Angus Fitchet (19/07/10 – 15/05/98)
An Appreciation
Box and Fiddle - Sept 1998
Angus Fitchet of Dundee was one of Scotland’s foremost fiddlers and bandleaders. He was also a remarkably versatile musician whose range extended from village dances to network television shows accompanying high profile international guest artistes.
Despite having no formal tuition on violin, Angus started his musical career playing for the silent films. He went on to lead a five-piece orchestra in a restaurant in Largs, an engagement which came to an end with the outbreak of war when the Italian family who had engaged his group were interned for the duration. After the war he joined Jimmy Shand’s Band. This gave him a taste for Scottish band work and he formed his own highly successful Scottish Dance Band – but what other bandleader drove his band all over Scotland and England in an old Dodge Red Cross ambulance. There was the famous occasion when, at North Queensferry, the ferry had moved off but when it was noticed that an ambulance had missed the boat, the ferry turned back and Angus cheerfully drove his ‘band bus’ on board. Inside the members of the band were sitting playing dominos!! The band toured Scotland and England, playing in village halls and at large Scottish Country Dances. And many times angus wrote a new booking on a cigarette packet then, cigarettes finished, tossed it out of the bus window! With his legs invariably crossed, his small frame curled lovingly round his instrument, Angus never played a wrong note. He was fun to work with. One night when playing for a ‘Dashing White Sergeant’ he suggested that he and the two accordionists in the band take turns choosing the tunes. Jimmy Stephen led with ‘The Rose Tree’ followed by the second accordionist’s choice of ‘The Mason’s Apron’. When it was angus’ turn, with an irrepressible grin, he went straight in to ‘The Spey in Spate’, one of the most difficult reels ever written. He then laid his fiddle down, folded his arms, and sat back to watch the band furiously trying to get their fingers round the tune!
After some time with the band, Angus went back to playing solo fiddle and toured with many well known Scottish artistes such as Will Starr and Robert Wilson. He was in his sixties when he joined Jimmy Blue, whose band traveled full time with Andy Stewart and this was a wonderful partnership. Andy loved Angus’ humour and many a time ‘dried up’ on stage because of Angus’ witticisms. In H.M. Theatre, Aberdeen, in which Andy was dressed as one of the famous Glasgow ‘clippies’ for a sketch, he heard Angus’ Dundee accent from the orchestra pit, saying ‘Eeh, ye get mair like yer mither every day’. On another occasion, an English pop group guesting on the show was having great difficulty in their rehearsal due to some bars having been missed from their music. As the afternoon dragged on and the band waited for its run-through, Angus shouted to the group “Div ye no’ ken Danny Boy?” Andy Stewart’s weekly TV show, ‘Scotch Corner’, was going out nationwide at that time with guest stars such as George Hamilton IV, Rolf Harris, Dana and others. Angus loved the challenge of sight-reading the ‘dots’ placed in front of him and enjoyed the tours to Australia and New Zealand with the show, where on one wet Saturday he exhibited his prowess with a different kind on stick when he entertained the rest of the caste with a repertoire of most impressive tricks on the snooker table!
Having overcome deafness and a severe bout of arthritis when he was no longer able to play his beloved fiddle, Angus found relief with a course of ‘gold’ injections and all were delighted when he was once again able to produce his unique tone from his fiddle. With the advent of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs Angus found yet another new career, guesting with Bobby Crowe and his band at venues all over Scotland and in the North of England. Probably his last appearance at a Club was in Perth when he was 81 years of age. Angus, however, did not just make guest appearances. He was a regular at Duncee A&F Club where he often spent more time in the back room giving tips to young fiddlers who listened and learned. There is a wonderful memory of Angus at Banchory Club where he had finished his guest spot and invited all the young members of the Banchory S&R Society to join him on stage. Angus sat on the stage, legs dangling over the edge, and played along with the youngsters giving them wonderful encouragement as well as a night to remember.
