Scotland, Glasgow

It's almost Hogmanay as they call New Year in Scotland, one of the biggest parties on the Scottish calendar.  It's so big here that the Scots get 2 days off, so what better place to celebrate it than in Glasgow.

Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland and maintains a fierce rivalry with the capital Edinburgh.  Whilst Edinburgh is generally considered the prettier city. Glasgow has a working class industrial heart as a port city.  Although ever since they were awarded the European Capital of Culture a few years back, it has moved upmarket somewhat.  I have never stopped but for a few hours in the city, so can't comment on any of that, but judging by the amount of good music coming from this city, it's alive and well.

Back in 1978 a band called Kentigern formed here named after St.Mungo who was the Scottish apostle of the kingdom of Strathclyde in the 6th century.  I don't know what happened to them subsequently, but they released a couple of albums, including a self-titled one in 1979, which is currently not available any more.  Here are 3 jigs from this album:

Before them, in 1969, the Battlefield Band formed and are still active today, although in a completely different line-up to the original set-up.  Here's a cheeky song from their 1976 debut album Farewell to Nova Scotia (which is available as a free download on Folk Yourself) called The Bonny Wee Lassie Who Never Said No:

Much more recent arrivals on the Glasgow folk scene are the trio Talisk.  Formed in 2014, they consist of Mohsen Amini on concertina, Hayley Keenan on fiddle and Graeme Armstrong on guitar and they have already earned themselves a BBC folk Band of the Year award in 2017.  This tune, The Abyss, is the title track from their 2016 debut album:

The quartet Rura burst on the scene in 2010 with their award winning performance at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow.  They consist of Jack Smedley on fiddle, Steven Blake on pipes and whistles, Adam Brown on guitar and David Foley on bodhrán and flute.  Here is a tune from their 2015 album Despite the Dark called The Dark Reel performed live at the Tradfest in Glasgow:

Burd Ellen is new folk music project featuring the haunting voice of Debbie Armour.  Have a listen to this spell-binding vocal mosaic from their fresh off the press 2019 self-released single called Chi Mi Bhuam, which according to Google Translate means you to me.

Moving away from traditional music, Admiral Fallow are a young band playing what is described as orchestral indie pop, whatever you make of that.  The songs are apparently autobiographic taken from the life of lead singer and main writer Louis Abbott.  Here's a song from their 2009 debut album Boots Met My Face entitled Squealing Pigs: 

As usual you can follow my virtual journey on this link on tripline.  Happy Hogmanay everybody!

Scotland, The South-West

From the Isle of Man we take the ferry back to Belfast and from there across to Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway in the far south-west of Scotland.

This is very much Robbie Burns country.  The Scottish bard was born in Ayrshire, but this is where he lived most of his life and worked as an excise officer.  The local accent of the area is the closest modern day equivalent to the Scots used in Burn's poetry.  Until recently I didn't know that the region also had its own dialect of Scottish Gaelic. Òran Baghraid is a colaborative project of 10 musicians from all over the UK and Ireland to recreate the only surviving song in Galloway Gaelic from the Middle Ages.  This is their story:

Then they went on to make an album out of that in 2018, which I can heartily recommend.  Here are some samples off this album:

Although originally from Edinburgh, harpist Wendy Stewart now lives in Dumfriesshire.  She often performs together with piper Gary West, who is originally from Pitlochry in Perthshire.  The two met when they were both members of legendary folk band Ceolbeg.  Here's a pair of tunes called Ian Green and Miss Proud from their 2009 album Hinterlands:

Singer and accordionist Emily Smith was born in Dumfries and Galloway and has racked up numerous awards in over a decade of performing.  This a tune from her 2005 debut album A Day Like Today with the title Riggs O' Barley:

Moving north we head for Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, where we meet Heather Heywood, who has been singing Scottish ballads since 1968.  Here is an early recording of from 1974 from a compilation album called Ayrshire Folk, which sadly is no longer available.  The song is called Land o' the Leal:

Guitarist Tony McManus from Paisley, Renfrewshire plays Celtic tunes on finger-style acoustic guitar.  He has been hailed by John Renbourn as the best Celtic guitarist in the world, which is high praise indeed.  His recorded output has been prolific.  Here's a few tunes from a live performance: 

He is pretty nimble-fingered, wouldn't you agree?

This is it from the south-west of Scotland, next stop Glasgow.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on Tripline, even if it insisted on taking me to Scotland via Liverpool.

Isle of Man

From Belfast we finally leave Ireland, taking the ferry over to Douglas on The Isle of Man. The Isle of Man is a funny old place.  It is located in the middle of the Irish Sea, between Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, yet it is not part of any of these countries.  It's not even part of the UK or even the EU, but is classed as a self-governing British Crown dependency.  It very much prides itself of its own culture, albeit heavily influenced by the surrounding countries, and has it's own language, Manx, which is closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic.  Alas Manx is no longer spoken widely, but there is a bit of a revival, including songs sung in that language.

Oddly enough I have never been to the Isle of Man, even though I can see it from the beach a mile from my house on a clear day.  It is of course also famous for its annual TT motorbike race, attracting 10's of thousands of visitors. 

I only recently stumbled across Manx music in the form of Ruth Keggin, who has released 2 Manx language albums.  This is the opening track from her 2016 album Turrys, called Irree ny greiney, meaning sunrise.  Looking at the scenes in the accompanying video and listening to the sounds, you wouldn't know you've left Ireland.

...and here is the second song on the same album, which livens up some.

Having found her I dug for some more Manx music and found that the pioneers of the Manx folk revival are a group called King Chiaullee, who were formed in the mid-90's and blend various Celtic styles.  This is a set of tunes called Continental Stomp from their 2006 album Nish!

So much for our brief sojourn to the Isle of Man, off to Scotland next.  As usual you can follow my virtual trip on this link.