Post by Traditional Music Forum on Mar 22, 2021 14:20:30 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.
Finally finished the first draft of the thing I've been writing about the feasiblity of a musician-owned, co-operative streaming platform for music produced in Scotland, and sent to a couple of colleagues for initial comment. More work to be done, but good to have got something started. Resisting the temptation to call it Jockify...
Monday saw the first in a series of three online mini-conferences, 'Spring Forward', held by the European Folk Network, with around 70 delegates from Iceland to Slovenia, and a good sprinkling of folk from Scotland. It was something of a consolidation after the Covid hiatus, with a recap of aims and objectives, an AGM, and a presentation by Simon McKerrell on the first stage of EFN's mapping project. The potential is enormous as was evidenced by the post-conference breakout rooms where we got the chance to meet and chat with those present after a rather one-way procession of talk earlier. The next one, on Saturday 24 April, promises to be much more interactive.
Still on international matters, Global Music Match has announced a new round of applications. Musicians in Scotland are eligible to apply to the scheme, thanks to Showcase Scotland, one of GMM's founding organisations. Every week for the run of the project, one band/musician from each of the 18 participating countries will ‘introduce’ another artist from a different country, using both of their social media profiles to cross-promote to their audiences. The first round was very successful, so this is a great opportunity.
Brian Ferguson's piece in The Scotsman this week on the impact of Covid was interesting. One comment that stuck out for me was from Adrian Turpin of Wigtown Book Festival on the turn to digital that the pandemic has prompted. "At the moment, the pivot to digital is still essentially a defensive manoeuvre. But soon - I hope - we will start to see it as simply another powerful tool in our toolbox, one that we learnt to use in adversity - which is where a lot of the best learning takes place."
I sit on the board of Luminate, Scotland's creative ageing organisation, which is recruiting new board members, including a new Chair and Treasurer, for later this year. It's a brilliantly well-run organisation that has commissioned work from the likes of Karine Polwart and Corrina Hewat in recent times. If interested contact CEO, Anne Gallagher (you don't have to be old!)
One of the things I had to try and get my head round when writing that streaming report was the tangled question of copyright. Right on cue comes notice of what looks like a very useful document produced by the UK Government Intellectual Property Office and the excellent CMU Insights. It will be published this coming Monday (22nd) and you'll be able to download it here.
We do a biannual round of membership renewals in Spring and Autumn, and it's the time of the Spring folk (and not a few who have slipped from the Autumn round), who should have received their renewal notices from Tina. Membership has been twenty quid since the Forum was officially constituted in 2009 with no plans to raise it any time soon. The important factor is the number and the breadth of the membership which you bring. That is what helps to give the TMF authority in its work.
Chair, Lori Watson and I, along with other folk in the TRACS collective, have signed a letter from the Heritage Crafts Association to the UK Government urging it to reconsider its position on signing the UNESCO Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. The UK is one of only thirteen countries in the world not to have signed, but the signs are that the letter might be at last pushing on an open door as attitudes in Government are changing.
In the 1960s you didn't have bands, you had groups. One of the most successful on the folk scene at the time was the Ian Campbell Folk Group, headed up by an exiled Scot who had moved to Birmingham for work when a teenager. This clip gives an idea of the style - polished presentation, matching shirts, strong singing. You'll spot a young Dave Swarbrick, wearing his dad's moustache and trousers. The introduction is by Rory McEwan, whose aristocratic background could hardly have been more different to the Marxist trade unionist, Campbell's. The folk scene has always been a broad church.
I had hoped to bring you some exciting news about a great development for one of the TMF trustees, but it's embargoed, so I can't. All will be revealed next week.
All the best
DF
David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum
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