Box and Fiddle
Year 26 No 07
March 2003
Price £2.00
44 Page Magazine
5 month subscription £10 + p&p £3.00
Editor – Karin Ingram, Hawick
B&F Treasurer – Charlie Todd, Thankerton
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
By the time you read this the Musselburgh Festival will be over for another year. As I write I’m looking forward to meeting up with many of you there. It’s always a highlight of the B&F calendar, and I’m sure all our readers join in thanking Neil Copland and his team for all the hard work they’ve put in over the years.
I have reports from two other recent events – the Hamilton Festival and the Shand Morino Day – but unfortunately no photographs. I’ve held the articles over until next month, in the hope that someone might send us some photographs – please!!
Next month we’ll also have write ups on some of the events at this year’s Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow. If anyone attended anything there and would like to write a short piece about it, please contact us.
I have had one or two people asking why the NAAFC is supporting a concert with Session A9 headlining, rather than one of our own dance bands. The answer is very simple – they generously asked us, not the other way round! They were planning a concert in the Borders, and they approached me to help to find a venue. It tied in nicely with the Hawick Reivers Festival, and it gives us a great opportunity to promote some of our local clubs, as well as make money for the Association. There’s going to be a great box and fiddle session in Callaghan’s Bar in the afternoon, followed by the concert in the Town Hall at night.
Thanks again to the usual suspects – Nicol, Charlie, Jude, Heather, Alison and all at Culross.
Karin Ingram
Up Helly-Aa
The Greatest Show on Earth
by Charlie Todd
It was pretty much a case of a leap into the unknown as I boarded the Edinburgh to Sumburgh flight in the company of Elizabeth Wood and Maureen Welsh on Thursday 23rd January for a week-long stay in Shetland. Of course everyone knows a little of Up Helly-aa but it’s one thing to hear about it – what would it be like to experience it? We were guests of Da Fustra band members Peter and Inga Wood and were lucky enough to approach Sumburgh Head on a perfectly clear winter’s day giving us a foretaste of the islands’ rugged grandeur.
So let’s take an outsiders, or colloquially a Soothmoother’s (from the pre air travel days when everyone came to Shetland by sea and those coming from the mainland entered Lerwick harbour by its ‘sooth’ entrance or ‘mooth’ between Bressay and the main island) look at what this Festival is about. Does it stretch back to the dawn of time? Well actually no, although it does go back a century or more, but I’ll hand you over to Brian Smith, the local archivist, who explains the evolution of today’s festival in the official programme.
The History
Up Helly-aa is a relatively modern festival. There is some evidence that people in rural Shetland celebrated the 24th day after Christmas as ‘Antonsmas’ or ‘Up Helly Night’, but there is no evidence that their cousins in Lerwick did the same. The emergence of Yuletide and the New Year festivities in the town seems to post-date the Napoleonic Wars, when soldiers and sailors came home with rowdy habits and a taste for firearms.
On old Christmas eve in 1824 a visiting Methodist missionary wrote in his diary that, “The whole town was in an uproar; from 12 o’clock last night until this night blowing of horns, beating of drums, tinkling of old tin kettles, firing of guns, shouting, bawling, fiddling, fifeing, drinking, fighting. This was the state of the town all the night – the street was thronged with people as any fair I ever saw in England.”
As Lerwick grew in size the celebrations became more elaborate. Sometime about 1840 the participants introduced burning tar barrels into the proceedings. “Sometimes,” as one observer wrote, “there were two tubs fastened to a great raft-like frame knocked together at the Docks, whence the combustibles were generally obtained. Two chains were fastened to the bogie supporting the capacious tub or tar-barrels…eked to these were two strong ropes on which a motley mob, wearing masks for the most part, fastened. A party of about a dozen were told off to stir up the molten contents.”
The main street of Lerwick in the mid-19th century was extremely narrow, and rival groups of tar-barrellers frequently crashed in the middle. The proceedings were thus dangerous and dirty, and Lerwick’s middle classes often complained about them. The Town council began to appoint Special Constables every Christmas to control the revelers, with only limited success. When the end came for tar-barrelling, in the early 1870s, it seems to have been because the young Lerwegians themselves had decided it was time for a change.
Around 1870 a group of young men in the town with intellectual interests injected a series of new ideas into the proceedings. Firstly, they improvised the name Up Helly-aa, and gradually postponed the celebrations until the end of January. Secondly, they introduced a far more elaborate element of disguise – ‘guizing’ – into the new festival. Thirdly, they inaugurated the torchlight procession.
At the same time they were toying with the idea of introducing Viking theme to their new festival. The first signs of this new development appeared in 1877, but it was not until the late 1880s that a Viking longship – the ‘galley’ – appeared, and as late as 1906 that a ‘Guizer Jarl’ the chief guizer, appeared on the scene. It was not until after the First World War that there was a squad of Vikings, the ‘Guizer’s Jarl Squad’, in the procession every year.
Up to the Second world War Up-Helly-aa was overwhelmingly a festival of young working class men – women have never taken part in the procession – and during the depression years the operation was run on a shoestring. In the winter of 1931-32 there was an unsuccessful move to cancel the Festival because of the dire economic situation in the town. At the same time the Up-Helly-aa Committee, a self confident organisation which poked fun at the pompous, in the by then long established Up-Helly-aa ‘bill’ – sometimes driving their victims to fury.
Since 1949, when the Festival resumed after the War, much has changed and much has remained the same. That year the BBC recorded a major radio programme on Up-Helly-aa, and from that moment Up-Helly-aa – not noted for its split second timing before the War – became a model of efficient organisation. The numbers participating in the Festival have become much greater, and the resources required correspondingly larger. Whereas in the 19th century individuals kept open house to welcome the Guizers on Up-Helly-aa night and women now co-operate to open large halls throughout the town to entertain them.
However, despite the changes there are numerous threads connecting the Up-Helly-aa of today with its predecessors 150 years ago.
January 2003
Right, so now we know where we stand. The Up Helly-aa Committee consists of 15 members who work their way up through the ranks and various posts and duties to emerge as Guizer Jarl. 2003 was the turn of Alex Johnson, who, as tradition also demands, adopted the persona of a past Nordic hero – in this case Olaf Sitricson. Each year when the Jarl’s duties are completed he retires and a new member is elected, although usually there is a consensus of opinion and only one or two candidates stand. Hardly surprising, bearing in mind the commitment involved! Only males are involved in the Festival Procession and for this they form themselves into ‘Squads’ who participate every year by picking a different theme, making costumes, devising a short sketch or a dance routine and generally enjoying themselves. Squads usually consist of between 16 and 24 members and there were 46 in this year’s Procession. By coincidence a Squad may contain several Jarls inside a period of a few years or more likely none at all.
The Squad to which the Guizer Jarl belongs become the ‘Jarl’s Squad’ which requires the wearing of Viking battledress. The design is determined by the Jarl, and the Squad spend much of the year making the 50 (the Jarl is allowed to supplement the normal Squad with friends and relatives) shields, axes, helmets, daggers, kirtles, cuffs, boots, belts, cloaks and breastplates that are required. Only a few jobs such as chroming are beyond the skills of the Squad members and have to be sent to specialists. Prior to Up Helly-aa day many shops in Lerwick display in their windows past years costumes and take my word for it, they are impressive. The workmanship and general finish is of the highest standard. Inevitably, every Jarl tries to think of something just a wee bit different as regards materials and design, which is why they try to keep it secret until the big day. Work is carried out by squad members in ‘the Bunker’ – “somewhere in Lerwick.”
The other two vital ingredients of the Procession, the making of 800+ torches and the construction of the 30 foot Galley (a real longship was 80 to 90 feet long) are in the hands of separate specialist teams who carry out these tasks every year. Construction of the Galley starts in November and again the ‘livery’ i.e. the paintwork is decided by the Guizer Jarl and is kept under wraps until the big day. From May to September the Galley Shed hosts a display of past regalia and a longship built especially for display to the tourists.