The sweet tone Angus brought out brought out of his fiddle was always recognizable, no matter which band he was playing in. He did not have valuable fiddles but could coax the same tone out of whatever instrument he played. When asked once by a so-called expert “What make of fiddle are you playing, Mr Fitchet?”, Angus replied, in his broad Dundee accent, “Eeh, its just an auld bit o’ stick”.
To travel to ‘gigs’ with Angus was a delight. Every village brought a memorable story to relate which would digress into tales of characters he had met, or tunes he had played and always there was humour and laughter. He was eternally young at heart.
But Angus’ legend will live on in his music. He was a prolific and wonderful composer, who wrote his first tune ‘Mr Michie’ in 1926 – a March which is still popular with Festival competitors. His reel ‘J. B. Milne’ holds a record in that it has been played on radio more than any other Scottish tune. But his slow airs ‘Happy Retirement’, ‘Marjorie Jane Barclay’ and ‘Lament for Will Starr’, to name only three, like his many other compositions, make him comparable to the great James Scott Skinner. Hearing the news of the tragic Lockerbie air disaster, Jimmy Blue ‘phoned Angus and suggested he write a ‘Lament for Lockerbie’. Two days later, this moving slow air arrived in manuscript form from Angus.
When Bobby Crowe played his newly composed march ‘The Provost of Forgandenny’ over the telephone to Angus, he was amazed to receive next day, in the mail, another march complimentary to this tune in both idiom and key – although Angus had not even enquired in which key the original had been written.
When he died in May, aged 87, his funeral was attended by Scottish musicians from all over the country and during the service Robbie Shepherd of BBC Scotland read excerpts from the poem Andy Stewart wrote for Angus when he was honoured by the N.A.A.F.C. in 1981. One verse was particularly appropriate. It read
An’ when at last ar Heaven’s gate – whaur he will surely stand
I like to fancy Peter say as he hauds oot his hand
“A welcome Angus Fitchet here, my pleasure is to gie ye
An’ twice that welcome since I see, ye’ve brocht your fiddle wi’ ye!”
On Angus Fitchet
by Andy Stewart
Come rub the rosin on the bow and let the warl’ gae roon’
While I tae Angus Fitchet heed that coaxes up a tune
That coaxes up a bonnie tune an’ makes yon fiddle sing-
The verra lame when he begins wad dance the heilan’ fling
Syne when alow his elfin chin the trusty Hardy grips
The Merlin o’ the music he wi’ magic fingertips
Strathspeys sae stately and demure come singing frae his hand
While jigs and reels however gleg dance out at his command
Sae blithe and sweet his fiddle sings and brawly fills the air
His smiles and looks tells a’ the tale a long-matched love affair
Wha’ is sae wilted wi’ despair his backbane disna starch
When Angus plays a sojer’s air and fiddles up a march?
Wha’ is heavy-fitted then an’ weary as the Deil
But loups like ony skippin’ lamb when Fitchet plays a reel?
An’ wha’ cam keep frae beatin’ time I say he isna human
When Angus plies his skills upon ‘The Irish Washerwoman’?
In Cork one night, I tell the truth he caused a fightin’ fuss
When Paddy said “Yon man’s no Scot! He must be one of us!”
He plays a jig sae liltin’ sir a man condemned tae dee
Wad loup the thirteen steps an’ dance upon a gallows tree!
An’ fan a sweet sad bow he draws in some auld plaintive air
The sorrows of a lifetime come an’ stoun’ the senses there
‘Bovaglie’s Plaid’ or ‘Gow’s Lament’ baith hymns tae mak’ us mourn
Great sabs frae oot yet greater hearts for joys will ne’er return
In black and white these printed notes lie lost of what they seek
Yet cry aloud in haunting sound when Angus maks them speak
Auld Scotland kens naw brawer tunes and min’! she maks them well
Than when oor Angus plays tae her the yins he wrote himsel’
His repertoire’s an endless dance and were he aye sae clever
As nae need food or drink or sleep he could play on forever
Here’s tae him then! My prayer shall be that happy he may dwell
And a’ the wishes I wad gie that he could wish himsel’
Three score and more – I ken his age an’ Lord if it’s nae trouble
In years tae come – Ye ken the sum – I wish him mair than double!
