Bobby Harvey
To have been part of the Accordion and Fiddle Club scene right from the very start has been one of the great joys of my life. I had been playing with Max Houliston during a tour of England when he asked me to be his first fiddle guest at his Hole i’ the Wa’ Accordion Club in Dumfries (his first accordion guests had been Ivor Britton and Archie Duncan).
After that night, I returned to Milngavie, phoned all my Glasgow fellow musicians and we started the M.A.F.I.A. (Milngavie Accordion, Fiddle and Instrumental Associates). Our first guest was, naturally, Max and he agreed to our fee which was any cash in the old lum hat that I had bought at a jumble sale for a shilling! The night was hilarious, ending about two in the morning and setting the pattern for many years of fun, music and camaraderie never to be forgotten. I was the “Godfather” and the rule of silence, “Omerta” was strictly observed no matter who was playing.
When the archivist of the NAAFC wishes to trace the ancestry of all the present clubs in Scotland he or she will find the square root either in Gretna or Milngavie, since we both opened in the same month after attending Max’s original club in Dumfries. The MAFIA was directly responsible for Perth, Beith, Galston, Balloch, Inveraray, Oban, etc, etc since all of their original members were guests at the MAFIA and the pyramid effect spread over the country from there. We also started the original “stramash” and the shield for the most improved player in the club, and we are delighted to see this as part of nearly every club now.
After that night, I returned to Milngavie, phoned all my Glasgow fellow musicians and we started the M.A.F.I.A. (Milngavie Accordion, Fiddle and Instrumental Associates). Our first guest was, naturally, Max and he agreed to our fee which was any cash in the old lum hat that I had bought at a jumble sale for a shilling! The night was hilarious, ending about two in the morning and setting the pattern for many years of fun, music and camaraderie never to be forgotten. I was the “Godfather” and the rule of silence, “Omerta” was strictly observed no matter who was playing.
When the archivist of the NAAFC wishes to trace the ancestry of all the present clubs in Scotland he or she will find the square root either in Gretna or Milngavie, since we both opened in the same month after attending Max’s original club in Dumfries. The MAFIA was directly responsible for Perth, Beith, Galston, Balloch, Inveraray, Oban, etc, etc since all of their original members were guests at the MAFIA and the pyramid effect spread over the country from there. We also started the original “stramash” and the shield for the most improved player in the club, and we are delighted to see this as part of nearly every club now.
Some of the special nights at the MAFIA will forever be remembered among members for their hilarious after effects and spontaneous fun. The night Jimmy Shand played for the first time at an accordion club as a personal favour and wouldn’t take a ha’penny because he enjoyed himself so much laughing as Charlie Cowie, pi**ed as a newt, played out of his skin and forgot he was there... The night we had a “Special” for our member George Hill, the loveable guitarist who had just lost his leg, and unknown to him, the doctors gave permission for him to arrive by ambulance to attend his own benefit night and we gave him his guitar and banjo and there he was – sitting up in a hospital bed playing with all the boys. On that night we had Andy Stewart, the Alexander Brothers, a full visit from the Perth club and many more top visitors plus our own members. The doctors said it was the best therapy anyone could ask for... for us as well as George who recovered and had many more happy years of playing. The night we had a visit from the Langholm Club and surprised them with another guest who had never performed at a club, and only for the cost of my phone call, Will Starr... The MAFIA cruises, which were an essential part of summer, although the destinations were unusual (we were the only club to run a cruise to Aberfoyle), and the cruise to Rowardennan became a mystery tour when we had to return by the postbus to Balmaha because the main bus couldn’t get up the hill... it gave us more time for drinking at Rowardennan as we, like the true gentlemen we were, adopted the policy of women and children first on the return shuttle service...
In the early days Ivor and I would travel either individually or together from Wick to Rothbury, and all points in between, in order to keep our type of music alive. We were the missionaries all right, but the audiences in each Club were already converted, and many a great night we had after the club finished. Langholm was one of the many memories of all night sessions with Geordie Bell and Archie Park and all the musicians from that airt gathering in Geordie’s house till dawn. Who could forget the sight of Geordie taking out his gless ee and placing it on the mantel piece saying “NOW the music can begin!” As Burns said, “From scenes like this Auld Scotia’s glory springs.”
It would be remiss of me not to mention and thank the members of my own Band, some of whom have now passed on. We spent twenty-four years as flavour of the month at Gleneagles, during which time we played at all of Scotland’s five star hotels, and in one week in 1993, we played them all! This year Ivor and I were made Honorary Members of the Glasgow Highland Club in recognition of playing their Annual Ball for forty-two years!! The happy memories of playing all over the world and through every spectrum of society, which only a musician can access, meeting fellow musicians and having a crack with them are what makes life for me. The memory of Ivor and me sharing a dressing room on the QE2 with forty topless Brazilian dancers will never be repeated by any Scottish Dance Band… and that’s just one of the wealth of stories I hope to put into book form eventually.
My greatest thrill now is hearing my son Scott and his Band and all of his generation of young musicians following the real music of Scotland. Keeping our music alive despite the BBC of the sixties was the original intention of the MAFIA and our sister Clubs at the start of the Accordion and Fiddle Club era, and now, due to all members of every Club in Scotland, the music will still be alive when we are awa.
Yours Aye on the Fiddle,
Bobby Harvey
In the early days Ivor and I would travel either individually or together from Wick to Rothbury, and all points in between, in order to keep our type of music alive. We were the missionaries all right, but the audiences in each Club were already converted, and many a great night we had after the club finished. Langholm was one of the many memories of all night sessions with Geordie Bell and Archie Park and all the musicians from that airt gathering in Geordie’s house till dawn. Who could forget the sight of Geordie taking out his gless ee and placing it on the mantel piece saying “NOW the music can begin!” As Burns said, “From scenes like this Auld Scotia’s glory springs.”
It would be remiss of me not to mention and thank the members of my own Band, some of whom have now passed on. We spent twenty-four years as flavour of the month at Gleneagles, during which time we played at all of Scotland’s five star hotels, and in one week in 1993, we played them all! This year Ivor and I were made Honorary Members of the Glasgow Highland Club in recognition of playing their Annual Ball for forty-two years!! The happy memories of playing all over the world and through every spectrum of society, which only a musician can access, meeting fellow musicians and having a crack with them are what makes life for me. The memory of Ivor and me sharing a dressing room on the QE2 with forty topless Brazilian dancers will never be repeated by any Scottish Dance Band… and that’s just one of the wealth of stories I hope to put into book form eventually.
My greatest thrill now is hearing my son Scott and his Band and all of his generation of young musicians following the real music of Scotland. Keeping our music alive despite the BBC of the sixties was the original intention of the MAFIA and our sister Clubs at the start of the Accordion and Fiddle Club era, and now, due to all members of every Club in Scotland, the music will still be alive when we are awa.
Yours Aye on the Fiddle,
Bobby Harvey