Right, we’re well on the way to assembling all the necessary parts but there’s just one missing ingredient – the weather. The official programme contained the rather ominous footnote ‘THERE WILL BE NO POSTPONEMENT FOR WEATHER’ – just to clarify the matter. Unfortunately 2003 was one of those years when you might have wished there was. Apparently it’s usually not too bad, but 1983 and 1993 were blighted by wind and rain. And 2003 I hear you ask? – well in short it absolutely poured, backed by gusting winds, for the full hour and a half of the (slightly curtailed) Procession.
All credit to the 912 Guizers who stoically took part. Passing Squad members were heard to sing Raindrops Keep Falling on my Hard, Singing in the Rain and one hardy soul was heard to comment in a broad Shetland dialect “I’ve got three layers on and I’m absolutely seepin’” – whatever that means!
The end of the Procession is marked, of course, by the burning of the Galley and the night sky was lit up as 833 torch-bearers threw their nearly extinguished burdens into the flames.
The Halls
So far so good, but now the fun really begins. Eleven venues around the town, nine of which are by invitation only and two open to the public, have been geared up for an all-night session of dancing, refreshments and entertainment. Ticket holders for each venue arrive together with the first of ‘The Squads’ (who have all been allocated numbers). This years 46 Squads were initially divided among the 11 venues on a predetermined basis and thereafter followed a set route round the remaining 10 halls.
This means that they don’t get a chance to see anything other than the four or five Squads in their group but all the guests see them all, as do the Jarl’s Squad who move anti-clockwise so to speak. Since there aren’t 47 busses in Shetland, Squad transport is provided by a variety of vans, lorries and cars. Hence with 11 venues to complete in 11 hours (9 p.m. till 8 a.m.) Squads can average an hour at each, including travel. Since each act is only a few minutes long, the pace is not too hectic. Humour plays a large part in the proceedings and I quote an excerpt from a flier distributed by one of the Squads – “Despite selling countless millions of records, selling out shows wherever he went, being a multi-millionaire, donating millions of dollars to charity and being one of the most recognised images on the planet, Elvis never took part in Up Helly-aa.”
Of course each venue has its own dance band in attendance and between acts everyone gets a dance, visiting Squad members included. This leads to some hilarious sights as Roman Legionnaires, Teddy Boys and Clangers trip the light fantastic with their partners to a Boston Two-Step or whatever. To ensure refreshments are constantly available each venue also has a team of ‘Hosts and hostesses’ who ensure an 11 hour supply of teas, coffees, sandwiches, biscuits, cakes, girdle scones and ‘reested mutton’. Stronger stuff you have to supply yourself.
My own impression was that the hours just flew in. Basically it’s a marvelous dance interspersed with 47 short cabaret acts. Each squad has either live musicians or more likely a CD to back their performance. The arrival of the 50 strong Jarl’s Squad, in our case at Anderson High at three in the morning, provides a further life, if any is needed. The Jarl’s Squad Musicians namely, James LEask, Highie Adamson, Davie Henry, Andrew Hughson (Snr and Jnr) and Mark Laurenson play for a very atmospheric rendition of The Up Helly-aa Song, the Galley Song and The Norseman’s Home together with tunes specially written for the Squad, this year by Peter Wood, as they enter and leave each hall.
At around 8 a.m. the last dance is announced and then it’s off home to bed or in many cases to a leisurely breakfast to discuss the night’s events. I have never experienced such a large event that so fully involved every age group in the community. The Jarl’s Squad itself involves quite a number of youngsters (there is a separate Junior Jarl’s Squad too) while many youngsters looked after the Squads’ CD backing tracks. Meanwhile everybody dances while grannies look on and listen before making their way home at 8 a.m. in many cases, to make breakfast for friends or indeed a full Squad. Surely one of the last true ‘communities’ in the fullest sense of the word.
It’s probably worth bearing in mind also that Up Helly-aa is not organised as a tourist attraction – it is organised by Shetlanders for Shetlanders – and a few of us are fortunate enough to witness the spectacle. Also, while Lerwick is the largest festival, there are another 6 or 7 around the various islands between now and the end of March.
The A&F Club
The meeting of the Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Club on the evening before Up Helly-aa also deserves a mention. Jimmy Burgess has quite clearly mastered the difficult art of the MC and leaves no-one’s name unblemished. The evening’s entertainment flowed with a fluency as bands or bandleaders from the ‘Sooth’ (Nicol McLaren, Bill Black, Iain MacPhail, Sandy Legget, Robert Whitehead, Tom Orr, The West Telferton, The Pentland Ceilidh Band) were interspersed with Shetland’s own phenomenal talent – Da Fustra, Alan Nicolson, Bryan Gear, James Leask, Ivor Scollay and The Cullivoe Dance Band, Gemma Donald (Shetland’s Young Fiddler of the Year 2002) and Maggie Adamson.
It was a truly outstanding night and I doubt nowadays if it could have been equaled, never mind bettered, anywhere.
Homeward Bound
To round off our stay the weather once again closed in, this time with snow, and all flights in the north of Scotland were cancelled. BA very kindly put us aboard the nmew Northlink Ferry, which despite the ribbing they received from the Squad calling themselves ‘Dropped Aa Clanger’ provided us with a comfortable voyage and good food. If you are going to Shetland at this time of the year, build some flexability into your arrangements.
Sincere thanks to Guizer Jarl Alex Johnson, Peter and Inga Wood, Cecil Hughson, Jimmy Burgess, Andrew Hughson, Peter, Fiona, James and John Leask and the countless other people we three met in the passing, for a thoroughly enjoyable week.
Collectors’ Pieces
by Charlie Gore
Charlie Gore edited and published ‘The Scottish Fiddle Music Index’ in 1994. This was the first attempt ever made to index the titles of the 12,000 or so traditional tunes, songs, airs and miscellaneous music published in the printed collections of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The chief value of the Index to researchers, musicians and students of the tradition is that it has made it possible to locate any tune listed and to identify an accessible source for the music (mostly based on collections held at the National Library of Scotland).
The Fiddle Music Collections of Robert Mackintosh
Born Tullimet, c1745 Died London 1807
A lot of people involved in one way or another with Scottish Fiddle Music will have heard of ‘Red Rob’ Mackintosh, usually because some enthusiast who published a selection of the older music in the 20th century took the trouble to name the composers. Considerable harm was done to the reputations of ‘Red Rob’ and dozens of his contemporaries by James Kerr (of the ‘Merry Melodies’) and James Stuart Robertson (‘Athole Collection’), along with a number of other compilers, when they took the decision, probably quite innocently, to omit any mention of source, date or authorship. Those great collections of the last 30 years of the 19th century were to be the essential reference works for traditional musicians during the next hundred years. In all but one collection (John Glen’s) there is no indication whatsoever of the date a tune was first published, by whom, or the composer’s name.
As a result it may not be generally known the Robert Mackintosh published four volumes of dance music, much of his own composition. The first, a 40 page collection of ‘Airs, Minuets, Gavotts and Reels…..’ (1783) was followed by three further volumes (1793, 96 and 1803) more closely resembling other contemporary collections of reels, strathspeys and quicksteps. Books 1 and 2 include long ‘variation’ pieces, arrangements often of favourite melodies which appear to be an attempt to revive an earlier form of ‘variation sonata’ popular into the 1770s. References show that Mackintosh collaborated with Charles McLean in a ‘Collection of Scots Tunes with Variations for the Violin’ and composed some of the settings. Latterly, however, his experiments with this ‘drawing-room’ style of music gave way to his own excellent compositions in the dance idiom. Considering that his four volumes contain more than 350 titles – of which he attributes over 260 to himself – it seems incredible that so few have survived in the repertoire. His output in tunes attributed to himself exceeds that of Niel Gow by quite a margin and rivals both Nathaniel Gow and William Marshall; yet less than a quarter were ever republished. It is high time to put this right. Quite a lot can be discovered about Red Rob’s life in John Grant’s biography of him (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music) from his birth in Atholl, his very fruitful marriage and working life in Edinburgh, to his sudden death in London. If there had been a portrait of him – not that I ever heard of one – it might have revealed more than the anecdotal flaming red hair and the short fuse that is said to go with it, but like a fellow professional, William Marshall of Speyside, that may merely have indicated an impatience with ‘bunglers.’ He certainly emerges as a thoroughly professional musician when in the 1770s an Edinburgh directory announces: ‘Robert Mackintosh, Musician, Skinner’s Close’. From there, he made several changes of address and from one of these (in the 1780s) he advertised violin tuition: “….admittance to the public classes at one guinea per quarter only. Any gentleman may have a private hour….at one guinea per month”. After an absence of three years, during which period he led the band in ‘the Gentlemen’s Concert at Aberdeen’, he was back in Edinburgh advertising violin lessons; ‘Apply at Bremner and Stewart’s Music Shops’ and it seems Nathaniel Gow may have been a pupil at one stage (possibly in the 1780s). In 1803, nearly 60, but evidently set for a full life in the whirl of concert, theatre and dance, he left for London. Four years later (in 1807, the year Niel Gow died in Dunkeld) he was dead. Meanwhile his wife, Margaret Mill, had borne him no less than 13 children between 1767 and 1797. Three of their sons were given the name Robert and two of these were living at the same time!
