Scotland, The East

Back on the mainland we are exploring the east of Scotland, starting in Inverness.  Here we encounter fiddler and composer Duncan Chisholm.  Whist his fiddle playing is firmly rooted in traditional music, he combines it with more contemporary and orchestral sounds.  He has written a lot of film scores, and much of his music does sound just like that.  This tune is entitled Haze Across the Sun taken from his 2018 album Sandwood.

Young six-piece band Hò-Rò are also based in Inverness and have already gathered a few awards.  Here's a studio recording of them:

Moving deep into Whisky country to the Speyside region,we arrive in Carrbridge, where Indie Folk musician Rachel Sermanni hails from. Her music has something Joni Mitchell-like to it.  Here is the title track from her 2014 album Everything Changes:

Moving a few miles up the road we get to Grantownon-Spey, where singer-songwriter Findlay Napier was born. This is one of his songs called Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice.  The Scots do have funny tastes, they like things like Irn Bru.  Give me a wee dram of whisky any day:

Next we have something a bit more traditional from Aberdeen, a couple of songs by the Old Blind Dogs, who have been going since 1990, even though with various changes in personnel.  First up is the Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie from their 1992 album New Tricks:

...and another short one from the same album, The Wee Wee German Lairdie:

Moving south to Dundee we meet AMWWF, which is short for the surnames of the band: Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher.  Their music can probably best be described as indie folk.  They started out playing together in a pub in Dundee, but have since changed personnel and now perform under the name of Sinderins.  This song, Boo Hoo has a bit of Dixieland to it and is on their 2014 self-titled EP:

Next we are heading for the village of Kingskettle in Fyfe, famous for a folk group called the Singing Kettle, which specialised in children's songs.  They were founded by established husband and wife folk duo Cilla Fisher and Artie Tresize, who had been touring and recording in their own right since the mid-70's.   They both retired in 2013.  This song, Fisher Lassies, features on their 2013 album Cilla & Artie:

Our next stop is Clackmannan, where fiddler and composer Alasdair Fraser was born in 1955.  Over his long musical career he has recorded numerous albums as well as taught fiddle, playing both traditional slow airs and dance tunes. Here's a live recording together with guitarist Tony McManus (whom we already met in Paisley) of the tune Lieutenant Maguire's Jig, which features on their 1999 joint album Return to Kintail:

Finally it's Burn's Night, the birthday of Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland and another great reason for the Scots to celebrate.  Tonight they will be reciting poetry, singing, eating haggis, tatties and neeps and just perhaps having "A Wee Drappie O't" (a small drop of it).  This is Ewan McColl, whose roots were in Stirling, performing this song which features on the album Scots Drinking Songs:

Ewan McColl was actually born in Lancashire in England to Scottish parents.  He went on to become a quintessential Scottish bard with strong political convictions, but rooted in tradition.  If you are celebrating Burns Night tonight, play his album Songs Of Robert Burns:

Happy Burns Night everybody and see you next time in Edinburgh.  As usual you can follow my virtual rambling journey on Tripline. 

Scotland, from Glasgow to the Western Highlands

Before we leave Glasgow and head north there is one band I forgot about in my last post and what better tune to recover from your Hogmanay hangover than Drunk at Night, Dry in The Morning by legendary 70's and 80's folk band Ossian from an old live performance.  The tune features on their 1994 Best of Ossian album

 Moving up to Oban in the Argyll region we meet Capercaillie, who have been singing traditional Scottish Gaelic songs with contemporary instrumentation since 1984.  If you have 50 minutes watch this documentary on their 30th anniversary:

If you don't have so much time simply listen to Breisleach from their 1995 album To The Moon:

Fiddler Aidan O'Rourke grew up in Oban and is most notable for his involvement in the Scottish/English folk trio Lau.  The other too members are Kris Drever (Guitar and vocals) from Orkney and accordionist Martin Green from London.  They actually formed in 2004 around a kitchen table in Edinburgh.  They have collaborated with numerous big name artists and write their own material.  I Don't Want to Die Here is the opening track on their 2019 album Midnight and Closedown: 

From Oban we hop over to the Isle of Mull, where Alisdair MacIlleBhain hails from, also sometimes known as Alisdair Whyte for reasons I haven't been able to figure out. He's got together with Ross Whyte of Aberdeenshire (perhaps they are married, explaining Alisdair's 2 names) to form Whɏte the Band, who combine traditional Gaelic songs with electronica, a rather unique blend.  Tairm is the title track from their 2018 album.  

The band Mànran is very much based around the western Highlands with 2 of the founding members originating from Fort William and Spean Bridge respectively (Ewen Henderson and Gary Innes).  They have been active since 2010 playing folk rock mostly sung in Gaelic.  Thugainn is their latest single, which was used as a soundtrack to a film of the legendary North Coast 500 road.  The video shows some spectacular landscapes of the Highlands. 

That's it for today, next we will be hopping around some of the Hebridean islands.  As usual you follow my virtual trip on the Tripline map.