An’ when at last ar Heaven’s gate – whaur he will surely stand
I like to fancy Peter say as he hauds oot his hand
“A welcome Angus Fitchet here, my pleasure is to gie ye
An’ twice that welcome since I see, ye’ve brocht your fiddle wi’ ye!”
But och there’s years o’ music yet, tae stir the dancers roon
Sae Angus rosin up your bow an’ gies anither tune
The hame-spun garb of native worth wi’ cloth of gold we’ll stitch it
And lay the makker’s mantle on this man ca’d Angus Fitchet
When he comes ben care hugs the wa’ an’ joy jinks in the middle
The doul’s awa! The dance is a’! when Angus plays the fiddle!
May a’ his ‘oors be sweet and sure, and happy a’ his days
As happy as I am mysel’ when Angus Fitchet plays!
Some Bygone Thoughts
by Jimmy Yeaman
In the words of the minister we were gathered here, at Dundee Crematorium, to celebrate the life of Angus Fitchet, a man not large in stature but a giant in Scottish fiddle music, band leadership and musical composition. The capacity attendance was a fitting tribute to his legacy of memories and airs which will live on for as long as Scottish dance music is performed and heard. For me the highlights of the service were the eulogy from Robbie Shepherd, which included the late Andy Stewart’s poem dedicated to Angus, and the performance from pianist, and organist for the day. Maureen Rutherford. Her renderings at the end of the service of slow airs and J. B. Milne’s Reel were quite moving and unforgettable.
Angus would not have wanted this to be a sad occasion and he would have approved of the get together of so many musicians mainly from a bygone era – a rare occasion. Driving home with ‘Fintry’ Frank Farquharson we indulged in nostalgic reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ of Scottish Country Dance Bands.
It was in the mid to late 1940’s that we were aware of the trail blazers who were to become super-stars as far as broadcasting and recording Scottish Country Dance Bands were concerned. The names of the following come to mind : Jimmy Shand, Jim Cameron, Bobby MKacLeod, Ian Powrie, Jack Forsyth, Angus Fitchet and Adam Rennie.
They packed the halls, town and country, and we looked on them as semi gods because they had ‘been on the wireless’ – a rare thing in those days for ordinary folk, a misnomer if ever there was one.
Then in the early to late 50’s an explosion of young musicians burst forth drawing heavily on inspiration from the above mentioned. They were role models and we listened and watched and marveled. We copied unashamedly but always contrived to sound different. Our heroes were professional full-time musicians while we had to rely on day jobs for survival. The young pretenders of that era would be mainly in their late teens and early twenties. They beat a well worn path to the BBC studios hopefully to pass the audition to be allowed to broadcast live and join the ranks, adding the word ‘broadcasting’ to their titles. A highly desirable magic formula then, and I suppose now.
And now some 40 to 50 years on some are still waving the flag but their ranks are becoming thinner. Fortunately for the continuance of our traditional music and dance, youth is filling the spaces and this is how it should and always will be.
Listed below are some of the ‘up and coming’ names from the fifties or thereabouts :-
Andrew Rankine, Lindsay Ross, Alex MacArthur, Bert Shorthouse, Ian Arnott, Jim Grogan, Bob Edwards, David Donaldson, John Johnstone, The Hawthorne, The Glendaruel (Tony Reid), East Neuk, Jim MacLeod, Jim Johnstone, The Tayside, Blue Bonnets, Cameron Kerr, Gie Gordons, John Ellis and the Highland, Alan Williams, Alisdair Downie, Max Houliston, Ian Holmes, The Heather, The Wick Scottish, The Olympian’s initially under the leadership of Bobby Crowe, then David Findlay and ultimately Dougie Maxwell.