One son, Alexander, was a music teacher in Edinburgh (later in Newcastle) and left two excellent volumes of music (the second of which was subsequently reprinted and extended) continuing the reputation of the Tulliment dynasty. Red Rob’s brother James, a blacksmith in Tinereoch by Tulliment was said to have had five sons who played the fiddle; there was much music in the family! Charlie Macintosh, a weaver (not of the Tulliment family) arrived in Inver (Dunkeld) in the 1780s ‘from the north disguised as a woman in order to escape the clutches of a Press Gang…..recruiting young men for service in the East India Company’ (from Helen Jackson’s ‘Niel Gow’s Inver’, Perth & Kinross Public Libraries, 2000) Members of that family were still living – and playing and composing – in the Atholl district in the 1930s.
Mackintosh’s earlier flirtation with ‘art music’ (variation sonata) had run its natural course by the 1790s and most of his second and his third and fourth collections are devoted to his masterly strathspeys, reels and jigs, along with an interesting selection of older popular tunes. His arrangements are careful, sometimes florid, but always workmanlike. The music must speak for itself, as indeed it has in the limited scope of partial selection down the years. Any fiddler-composer who could turn out the strathspey and reel ‘Lady Charlotte Campbell’ and the strathspey (beautiful as a slow strathspey) ‘Miss Campbell of Saddell’ could hardly be written off as a second class musical mind. His jigs (which he persistently named ‘Reels’) also rank among the very best. The traditional fiddle world has waited far too long for this reprint (at least 100 years too long) and should applaud the Highland Music Trust, who have recently been involved in production of new (reset) editions of ‘The Athole Collection’ (Balnain House Trust, 1996) and ‘The Glen Collection’ (2001), for this further addition to the growing rescue library of music from the Golden Age.
Sir Jimmy Shand Tribute Day
by Heather McLean
Sunday 26th January 2003 in St Andrews Town Hall
The hall was full to capacity, with followers of Shand’s music looking forward to this, the second concert to be held in memory of the great man, Sir Jimmy Shand. The stage was set with a portrait of the man himself for all to see.
Lord and Lady Elgin of Broomhall opened proceedings. Also on stage were representatives from CHAS and Rhymonth House, and compere for the day Ian Lees from Radio Tay.
Jimmy Shand Jnr presented cheques for £1,320 to CHAS then Lord Elgin sang a song with words expressing the kind of man Jimmy Shand was. Ian Lees then introduced…………………
An Evening of Scottish Music
Based on The Mackintosh Collection 1783-1803
A talk by Charles Gore
Music from Maureen Rutherford (piano), Duncan Dyker (fiddle) and Eric Allan (piano)
A great evening was spent recently…………..
Inverness Button box Gathering
The sell-out of Eden Court for The “001 Button Box Gathering…………….
Greeting from Inverness
by Margo MacLennan
I had a weekend at Celtic Connections …………………..
The Piping Shrike
by Jean Lumsden
We have been having extremely hot weather…………
CD Reviews
Alive and Jigging – The Gary Forrest Ceilidh Band – Big sky 108 - Independent
With Compliments Patsy Reid – APMR901 - Independent
Touchwood – Iain Fraser – CPN001D – Independent
Book Review
Original Compositions – Jim & Jean McConnachie
Take the Floor – Saturdays with Robbie Shepherd
1st Mar 03 – Ian Holmes SDB + letters and favourite items
8th Mar 03 – Glenelvan SDB + first report from Musselburgh
15th Mar 03 – Archie MacVicar SDB + second report from Musselburgh
22nd Mar 03 – Alisdair MacCuish & the Black Rose Ceilidh Band + guests (OB from St Andrews in the Square)
29th Mar 03 – The Big Squeeze + Judith Linton’s CD choice
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Westburn Park Lounge) – 25th Mar 03 – David Vernon
Alnwick (The Farrier’s Arms – Shilbottle) 12th Mar 03 – James Paterson Trio
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 16th Mar 03 – The Big Squeeze
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 2nd Mar 03 – AGM + Christine Legge & Duncan Black
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 6th Mar 03 – Donnie McGregor SDB
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Church Hall) – 16th Mar 03 – Roy Hendrie
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – Mar 03
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 26th Mar 03 – Lynne McConnachie SDB
Beith & District (Anderson Hotel) – 17th Mar 03 – Marian Anderson SDB
Belford (Community Centre) – 27th Mar 03 - tbc
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 9th Mar 03 – Roger Dobson SDB
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 11th Mar 03 – Graeme Davidson Duo
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 30th Mar 03 – Luncheon & Ceilidh
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 13th Mar 03 – Fergie MacDonald
Campsie (Glazert Country House Hotel) - 4th Mar 03 – Allan McIntosh SDB
Carlisle (St Margaret Mary’s Social Club) - 6th Mar 03 – Stuart Adamson SDB
Castle Douglas (Urr Valley Country House Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Andy Kain
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 20th Mar 03 – Lomond Ceilidh Band
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 9th Mar 03 – All players welcome
Crieff & District (Crieff Hotel) 6th Mar 03 - tbc
Cults (Culter Sports & Social Club) 12th Mar 03 – Graeme Mitchell SDB
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) Mar 03
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Dunblane (Victoria Hall) – 19th Mar 03 – Ross MacPherson SDB
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 11th Mar 03 – Sandy Legget SDB
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 7th / 8th / 9th Mar 03 - tbc
East Kilbride (The Village Inn) – 27th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 - tbc
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 24th Mar 03 – Gordon Pattullo
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 30th Mar 03 – Gavin Piper
Forres (Victoria Hotel) – 12th Mar 03 – David Ross Trio
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 6th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 10th Mar 03 – Colin Garvin Trio
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel, Wooler) – 20th Mar 03 – John Douglas Trio
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 5th Mar 03 – Freeland Barbour & the Occasionals
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 25th Mar 03 – Coliston Sound
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 2nd Mar 03 – David Vernon
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 17th Mar 03 – Lomond Ceilidh Band
Inveraray (Argyll Hotel) - 12th Mar 03 – Neil MAcEachern SDB
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 6th Mar 03 – The Wyvis Sound
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 4th Mar 03 – Lindsay Weir SDB
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 26th Mar 03 – Shirley Cathcart SDB
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Steven Carcary & Malcolm Ross
Lanark (Ravenstruther Hall) - 24th Mar 03 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Langholm (Crown Hotel) – 12th Mar 03 – Duncan Black
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 13th Mar 03 – Jimmy Cassidy
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 6th Mar 03 - tbc
14th Mar 03 – Highland A&F Club
Livingston (Hilcroft Hotel, Whitburn) 18th Mar 03 – Bruce Lindsay Trio
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 25th Mar 03 – Neil Hardie SDB
Mauchline (Harry Lyle Suite) - 18th Mar 03 – Karyn McCulloch
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Wayne Robertson
Newburgh (The Ship Inn) - 27th Mar 03 – James Coutts Trio
Newmill-on-Teviot (Newmill Country Inn) - 5th Mar 03 – Neil Hardie SDB
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 31st Mar 03 – Ian McCallum Trio
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – Mar 03
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 6th Mar 03 – West Telferton Cale SDB
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) – Mar 03
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – Mar 03
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Marian Anderson SDB
Premier NI (Chimney Corner Hotel) - Mar 03
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 11th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 6th Mar 03 – Burns Brothers
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 13th Mar 03 – Sandy Legget
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) - 13th Mar 03 – Local Night
27th Mar 03 – Fergie MacDonald
29th Mar 03 – Annual Dance
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) - 29th Mar 03 – Dance to Sandy Legget
Thornhill (Masonic Hall) - 11th Mar 03 – Ian Holmes Trio
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 3rd Mar 03 – Gordon Pattullo
Turriff (Royal British Legion) – 6th Mar 03 – Susan Simpson & Friends
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – Mar 03
West Barnes (West Barnes Inn) 13th Mar 03 - GiveWay
Wick (MacKay’s Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Tain Scottish Duo
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Alnwick
3. Arbroath
4. Balloch
5. Beith & District
6. Belford
7. Biggar
8. Blairgowrie
9. Bromley
10. Button-Key
11. Campsie
12. Carlisle
13. Castle Douglas
14. Coalburn
15. Dunfermline
16. East Kilbride
17. Fintry
18. Forres
19. Galston
20. Glendale
21. Glenrothes & District
22. Gretna
23. Highland
24. Isle of Skye
25. Islesteps
26. Kelso
27. Kintore
28. Lanark
29. Langholm
30. Lesmahagow
31. Lewis & Harris
32. Livingston
33. Lockerbie
34. Montrose
35. Newmill
36. Newtongrange
37. Oban
38. Peebles
39. Perth
40. Premier
41. Renfrew
42. Rothbury
43. Shetland
44. Thornhill
45. Thurso
46. Turriff
47. Wick
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 2002
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Aug 1975 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started 1985 – present)
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
7. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
8. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
9. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
10. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
11. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
12. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
13. Bromley A&F Club
14. Button Key A&F Club (
15. Campbeltown A&F Club (
16. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
17. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
18. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
19. Coalburn A&F Club (
20. Crathes (aka Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes) (Nov 1997 -
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Cults A & F Club (
23. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
24. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
25. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
26. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
27. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
28. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
29. Ellon A&F Club (
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
34. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
35. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
36. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
37. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
38. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
39. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
40. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
41. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
42. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
43. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
44. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
45. Kintore A&F Club (
46. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newburgh A&F Club (joined 2002 but founded
57. Newmill-on-Teviot (Hawick) (Formed late 1988 joined Assoc 1999
58. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
59. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
60. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
61. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
62. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
63. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
64. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
65. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
66. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
67. Selkirk A&F Club (
68. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
69. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
70. Sutherland A&F Club (
71. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
72. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
73. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
74. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
75. Vancouver
76. West Barnes ( - present)
77. Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
78. Yarrow (prev known as Etterick & Yarrow) (Jan 1989 – )
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
79. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
80. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
81. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
82. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
83. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
84. Buchan A&F Club
85. Callander A&F Club (
86. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
87. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
88. Club Accord
89. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
90. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
91. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
92. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
93. Derwentside A&F Club
94. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
95. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
96. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
97. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
98. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
99. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
100. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
101. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
102. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
103. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
104. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
105. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
106. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
107. Mull A&F Club
108. Newcastleton Accordion Club
109. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
110. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
111. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
112. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
113. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
114. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
115. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
116. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
117. Tranent A&F Club
118. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
119. Wellbank A&F Club
Advertising rates
Back Page (colour) - £300
Full Page (colour) - £220
Full Page (b&w) - £140
Half Page (colour) - £110
Half Page (b&w) - £70
Quarter Page (colour) - £55
Quarter Page (b&w) - £35
Eighth Page - £18
Small Boxed £12
B&F Treasurer – Charlie Todd, Thankerton
The main features in the above issue were as follows (this is not a comprehensive detail of all it contained. The Club reports, in particular, are too time consuming at this stage to retype).
Editorial
By the time you read this the Musselburgh Festival will be over for another year. As I write I’m looking forward to meeting up with many of you there. It’s always a highlight of the B&F calendar, and I’m sure all our readers join in thanking Neil Copland and his team for all the hard work they’ve put in over the years.
I have reports from two other recent events – the Hamilton Festival and the Shand Morino Day – but unfortunately no photographs. I’ve held the articles over until next month, in the hope that someone might send us some photographs – please!!
Next month we’ll also have write ups on some of the events at this year’s Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow. If anyone attended anything there and would like to write a short piece about it, please contact us.
I have had one or two people asking why the NAAFC is supporting a concert with Session A9 headlining, rather than one of our own dance bands. The answer is very simple – they generously asked us, not the other way round! They were planning a concert in the Borders, and they approached me to help to find a venue. It tied in nicely with the Hawick Reivers Festival, and it gives us a great opportunity to promote some of our local clubs, as well as make money for the Association. There’s going to be a great box and fiddle session in Callaghan’s Bar in the afternoon, followed by the concert in the Town Hall at night.
Thanks again to the usual suspects – Nicol, Charlie, Jude, Heather, Alison and all at Culross.
Karin Ingram
Up Helly-Aa
The Greatest Show on Earth
by Charlie Todd
It was pretty much a case of a leap into the unknown as I boarded the Edinburgh to Sumburgh flight in the company of Elizabeth Wood and Maureen Welsh on Thursday 23rd January for a week-long stay in Shetland. Of course everyone knows a little of Up Helly-aa but it’s one thing to hear about it – what would it be like to experience it? We were guests of Da Fustra band members Peter and Inga Wood and were lucky enough to approach Sumburgh Head on a perfectly clear winter’s day giving us a foretaste of the islands’ rugged grandeur.
So let’s take an outsiders, or colloquially a Soothmoother’s (from the pre air travel days when everyone came to Shetland by sea and those coming from the mainland entered Lerwick harbour by its ‘sooth’ entrance or ‘mooth’ between Bressay and the main island) look at what this Festival is about. Does it stretch back to the dawn of time? Well actually no, although it does go back a century or more, but I’ll hand you over to Brian Smith, the local archivist, who explains the evolution of today’s festival in the official programme.
The History
Up Helly-aa is a relatively modern festival. There is some evidence that people in rural Shetland celebrated the 24th day after Christmas as ‘Antonsmas’ or ‘Up Helly Night’, but there is no evidence that their cousins in Lerwick did the same. The emergence of Yuletide and the New Year festivities in the town seems to post-date the Napoleonic Wars, when soldiers and sailors came home with rowdy habits and a taste for firearms.
On old Christmas eve in 1824 a visiting Methodist missionary wrote in his diary that, “The whole town was in an uproar; from 12 o’clock last night until this night blowing of horns, beating of drums, tinkling of old tin kettles, firing of guns, shouting, bawling, fiddling, fifeing, drinking, fighting. This was the state of the town all the night – the street was thronged with people as any fair I ever saw in England.”
As Lerwick grew in size the celebrations became more elaborate. Sometime about 1840 the participants introduced burning tar barrels into the proceedings. “Sometimes,” as one observer wrote, “there were two tubs fastened to a great raft-like frame knocked together at the Docks, whence the combustibles were generally obtained. Two chains were fastened to the bogie supporting the capacious tub or tar-barrels…eked to these were two strong ropes on which a motley mob, wearing masks for the most part, fastened. A party of about a dozen were told off to stir up the molten contents.”
The main street of Lerwick in the mid-19th century was extremely narrow, and rival groups of tar-barrellers frequently crashed in the middle. The proceedings were thus dangerous and dirty, and Lerwick’s middle classes often complained about them. The Town council began to appoint Special Constables every Christmas to control the revelers, with only limited success. When the end came for tar-barrelling, in the early 1870s, it seems to have been because the young Lerwegians themselves had decided it was time for a change.
