Post by Traditional Music Forum on May 13, 2021 15:38:02 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.
Fèis Rois celebrated (if that's the right word) a second virtual Adult Fèis last weekend. My contribution was in a series of lunchtime lectures with a talk about the European Folk Network. The EFN has just taken delivery of the transcript for Alistair Anderson's truly inspiring keynote speech at the recent EFN mini-conference, which will be up on the website shortly. Well worth a read when it appears.
I seem to have been living online this week. Lots of meetings and also the Toronto Storytelling Festival. It's fun to be involved, but missing the intensity of actually being there, of course. A reminder that festivals are about more than simply what appears on stage.
A flurry on social media this week with the announcement of the bill for a festival called The Gathering - 'celebrating the best of the Highlands and Scotland'. That might be true if your idea of Scotland was a country with no women in it. The bands listed probably account for between 30 and 40 musicians. Of whom one is female. The poster says 'more to be announced'. A chance to tip the balance.
The Scottish Music Education Partnership Group, of which TMF is a member, is now itself a member of the international Music Education Policy Group, which means that the TMF is now linked to music policy discussions and organisations right round the world.
Interesting wee survey of some of Scotland's folk clubs in the latest Carry on Streamin newsletter. Several looking to open up again in September, some testing the water with outdoor gigs over the summer. Edinburgh probably the most cautious, leaving it to the New Year.
Good coverage, including a radio interview with CEO, Finlay MacDonald, of the National Piping Centre's campaign to raise funds to digitise the archive of the venerable Piping Times and the more recent Piping Today, both of which have had to cease publication in hard copy. The plan is, however, to produce a Piping Times Annual for your Christmas stocking. The crowdfunder has so far raised over £10,000.
Disturbing news that Spotify has patented a speech-recognition technology that would enable the streaming service to recommend music based on a user's 'emotional state, gender, age, or accent' to recommend music.. Spotify claims that it's only a patent and that they have no plans to implement it, but US digital rights group Access Now says that 'There is absolutely no valid reason for Spotify to even attempt to discern how we're feeling, how many people are in a room with us, our gender, age, or any other characteristic the patent claims to detect. The millions of people who use Spotify deserve respect and privacy, not covert manipulation and monitoring'. Amen.
Don't forget the launch of our Directory of Musicians tonight (May 7) with sets from Maeve Mackinnon, Ali Levack and Luc McNally, Rachel Hair and Ron Jappy, and David Foley, Jack Smedley and Jenn Butterworth. It's part of Tradfest and free (but you have to book). The Directory is already fairly well populated, thanks to a lot of work from our membership officer, Tina Rees and Steven Stark, who came to us on a placement from the RCS. People will be able to add their own entries once it goes live.
A warm welcome to new TMF member, musician and writer, Liza Mulholland.
RIP much-loved Shetland musician, and founder member of Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Club, Drewie Hawick.
All the best
DF
David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum
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