Circle, near Dublin, and Edinburgh Folk Club, which was a great success, despite all the limitations of the online environment. The haggis was addressed by our own Morag Dunbar, and around 20 singers and players from both sides of the Irish Sea contributed. All preserved for posterity on YouTube.



Burns Night has come and gone, and as usual attracted a flurry of articles and features across the media. One of the better (and unexpected) ones was the piece on piobaireachd in The Guardian which featured the Big Music Society's John Mulhearn, Head of Studies at the National Piping Centre.



The presentations from the What If... day back in November are now available online for anyone who would like to catch up on them or see them again. They are also on the TMF YouTube channel, a possibly under-used resource with some interesting playlists. Suggestions for material to feature always welcome!



A conversation with the excellent Kenny McGlashan of Youth Theatre Arts Scotland this week, a forum very like our own, with a lot of similarities in terms of activities, membership, European connections. It's always good to get perspectives from other art forms.



Speaking of Europe, the first results from European Folk Network's mapping project have now been collated with some analysis by Simon McKerrell of Newcastle University.



Celtic Connections's online foray has been a great success (although I'm sure it's not one they'll want to have to repeat; it will, however, have implications for how future CC festivals are structured) with reports of upwards of 10,000 ticket sales at tremendous value prices. Highlights for me were Westward the Light and an all too brief appearance by Beth Malcolm. Hoping to catch up on the New Voices strand at some point.



Online streaming came to the fore this week with a frankly ill-judged announcement by the Performing Rights Society about a new Limited Online Music Licence, which has caused a storm of complaint from musicians, especially those putting on small scale online gigs. There's concern as well that it may also apply to online teaching. The Musicians' Union has produced a useful overview. It's not clear if there might be implications for organisations providing online classes, but we'll be keeping a close eye. The principle of licensing composers' copyright material is fine, but the lack of consultation on this and the level at which the licensing costs has been set is not.



We sent out the TMF's work plan earlier this week. Thanks to those of you have been in touch.



Glasgow University is currently carrying out a survey on the future of the Scots language.



RIP Robin Brock, accordionist and double bass player, who played with Jimmy Shand, Bobby MacLeod and also on some of The Corries' early albums.



All the best
DF


David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum


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