Around 1870 a group of young men in the town with intellectual interests injected a series of new ideas into the proceedings. Firstly, they improvised the name Up Helly-aa, and gradually postponed the celebrations until the end of January. Secondly, they introduced a far more elaborate element of disguise – ‘guizing’ – into the new festival. Thirdly, they inaugurated the torchlight procession.
At the same time they were toying with the idea of introducing Viking theme to their new festival. The first signs of this new development appeared in 1877, but it was not until the late 1880s that a Viking longship – the ‘galley’ – appeared, and as late as 1906 that a ‘Guizer Jarl’ the chief guizer, appeared on the scene. It was not until after the First World War that there was a squad of Vikings, the ‘Guizer’s Jarl Squad’, in the procession every year.
Up to the Second world War Up-Helly-aa was overwhelmingly a festival of young working class men – women have never taken part in the procession – and during the depression years the operation was run on a shoestring. In the winter of 1931-32 there was an unsuccessful move to cancel the Festival because of the dire economic situation in the town. At the same time the Up-Helly-aa Committee, a self confident organisation which poked fun at the pompous, in the by then long established Up-Helly-aa ‘bill’ – sometimes driving their victims to fury.
Since 1949, when the Festival resumed after the War, much has changed and much has remained the same. That year the BBC recorded a major radio programme on Up-Helly-aa, and from that moment Up-Helly-aa – not noted for its split second timing before the War – became a model of efficient organisation. The numbers participating in the Festival have become much greater, and the resources required correspondingly larger. Whereas in the 19th century individuals kept open house to welcome the Guizers on Up-Helly-aa night and women now co-operate to open large halls throughout the town to entertain them.
However, despite the changes there are numerous threads connecting the Up-Helly-aa of today with its predecessors 150 years ago.
January 2003
Right, so now we know where we stand. The Up Helly-aa Committee consists of 15 members who work their way up through the ranks and various posts and duties to emerge as Guizer Jarl. 2003 was the turn of Alex Johnson, who, as tradition also demands, adopted the persona of a past Nordic hero – in this case Olaf Sitricson. Each year when the Jarl’s duties are completed he retires and a new member is elected, although usually there is a consensus of opinion and only one or two candidates stand. Hardly surprising, bearing in mind the commitment involved! Only males are involved in the Festival Procession and for this they form themselves into ‘Squads’ who participate every year by picking a different theme, making costumes, devising a short sketch or a dance routine and generally enjoying themselves. Squads usually consist of between 16 and 24 members and there were 46 in this year’s Procession. By coincidence a Squad may contain several Jarls inside a period of a few years or more likely none at all.
The Squad to which the Guizer Jarl belongs become the ‘Jarl’s Squad’ which requires the wearing of Viking battledress. The design is determined by the Jarl, and the Squad spend much of the year making the 50 (the Jarl is allowed to supplement the normal Squad with friends and relatives) shields, axes, helmets, daggers, kirtles, cuffs, boots, belts, cloaks and breastplates that are required. Only a few jobs such as chroming are beyond the skills of the Squad members and have to be sent to specialists. Prior to Up Helly-aa day many shops in Lerwick display in their windows past years costumes and take my word for it, they are impressive. The workmanship and general finish is of the highest standard. Inevitably, every Jarl tries to think of something just a wee bit different as regards materials and design, which is why they try to keep it secret until the big day. Work is carried out by squad members in ‘the Bunker’ – “somewhere in Lerwick.”
The other two vital ingredients of the Procession, the making of 800+ torches and the construction of the 30 foot Galley (a real longship was 80 to 90 feet long) are in the hands of separate specialist teams who carry out these tasks every year. Construction of the Galley starts in November and again the ‘livery’ i.e. the paintwork is decided by the Guizer Jarl and is kept under wraps until the big day. From May to September the Galley Shed hosts a display of past regalia and a longship built especially for display to the tourists.
Right, we’re well on the way to assembling all the necessary parts but there’s just one missing ingredient – the weather. The official programme contained the rather ominous footnote ‘THERE WILL BE NO POSTPONEMENT FOR WEATHER’ – just to clarify the matter. Unfortunately 2003 was one of those years when you might have wished there was. Apparently it’s usually not too bad, but 1983 and 1993 were blighted by wind and rain. And 2003 I hear you ask? – well in short it absolutely poured, backed by gusting winds, for the full hour and a half of the (slightly curtailed) Procession.
All credit to the 912 Guizers who stoically took part. Passing Squad members were heard to sing Raindrops Keep Falling on my Hard, Singing in the Rain and one hardy soul was heard to comment in a broad Shetland dialect “I’ve got three layers on and I’m absolutely seepin’” – whatever that means!
The end of the Procession is marked, of course, by the burning of the Galley and the night sky was lit up as 833 torch-bearers threw their nearly extinguished burdens into the flames.
The Halls
So far so good, but now the fun really begins. Eleven venues around the town, nine of which are by invitation only and two open to the public, have been geared up for an all-night session of dancing, refreshments and entertainment. Ticket holders for each venue arrive together with the first of ‘The Squads’ (who have all been allocated numbers). This years 46 Squads were initially divided among the 11 venues on a predetermined basis and thereafter followed a set route round the remaining 10 halls.
This means that they don’t get a chance to see anything other than the four or five Squads in their group but all the guests see them all, as do the Jarl’s Squad who move anti-clockwise so to speak. Since there aren’t 47 busses in Shetland, Squad transport is provided by a variety of vans, lorries and cars. Hence with 11 venues to complete in 11 hours (9 p.m. till 8 a.m.) Squads can average an hour at each, including travel. Since each act is only a few minutes long, the pace is not too hectic. Humour plays a large part in the proceedings and I quote an excerpt from a flier distributed by one of the Squads – “Despite selling countless millions of records, selling out shows wherever he went, being a multi-millionaire, donating millions of dollars to charity and being one of the most recognised images on the planet, Elvis never took part in Up Helly-aa.”
Of course each venue has its own dance band in attendance and between acts everyone gets a dance, visiting Squad members included. This leads to some hilarious sights as Roman Legionnaires, Teddy Boys and Clangers trip the light fantastic with their partners to a Boston Two-Step or whatever. To ensure refreshments are constantly available each venue also has a team of ‘Hosts and hostesses’ who ensure an 11 hour supply of teas, coffees, sandwiches, biscuits, cakes, girdle scones and ‘reested mutton’. Stronger stuff you have to supply yourself.
My own impression was that the hours just flew in. Basically it’s a marvelous dance interspersed with 47 short cabaret acts. Each squad has either live musicians or more likely a CD to back their performance. The arrival of the 50 strong Jarl’s Squad, in our case at Anderson High at three in the morning, provides a further life, if any is needed. The Jarl’s Squad Musicians namely, James LEask, Highie Adamson, Davie Henry, Andrew Hughson (Snr and Jnr) and Mark Laurenson play for a very atmospheric rendition of The Up Helly-aa Song, the Galley Song and The Norseman’s Home together with tunes specially written for the Squad, this year by Peter Wood, as they enter and leave each hall.
At around 8 a.m. the last dance is announced and then it’s off home to bed or in many cases to a leisurely breakfast to discuss the night’s events. I have never experienced such a large event that so fully involved every age group in the community. The Jarl’s Squad itself involves quite a number of youngsters (there is a separate Junior Jarl’s Squad too) while many youngsters looked after the Squads’ CD backing tracks. Meanwhile everybody dances while grannies look on and listen before making their way home at 8 a.m. in many cases, to make breakfast for friends or indeed a full Squad. Surely one of the last true ‘communities’ in the fullest sense of the word.
It’s probably worth bearing in mind also that Up Helly-aa is not organised as a tourist attraction – it is organised by Shetlanders for Shetlanders – and a few of us are fortunate enough to witness the spectacle. Also, while Lerwick is the largest festival, there are another 6 or 7 around the various islands between now and the end of March.