No doubt the readers of the B&F will be able to add to both the above lists.
We are living in different times and the ways and styles of today’s troubadours vary in many ways from those of yore.
Another story, another day, perhaps.
Despite having no formal tuition on violin, Angus started his musical career playing for the silent films. He went on to lead a five-piece orchestra in a restaurant in Largs, an engagement which came to an end with the outbreak of war when the Italian family who had engaged his group were interned for the duration. After the war he joined Jimmy Shand’s Band. This gave him a taste for Scottish band work and he formed his own highly successful Scottish Dance Band – but what other bandleader drove his band all over Scotland and England in an old Dodge Red Cross ambulance. There was the famous occasion when, at North Queensferry, the ferry had moved off but when it was noticed that an ambulance had missed the boat, the ferry turned back and Angus cheerfully drove his ‘band bus’ on board. Inside the members of the band were sitting playing dominos!! The band toured Scotland and England, playing in village halls and at large Scottish Country Dances. And many times angus wrote a new booking on a cigarette packet then, cigarettes finished, tossed it out of the bus window! With his legs invariably crossed, his small frame curled lovingly round his instrument, Angus never played a wrong note. He was fun to work with. One night when playing for a ‘Dashing White Sergeant’ he suggested that he and the two accordionists in the band take turns choosing the tunes. Jimmy Stephen led with ‘The Rose Tree’ followed by the second accordionist’s choice of ‘The Mason’s Apron’. When it was angus’ turn, with an irrepressible grin, he went straight in to ‘The Spey in Spate’, one of the most difficult reels ever written. He then laid his fiddle down, folded his arms, and sat back to watch the band furiously trying to get their fingers round the tune!
After some time with the band, Angus went back to playing solo fiddle and toured with many well known Scottish artistes such as Will Starr and Robert Wilson. He was in his sixties when he joined Jimmy Blue, whose band traveled full time with Andy Stewart and this was a wonderful partnership. Andy loved Angus’ humour and many a time ‘dried up’ on stage because of Angus’ witticisms. In H.M. Theatre, Aberdeen, in which Andy was dressed as one of the famous Glasgow ‘clippies’ for a sketch, he heard Angus’ Dundee accent from the orchestra pit, saying ‘Eeh, ye get mair like yer mither every day’. On another occasion, an English pop group guesting on the show was having great difficulty in their rehearsal due to some bars having been missed from their music. As the afternoon dragged on and the band waited for its run-through, Angus shouted to the group “Div ye no’ ken Danny Boy?” Andy Stewart’s weekly TV show, ‘Scotch Corner’, was going out nationwide at that time with guest stars such as George Hamilton IV, Rolf Harris, Dana and others. Angus loved the challenge of sight-reading the ‘dots’ placed in front of him and enjoyed the tours to Australia and New Zealand with the show, where on one wet Saturday he exhibited his prowess with a different kind on stick when he entertained the rest of the caste with a repertoire of most impressive tricks on the snooker table!
Having overcome deafness and a severe bout of arthritis when he was no longer able to play his beloved fiddle, Angus found relief with a course of ‘gold’ injections and all were delighted when he was once again able to produce his unique tone from his fiddle. With the advent of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs Angus found yet another new career, guesting with Bobby Crowe and his band at venues all over Scotland and in the North of England. Probably his last appearance at a Club was in Perth when he was 81 years of age. Angus, however, did not just make guest appearances. He was a regular at Duncee A&F Club where he often spent more time in the back room giving tips to young fiddlers who listened and learned. There is a wonderful memory of Angus at Banchory Club where he had finished his guest spot and invited all the young members of the Banchory S&R Society to join him on stage. Angus sat on the stage, legs dangling over the edge, and played along with the youngsters giving them wonderful encouragement as well as a night to remember.
The sweet tone Angus brought out brought out of his fiddle was always recognizable, no matter which band he was playing in. He did not have valuable fiddles but could coax the same tone out of whatever instrument he played. When asked once by a so-called expert “What make of fiddle are you playing, Mr Fitchet?”, Angus replied, in his broad Dundee accent, “Eeh, its just an auld bit o’ stick”.
