Post by Traditional Music Forum on Mar 27, 2021 17:40:27 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.
I only managed to see one film in the Folk Film Gathering last weekend, the Amber Collective's 'From Us to Me', a documentary cutting in footage and interviews from the old German Democratic Republic with footage of the same people now. A lot to think about, in terms of rapid social change and its effect on individuals and communities, what is gained and what is lost. The films are now behind a paywall (inexpensive) but you can still link to the excellent accompanying musical performances here.
Blackout Tuesday happened rapidly and not without controversy, and saw, among other things, the suspension of the TRACS programme that day and the postponement of the scheduled Cross Party Group on Music until this coming Tuesday (9th).
It was a reminder that our part of the music world is not particularly diverse. It's complicated, but complication doesn't stop us from being open or showing solidarity.
Last Friday Roddy MacLeod stood down as Director of the National Piping Centre after 24 years. It's fair to say that those 24 years have been fairly momentous for piping, with the development of the Centre itself, the merger with the College of Piping, Piping Live!, the piping degree in partnership with the RCS, and the establishment of the National Youth Pipe Band all happening on Roddy's watch. That's some legacy, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone in the trad music world in wishing him well.
The estimable Help Musicians organisation has launched a second wave of its hardship fund for musicians, in particular those who did not meet the criteria for government support for freelancers (early career musicians with less than three years accounts, for example). The fund opens today.
Among the latest round of cancellations is the Association of Festival Organisers conference, due to be held in Birmingham this November. It has been postponed until February next year.
Also on the festival front, but equally applicable to all live events, is the certainty that social distancing will not work financially for our activities. Melvin Benn of Festival Republic has put forward what he calls the Full Capacity Plan, which calls for an increase in Covid-19 testing, and proposes access to events, bars, and restauarants as an incentive to encourage people to get tested. Benn wants to see entertainment and the arts open at full capacity, arguing that partial re-opening is still financially disastrous.
Another plug for Make Music Day on the 21st of this month, which this year will include a global livestream of performances of Auld Lang Syne. Today is the deadline for submitting videos - backing tracks if you need them, and recording tips here
Events this week put me in mind of Hamish Henderson's line 'Broken faimilies and lands we've herriet/ Will curse 'Scotland the Brave' nae mair, nae mair' from 'Freedom, Come All Ye'. Stirring version from Robyn Stapleton and Skippinish
RIP Magda Sagarzazu, one of the last links with John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw of Canna, and a great authority on the archive there.
All the best
DF
David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum
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