The A&F Club
The meeting of the Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Club on the evening before Up Helly-aa also deserves a mention. Jimmy Burgess has quite clearly mastered the difficult art of the MC and leaves no-one’s name unblemished. The evening’s entertainment flowed with a fluency as bands or bandleaders from the ‘Sooth’ (Nicol McLaren, Bill Black, Iain MacPhail, Sandy Legget, Robert Whitehead, Tom Orr, The West Telferton, The Pentland Ceilidh Band) were interspersed with Shetland’s own phenomenal talent – Da Fustra, Alan Nicolson, Bryan Gear, James Leask, Ivor Scollay and The Cullivoe Dance Band, Gemma Donald (Shetland’s Young Fiddler of the Year 2002) and Maggie Adamson.
It was a truly outstanding night and I doubt nowadays if it could have been equaled, never mind bettered, anywhere.
Homeward Bound
To round off our stay the weather once again closed in, this time with snow, and all flights in the north of Scotland were cancelled. BA very kindly put us aboard the nmew Northlink Ferry, which despite the ribbing they received from the Squad calling themselves ‘Dropped Aa Clanger’ provided us with a comfortable voyage and good food. If you are going to Shetland at this time of the year, build some flexability into your arrangements.
Sincere thanks to Guizer Jarl Alex Johnson, Peter and Inga Wood, Cecil Hughson, Jimmy Burgess, Andrew Hughson, Peter, Fiona, James and John Leask and the countless other people we three met in the passing, for a thoroughly enjoyable week.
Collectors’ Pieces
by Charlie Gore
Charlie Gore edited and published ‘The Scottish Fiddle Music Index’ in 1994. This was the first attempt ever made to index the titles of the 12,000 or so traditional tunes, songs, airs and miscellaneous music published in the printed collections of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The chief value of the Index to researchers, musicians and students of the tradition is that it has made it possible to locate any tune listed and to identify an accessible source for the music (mostly based on collections held at the National Library of Scotland).
The Fiddle Music Collections of Robert Mackintosh
Born Tullimet, c1745 Died London 1807
A lot of people involved in one way or another with Scottish Fiddle Music will have heard of ‘Red Rob’ Mackintosh, usually because some enthusiast who published a selection of the older music in the 20th century took the trouble to name the composers. Considerable harm was done to the reputations of ‘Red Rob’ and dozens of his contemporaries by James Kerr (of the ‘Merry Melodies’) and James Stuart Robertson (‘Athole Collection’), along with a number of other compilers, when they took the decision, probably quite innocently, to omit any mention of source, date or authorship. Those great collections of the last 30 years of the 19th century were to be the essential reference works for traditional musicians during the next hundred years. In all but one collection (John Glen’s) there is no indication whatsoever of the date a tune was first published, by whom, or the composer’s name.
As a result it may not be generally known the Robert Mackintosh published four volumes of dance music, much of his own composition. The first, a 40 page collection of ‘Airs, Minuets, Gavotts and Reels…..’ (1783) was followed by three further volumes (1793, 96 and 1803) more closely resembling other contemporary collections of reels, strathspeys and quicksteps. Books 1 and 2 include long ‘variation’ pieces, arrangements often of favourite melodies which appear to be an attempt to revive an earlier form of ‘variation sonata’ popular into the 1770s. References show that Mackintosh collaborated with Charles McLean in a ‘Collection of Scots Tunes with Variations for the Violin’ and composed some of the settings. Latterly, however, his experiments with this ‘drawing-room’ style of music gave way to his own excellent compositions in the dance idiom. Considering that his four volumes contain more than 350 titles – of which he attributes over 260 to himself – it seems incredible that so few have survived in the repertoire. His output in tunes attributed to himself exceeds that of Niel Gow by quite a margin and rivals both Nathaniel Gow and William Marshall; yet less than a quarter were ever republished. It is high time to put this right. Quite a lot can be discovered about Red Rob’s life in John Grant’s biography of him (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music) from his birth in Atholl, his very fruitful marriage and working life in Edinburgh, to his sudden death in London. If there had been a portrait of him – not that I ever heard of one – it might have revealed more than the anecdotal flaming red hair and the short fuse that is said to go with it, but like a fellow professional, William Marshall of Speyside, that may merely have indicated an impatience with ‘bunglers.’ He certainly emerges as a thoroughly professional musician when in the 1770s an Edinburgh directory announces: ‘Robert Mackintosh, Musician, Skinner’s Close’. From there, he made several changes of address and from one of these (in the 1780s) he advertised violin tuition: “….admittance to the public classes at one guinea per quarter only. Any gentleman may have a private hour….at one guinea per month”. After an absence of three years, during which period he led the band in ‘the Gentlemen’s Concert at Aberdeen’, he was back in Edinburgh advertising violin lessons; ‘Apply at Bremner and Stewart’s Music Shops’ and it seems Nathaniel Gow may have been a pupil at one stage (possibly in the 1780s). In 1803, nearly 60, but evidently set for a full life in the whirl of concert, theatre and dance, he left for London. Four years later (in 1807, the year Niel Gow died in Dunkeld) he was dead. Meanwhile his wife, Margaret Mill, had borne him no less than 13 children between 1767 and 1797. Three of their sons were given the name Robert and two of these were living at the same time!
One son, Alexander, was a music teacher in Edinburgh (later in Newcastle) and left two excellent volumes of music (the second of which was subsequently reprinted and extended) continuing the reputation of the Tulliment dynasty. Red Rob’s brother James, a blacksmith in Tinereoch by Tulliment was said to have had five sons who played the fiddle; there was much music in the family! Charlie Macintosh, a weaver (not of the Tulliment family) arrived in Inver (Dunkeld) in the 1780s ‘from the north disguised as a woman in order to escape the clutches of a Press Gang…..recruiting young men for service in the East India Company’ (from Helen Jackson’s ‘Niel Gow’s Inver’, Perth & Kinross Public Libraries, 2000) Members of that family were still living – and playing and composing – in the Atholl district in the 1930s.
Mackintosh’s earlier flirtation with ‘art music’ (variation sonata) had run its natural course by the 1790s and most of his second and his third and fourth collections are devoted to his masterly strathspeys, reels and jigs, along with an interesting selection of older popular tunes. His arrangements are careful, sometimes florid, but always workmanlike. The music must speak for itself, as indeed it has in the limited scope of partial selection down the years. Any fiddler-composer who could turn out the strathspey and reel ‘Lady Charlotte Campbell’ and the strathspey (beautiful as a slow strathspey) ‘Miss Campbell of Saddell’ could hardly be written off as a second class musical mind. His jigs (which he persistently named ‘Reels’) also rank among the very best. The traditional fiddle world has waited far too long for this reprint (at least 100 years too long) and should applaud the Highland Music Trust, who have recently been involved in production of new (reset) editions of ‘The Athole Collection’ (Balnain House Trust, 1996) and ‘The Glen Collection’ (2001), for this further addition to the growing rescue library of music from the Golden Age.
Sir Jimmy Shand Tribute Day
by Heather McLean
Sunday 26th January 2003 in St Andrews Town Hall
The hall was full to capacity, with followers of Shand’s music looking forward to this, the second concert to be held in memory of the great man, Sir Jimmy Shand. The stage was set with a portrait of the man himself for all to see.
Lord and Lady Elgin of Broomhall opened proceedings. Also on stage were representatives from CHAS and Rhymonth House, and compere for the day Ian Lees from Radio Tay.
Jimmy Shand Jnr presented cheques for £1,320 to CHAS then Lord Elgin sang a song with words expressing the kind of man Jimmy Shand was. Ian Lees then introduced…………………
An Evening of Scottish Music
Based on The Mackintosh Collection 1783-1803
A talk by Charles Gore
Music from Maureen Rutherford (piano), Duncan Dyker (fiddle) and Eric Allan (piano)
A great evening was spent recently…………..
Inverness Button box Gathering
The sell-out of Eden Court for The “001 Button Box Gathering…………….
Greeting from Inverness
by Margo MacLennan
I had a weekend at Celtic Connections …………………..
