Post by Traditional Music Forum on Sept 20, 2021 18:19:21 GMT
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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.
There are still spaces for the Trads for the Times day at Newbattle Abbey College on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd. For anyone coming from a distance we can offer accommodation at the College. The event will also be live-streamed. To register for either the in-person event or the stream contact Donald Smith.
The Tasgadh funding panel met earlier this week and continues to fund all sorts of good stuff, from professional development to workshops to rehearsal time. Grant of up to £1000 available to boost your project or help it get off the ground. The final deadline in this round is 28 January, 2022, so plenty of time to develop ideas.
I was part of a small group which met with the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealthbuilding, Tom Arthur this week, ahead of a bigger meeting next week between him and the Scottish Community Alliance. Culture is not part of his brief but we were able to put in the argument about culture being a vital part of any planning considerations, especially ideas like the much-touted '20 Minute Neighbourhoods'. It has a huge role in making places good to live in, and, of course, traditional music is a vital part of that.
Great to be back at a folk club this week as the Edinburgh club resumed after exactly 18 months since its last meeting with a great set from veteran singer-songwriter, Rab Noakes.
Speaking of folk clubs I've had a few enquiries about communal singing and what is and isn't permissable under the Covid restrictions. With 50,000 people bellowing their heads off every week at Old Firm matches and thousands gathering for TRNSMT on Glasgow Green last week it would seem academic. There's no definitive advice, so it's just a question of balancing the risk and taking the appropriate mitigations (distancing, ventilation). Church congregations have been singing with masks on, but it would seem a bit absurd to be sat a table with your mask off, drinking, and then having to whip it on again for a quick refrain of Tatties and Herring (or Mask, Mask, Bonnie Lassie). But absurdities abound in the present situation.
I've been stressing this week ahead of a trip to Germany this weekend. (I'm writing this from Manchester Airport.) There doesn't seem to be any one place where you can get a definitive list of what you need to travel, so the stress has been over whether all the right paperwork has been assembled. First time of travelling abroad as a non-EU citizen too.
I'm heading to Köln for a conference entitled Migrants Music Manifesto, the culmination of a project that aims to promote the positive contributions of migrants and refugees in Europe. More on that next week.
Still on matters European, a programme planning meeting for the European Folk Network's conference in Budapest. Dates for the diary if you fancy attending in one of Europe's great cities are November 17 and 18. Booking details coming soon.
A couple of interesting and entertaining blogs on the TMF website. One from up and coming young musician, Lewis McLaughlin talks about the processes leading up to his highly infectious single, Summer. And Ewan McVicar gives us an insight into his work on the brilliant People's Festival Ceilidh archive which we mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
This week's earworm is Martin Carthy's epic Long John, Old John, and Jackie North These lines always stick in my mind for some reason. 'He sent men and cunning men and around him they did creep/ and they gave him drops of laudanum and laid him fast asleep'. Great storytelling.
All the best
DF
David Francis is Director of the Traditional Music Forum
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