To travel to ‘gigs’ with Angus was a delight. Every village brought a memorable story to relate which would digress into tales of characters he had met, or tunes he had played and always there was humour and laughter. He was eternally young at heart.
But Angus’ legend will live on in his music. He was a prolific and wonderful composer, who wrote his first tune ‘Mr Michie’ in 1926 – a March which is still popular with Festival competitors. His reel ‘J. B. Milne’ holds a record in that it has been played on radio more than any other Scottish tune. But his slow airs ‘Happy Retirement’, ‘Marjorie Jane Barclay’ and ‘Lament for Will Starr’, to name only three, like his many other compositions, make him comparable to the great James Scott Skinner. Hearing the news of the tragic Lockerbie air disaster, Jimmy Blue ‘phoned Angus and suggested he write a ‘Lament for Lockerbie’. Two days later, this moving slow air arrived in manuscript form from Angus.
When Bobby Crowe played his newly composed march ‘The Provost of Forgandenny’ over the telephone to Angus, he was amazed to receive next day, in the mail, another march complimentary to this tune in both idiom and key – although Angus had not even enquired in which key the original had been written.
When he died in May, aged 87, his funeral was attended by Scottish musicians from all over the country and during the service Robbie Shepherd of BBC Scotland read excerpts from the poem Andy Stewart wrote for Angus when he was honoured by the N.A.A.F.C. in 1981. One verse was particularly appropriate. It read
An’ when at last ar Heaven’s gate – whaur he will surely stand
I like to fancy Peter say as he hauds oot his hand
“A welcome Angus Fitchet here, my pleasure is to gie ye
An’ twice that welcome since I see, ye’ve brocht your fiddle wi’ ye!”
On Angus Fitchet
by Andy Stewart
Come rub the rosin on the bow and let the warl’ gae roon’
While I tae Angus Fitchet heed that coaxes up a tune
That coaxes up a bonnie tune an’ makes yon fiddle sing-
The verra lame when he begins wad dance the heilan’ fling
Syne when alow his elfin chin the trusty Hardy grips
The Merlin o’ the music he wi’ magic fingertips
Strathspeys sae stately and demure come singing frae his hand
While jigs and reels however gleg dance out at his command
Sae blithe and sweet his fiddle sings and brawly fills the air
His smiles and looks tells a’ the tale a long-matched love affair
Wha’ is sae wilted wi’ despair his backbane disna starch
When Angus plays a sojer’s air and fiddles up a march?
Wha’ is heavy-fitted then an’ weary as the Deil
But loups like ony skippin’ lamb when Fitchet plays a reel?
An’ wha’ cam keep frae beatin’ time I say he isna human
When Angus plies his skills upon ‘The Irish Washerwoman’?
In Cork one night, I tell the truth he caused a fightin’ fuss
When Paddy said “Yon man’s no Scot! He must be one of us!”
He plays a jig sae liltin’ sir a man condemned tae dee
Wad loup the thirteen steps an’ dance upon a gallows tree!
An’ fan a sweet sad bow he draws in some auld plaintive air
The sorrows of a lifetime come an’ stoun’ the senses there
‘Bovaglie’s Plaid’ or ‘Gow’s Lament’ baith hymns tae mak’ us mourn
Great sabs frae oot yet greater hearts for joys will ne’er return
In black and white these printed notes lie lost of what they seek
Yet cry aloud in haunting sound when Angus maks them speak
Auld Scotland kens naw brawer tunes and min’! she maks them well
Than when oor Angus plays tae her the yins he wrote himsel’
His repertoire’s an endless dance and were he aye sae clever
As nae need food or drink or sleep he could play on forever
Here’s tae him then! My prayer shall be that happy he may dwell
And a’ the wishes I wad gie that he could wish himsel’
Three score and more – I ken his age an’ Lord if it’s nae trouble
In years tae come – Ye ken the sum – I wish him mair than double!