The Piping Shrike
by Jean Lumsden
We have been having extremely hot weather…………
CD Reviews
Alive and Jigging – The Gary Forrest Ceilidh Band – Big sky 108 - Independent
With Compliments Patsy Reid – APMR901 - Independent
Touchwood – Iain Fraser – CPN001D – Independent
Book Review
Original Compositions – Jim & Jean McConnachie
Take the Floor – Saturdays with Robbie Shepherd
1st Mar 03 – Ian Holmes SDB + letters and favourite items
8th Mar 03 – Glenelvan SDB + first report from Musselburgh
15th Mar 03 – Archie MacVicar SDB + second report from Musselburgh
22nd Mar 03 – Alisdair MacCuish & the Black Rose Ceilidh Band + guests (OB from St Andrews in the Square)
29th Mar 03 – The Big Squeeze + Judith Linton’s CD choice
CLUB DIARY
Aberdeen (Westburn Park Lounge) – 25th Mar 03 – David Vernon
Alnwick (The Farrier’s Arms – Shilbottle) 12th Mar 03 – James Paterson Trio
Annan (St Andrew’s Social Club) - 16th Mar 03 – The Big Squeeze
Arbroath (Viewfield Hotel) - 2nd Mar 03 – AGM + Christine Legge & Duncan Black
Armadale (Masonic Hall) – 6th Mar 03 – Donnie McGregor SDB
Balloch (St. Kessog’s Church Hall) – 16th Mar 03 – Roy Hendrie
Banchory (Burnett Arms Hotel) – Mar 03
Banff & District (Banff Springs Hotel) – 26th Mar 03 – Lynne McConnachie SDB
Beith & District (Anderson Hotel) – 17th Mar 03 – Marian Anderson SDB
Belford (Community Centre) – 27th Mar 03 - tbc
Biggar (Municipal Hall) – 9th Mar 03 – Roger Dobson SDB
Blairgowrie (Moorfield Hotel) - 11th Mar 03 – Graeme Davidson Duo
Bromley (Trinity United Reform Church) - 30th Mar 03 – Luncheon & Ceilidh
Button Key (Windygates Institute) – 13th Mar 03 – Fergie MacDonald
Campsie (Glazert Country House Hotel) - 4th Mar 03 – Allan McIntosh SDB
Carlisle (St Margaret Mary’s Social Club) - 6th Mar 03 – Stuart Adamson SDB
Castle Douglas (Urr Valley Country House Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Andy Kain
Coalburn (Miners’ Welfare) - 20th Mar 03 – Lomond Ceilidh Band
Crathes (Crathes Hall, Banchory) - 9th Mar 03 – All players welcome
Crieff & District (Crieff Hotel) 6th Mar 03 - tbc
Cults (Culter Sports & Social Club) 12th Mar 03 – Graeme Mitchell SDB
Dalriada (Argyll Arms Hotel, Lochgilphead) Mar 03
Dingwall (National Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Iain MacPhail SDB
Dunblane (Victoria Hall) – 19th Mar 03 – Ross MacPherson SDB
Dunfermline (Headwell Bowling Club) – 11th Mar 03 – Sandy Legget SDB
Dunoon & Cowal (McColl’s Hotel) 7th / 8th / 9th Mar 03 - tbc
East Kilbride (The Village Inn) – 27th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Ellon (Station Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 - tbc
Fintry (Fintry Sports Centre) – 24th Mar 03 – Gordon Pattullo
Forfar (Plough Inn) - 30th Mar 03 – Gavin Piper
Forres (Victoria Hotel) – 12th Mar 03 – David Ross Trio
Galashiels (Abbotsford Arms Hotel) – 6th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Galston (Barr Castle Social Club) – 10th Mar 03 – Colin Garvin Trio
Glendale (Black Bull Hotel, Wooler) – 20th Mar 03 – John Douglas Trio
Glenfarg (Lomond Hotel) - 5th Mar 03 – Freeland Barbour & the Occasionals
Glenrothes (Victoria Hall, Coaltown of Balgownie) - 25th Mar 03 – Coliston Sound
Gretna (Halcrow Stadium) - 2nd Mar 03 – David Vernon
Highland (Drumossie Hotel) – 17th Mar 03 – Lomond Ceilidh Band
Inveraray (Argyll Hotel) - 12th Mar 03 – Neil MAcEachern SDB
Isle of Skye – (The Royal Hotel, Portree) - 6th Mar 03 – The Wyvis Sound
Islesteps (The Embassy Hotel) – 4th Mar 03 – Lindsay Weir SDB
Kelso (Ednam House Hotel) – 26th Mar 03 – Shirley Cathcart SDB
Kintore (Torryburn Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Steven Carcary & Malcolm Ross
Lanark (Ravenstruther Hall) - 24th Mar 03 – Billy Anderson & Albany
Langholm (Crown Hotel) – 12th Mar 03 – Duncan Black
Lesmahagow (Masonic Hall) – 13th Mar 03 – Jimmy Cassidy
Lewis & Harris (Stornoway Legion) - 6th Mar 03 - tbc
14th Mar 03 – Highland A&F Club
Livingston (Hilcroft Hotel, Whitburn) 18th Mar 03 – Bruce Lindsay Trio
Lockerbie (Queen’s Hotel) - 25th Mar 03 – Neil Hardie SDB
Mauchline (Harry Lyle Suite) - 18th Mar 03 – Karyn McCulloch
Montrose (Park Hotel) – 5th Mar 03 – Wayne Robertson
Newburgh (The Ship Inn) - 27th Mar 03 – James Coutts Trio
Newmill-on-Teviot (Newmill Country Inn) - 5th Mar 03 – Neil Hardie SDB
Newtongrange (Dean Tavern) – 31st Mar 03 – Ian McCallum Trio
North East (Royal British Legion, Keith) – Mar 03
Oban (McTavish’s Kitchen) – 6th Mar 03 – West Telferton Cale SDB
Orkney (Ayre Hotel, Kirkwall) – Mar 03
Peebles (Green Tree Hotel) – Mar 03
Perth (Salutation Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Marian Anderson SDB
Premier NI (Chimney Corner Hotel) - Mar 03
Renfrew (Masonic Hall, Broadloan) – 11th Mar 03 – Tom Alexander
Rothbury (Queen’s Head) - 6th Mar 03 – Burns Brothers
Selkirk (Cricket Club) - 13th Mar 03 – Sandy Legget
Shetland (Shetland Hotel, Lerwick) - 13th Mar 03 – Local Night
27th Mar 03 – Fergie MacDonald
29th Mar 03 – Annual Dance
Sutherland (Rogart Hall) - 29th Mar 03 – Dance to Sandy Legget
Thornhill (Masonic Hall) - 11th Mar 03 – Ian Holmes Trio
Thurso (Pentland Hotel) – 3rd Mar 03 – Gordon Pattullo
Turriff (Royal British Legion) – 6th Mar 03 – Susan Simpson & Friends
Tynedale (Hexham Ex Service Club) – Mar 03
West Barnes (West Barnes Inn) 13th Mar 03 - GiveWay
Wick (MacKay’s Hotel) – 18th Mar 03 – Tain Scottish Duo
THERE WERE CLUB REPORTS FROM :-
1. Aberdeen
2. Alnwick
3. Arbroath
4. Balloch
5. Beith & District
6. Belford
7. Biggar
8. Blairgowrie
9. Bromley
10. Button-Key
11. Campsie
12. Carlisle
13. Castle Douglas
14. Coalburn
15. Dunfermline
16. East Kilbride
17. Fintry
18. Forres
19. Galston
20. Glendale
21. Glenrothes & District
22. Gretna
23. Highland
24. Isle of Skye
25. Islesteps
26. Kelso
27. Kintore
28. Lanark
29. Langholm
30. Lesmahagow
31. Lewis & Harris
32. Livingston
33. Lockerbie
34. Montrose
35. Newmill
36. Newtongrange
37. Oban
38. Peebles
39. Perth
40. Premier
41. Renfrew
42. Rothbury
43. Shetland
44. Thornhill
45. Thurso
46. Turriff
47. Wick
CLUB DIRECTORY AS AT OCT 2002
(Clubs didn’t necessarily notify the Assoc when they closed so the following may not be entirely correct. Only the clubs submitting the reports or in the Club Diary above were definitely open.)
1. Aberdeen A&F Club (1975 – present)
2. Alnwick A&F Club (Aug 1975 – present)
3. Annan A&F Club (joined Assoc in 1996 but started 1985 – present)
4. Arbroath A&F Club (1991? – present)
5. Armadale A&F Club (Oct 1978? or 80) originally called Bathgate Club (for 2 months) Closed
6. Balloch A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per January 1978 issue – present)
7. Banchory A&F Club (1978 – present)
8. Banff & District A&F Club (Oct 1973 – present)
9. Beith & District A&F Club (Sept 1972 – per first edition – present)
10. Belford A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
11. Biggar A&F Club (Oct 1974 – present)
12. Blairgowrie A&F Club (
13. Bromley A&F Club
14. Button Key A&F Club (
15. Campbeltown A&F Club (
16. Campsie A&F Club (Nov 95 – present)
17. Carlisle A&F Club (joined Sept 1993 -
18. Castle Douglas A&F Club (c Sept 1980 – present)
19. Coalburn A&F Club (
20. Crathes (aka Scottish Accordion Music – Crathes) (Nov 1997 -
21. Crieff A&F Club (cSept 1981)
22. Cults A & F Club (
23. Dalriada A&F Club (Feb 1981)
24. Dingwall & District A&F Club (May 1979 – per first report)
25. Dunblane & District A&F Club (1971 – present)
26. Dunfermline & District A&F Club (1974 – per first edition)
27. Dunoon & Cowal A&F Club (
28. East Kilbride A&F Club (Sept 1980)
29. Ellon A&F Club (
30. Fintry A&F Club (Dec 1972 – reformed Jan 1980 – present)
31. Forfar A&F Club (
32. Forres A&F Club (Jan 1978)
33. Galashiels A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
34. Galston A&F Club (Oct 1969 – per first edition – closed March 2006)
35. Glendale Accordion Club (Jan 1973)
36. Glenfarg A&F Club (formed 1988 joined Assoc Mar 95 -
37. Glenrothes A&F Club (Mar 93?
38. Gretna A&F Club (1991) Known as North Cumbria A&F Club previously (originally called Gretna when started in June 1966 but later had to move to venues in the North of England and changed name. No breaks in the continuity of the Club)
39. Highland A&F Club (Inverness) (Nov 1973 – present)
40. Inveraray A&F Club (Feb 1991 - present)
41. Islay A&F Club (23 Apr 93 -
42. Islesteps A&F Club (Jan 1981 – present – n.b. evolved from the original Dumfries Club)
43. Isle of Skye A&F Club (June 1983 – present)
44. Kelso A&F Club (May 1976 – present)
45. Kintore A&F Club (
46. Ladybank A&F Club (joined Apr 98 but formed
47. Lanark A&F Club (joined Sept 96 – present)
48. Langholm A&F Club (Oct 1967 - present)
49. Lesmahagow A&F Club (Nov 1979 – closed May 2005)
50. Lewis & Harris A&F Club (Aug 1994 -
51. Livingston A&F Club (Sept 1973 – present)
52. Lockerbie A&F Club (Nov 1973 - present)
53. Mauchline A&F Club (Sept 1983 - present)
54. Montrose A&F Club (joined Sept 1982 - present)
55. Muirhead A&F Club (Dec 1994 -
56. Newburgh A&F Club (joined 2002 but founded
57. Newmill-on-Teviot (Hawick) (Formed late 1988 joined Assoc 1999
58. Newtongrange A&F Club (joined Sept 1977 - present)
59. North East A&F Club aka Keith A&FC (Sept 1971 - present)
60. Oban A&F Club (Nov 1975 - present)
61. Orkney A&F Club (Mar 1978 - present)
62. Peebles A&F Club (26 Nov 1981 - present)
63. Perth & District A&F Club (Aug 1970 - present)
64. Premier A&F Club NI (April 1980)
65. Renfrew A&F Club (1984 -
66. Rothbury Accordion Club (7th Feb 1974) orig called Coquetdale
67. Selkirk A&F Club (
68. Shetland A&F Club (Sept 1978 - present)
69. Stirling A&F Club (Oct 1991 - )
70. Sutherland A&F Club (
71. Thornhill A&F Club (joined Oct 1983 – see Nov 83 edition – closed April 2014)
72. Thurso A&F Club (Oct 1981 - present)
73. Turriff A&F Club (March 1982 - present)
74. Tynedale A&F Club (Nov 1980 - present)
75. Vancouver
76. West Barnes ( - present)
77. Wick A&F Club (Oct 1975 - present)
78. Yarrow (prev known as Etterick & Yarrow) (Jan 1989 – )
Not on official list at the start of the season (closed, did not renew membership or omitted in error?)
79. Acharacle & District A&F Club (cMay 1988)
80. Ayr A&F Club (Nov 1983 – per Nov 83 edition) Closed
81. Bonchester Accordion Club (Closed?)
82. Bridge of Allan (Walmer) A&F Club (Walmer Hotel, Bridge of Allan) (c March 1982)
83. Brigmill A&F Club (Oct 1990) Closed
84. Buchan A&F Club
85. Callander A&F Club (
86. Campbeltown & District A&F Club (c Dec 1980)
87. Cleland (cNov 1981 – March 1985) originally called Drumpellier A&F Club (for 2 months)
88. Club Accord
89. Coquetdale A&F Club (Feb 1974 or c1976/77 – 1981/2? – became Rothbury?)
90. Coupar Angus A&F Club (cSept 1978 - ?)
91. Cumnock A&F Club (October 1976 - forced to close cDec 1982 - see Jan 83 Editorial)
92. Denny & Dunipace A&F Club (Feb 1981)
93. Derwentside A&F Club
94. Dornoch A&F Club (first mention in directory 1986)
95. Dumfries Accordion Club (Oughtons) (April 1965 at the Hole in the Wa’)
96. Dunbar Cement Works A&F Club (Closed?)
97. Dundee & District A&F Club (1970? – 1995?)
98. Edinburgh A&F Club (Apr 1981) prev called Chrissie Leatham A&F Club (Oct 1980)
99. Falkirk A&F Club (Sept 1978 - )
100. Fort William A&F Club (21st Oct 1980 – per Dec 1980 B&F)
101. Gorebridge (cNov 1981) originally called Arniston A&F Club (for 2 months)
102. Greenhead Accordion Club (on the A69 between Brampton and Haltwistle)
103. Kirriemuir A&F Club (cSept 1981)
104. M.A.F.I.A. (1966 – 1993?)
105. Monklands A&F Club (Nov 1978 – closed cApril 1983)
106. Morecambe A&F Club (joined Sept 1982)
107. Mull A&F Club
108. Newcastleton Accordion Club
109. New Cumnock A&F Club (cMarch 1979)
110. Newton St Boswells Accordion Club (17th Oct 1972 see Apr 1984 obituary for Angus Park)
111. Ormiston Miners’ Welfare Society A&F Club (closed April 1992 – per Sept Editorial)
112. Reading Scottish Fiddlers (cMarch 1997
113. Renfrew A&F Club (original club 1974/5 lapsed after a few years then again in 1984)
114. Straiton Accordion Club (c1968 – closed March 1979)
115. Stranraer & District Accordion Club (1974 – per first edition)
116. Torthorwald A&F Club (near Dumfries)
117. Tranent A&F Club
118. Walmer (Bridge of Allan) A&F Club
119. Wellbank A&F Club
Advertising rates
Back Page (colour) - £300
Full Page (colour) - £220
Full Page (b&w) - £140
Half Page (colour) - £110
Half Page (b&w) - £70
Quarter Page (colour) - £55
Quarter Page (b&w) - £35
Eighth Page - £18
Small Boxed £12