An’ when at last ar Heaven’s gate – whaur he will surely stand
I like to fancy Peter say as he hauds oot his hand
“A welcome Angus Fitchet here, my pleasure is to gie ye
An’ twice that welcome since I see, ye’ve brocht your fiddle wi’ ye!”
But och there’s years o’ music yet, tae stir the dancers roon
Sae Angus rosin up your bow an’ gies anither tune
The hame-spun garb of native worth wi’ cloth of gold we’ll stitch it
And lay the makker’s mantle on this man ca’d Angus Fitchet
When he comes ben care hugs the wa’ an’ joy jinks in the middle
The doul’s awa! The dance is a’! when Angus plays the fiddle!
May a’ his ‘oors be sweet and sure, and happy a’ his days
As happy as I am mysel’ when Angus Fitchet plays!
Some Bygone Thoughts
by Jimmy Yeaman
In the words of the minister we were gathered here, at Dundee Crematorium, to celebrate the life of Angus Fitchet, a man not large in stature but a giant in Scottish fiddle music, band leadership and musical composition. The capacity attendance was a fitting tribute to his legacy of memories and airs which will live on for as long as Scottish dance music is performed and heard. For me the highlights of the service were the eulogy from Robbie Shepherd, which included the late Andy Stewart’s poem dedicated to Angus, and the performance from pianist, and organist for the day. Maureen Rutherford. Her renderings at the end of the service of slow airs and J. B. Milne’s Reel were quite moving and unforgettable.
Angus would not have wanted this to be a sad occasion and he would have approved of the get together of so many musicians mainly from a bygone era – a rare occasion. Driving home with ‘Fintry’ Frank Farquharson we indulged in nostalgic reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ of Scottish Country Dance Bands.
It was in the mid to late 1940’s that we were aware of the trail blazers who were to become super-stars as far as broadcasting and recording Scottish Country Dance Bands were concerned. The names of the following come to mind : Jimmy Shand, Jim Cameron, Bobby MKacLeod, Ian Powrie, Jack Forsyth, Angus Fitchet and Adam Rennie.
They packed the halls, town and country, and we looked on them as semi gods because they had ‘been on the wireless’ – a rare thing in those days for ordinary folk, a misnomer if ever there was one.
Then in the early to late 50’s an explosion of young musicians burst forth drawing heavily on inspiration from the above mentioned. They were role models and we listened and watched and marveled. We copied unashamedly but always contrived to sound different. Our heroes were professional full-time musicians while we had to rely on day jobs for survival. The young pretenders of that era would be mainly in their late teens and early twenties. They beat a well worn path to the BBC studios hopefully to pass the audition to be allowed to broadcast live and join the ranks, adding the word ‘broadcasting’ to their titles. A highly desirable magic formula then, and I suppose now.
And now some 40 to 50 years on some are still waving the flag but their ranks are becoming thinner. Fortunately for the continuance of our traditional music and dance, youth is filling the spaces and this is how it should and always will be.
Listed below are some of the ‘up and coming’ names from the fifties or thereabouts :-
Andrew Rankine, Lindsay Ross, Alex MacArthur, Bert Shorthouse, Ian Arnott, Jim Grogan, Bob Edwards, David Donaldson, John Johnstone, The Hawthorne, The Glendaruel (Tony Reid), East Neuk, Jim MacLeod, Jim Johnstone, The Tayside, Blue Bonnets, Cameron Kerr, Gie Gordons, John Ellis and the Highland, Alan Williams, Alisdair Downie, Max Houliston, Ian Holmes, The Heather, The Wick Scottish, The Olympian’s initially under the leadership of Bobby Crowe, then David Findlay and ultimately Dougie Maxwell.
No doubt the readers of the B&F will be able to add to both the above lists.
We are living in different times and the ways and styles of today’s troubadours vary in many ways from those of yore.
Another story, another day, perhaps.