Mary Ann checking in...

[Oilrig]

Hello all,

Hope you all had a good day yesterday - this is by way of a small but shameless plug and a declaration of intent to be here a lot more in 2012 :smiley:

I though some of you might be interested in this documentary that tells the story of my family and their music, so you can see where I'm coming from, as it were!

The film was made by Iain MacLeod at Bees Nees Media, and it's an exploration of place and music in the Campbells' world.


You can watch it on iPlayer - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018jr9g/Na_Caimbeulaich/ ... or if you have Sky (channel 168) it'll be on the 29th at 21.55.


I have been (very, very occasionally) lurking here, but 2011 was a bit of a maddy schedule-wise, and being able to delve into good-going debates online was not a possibility. But this is a new year coming, so looking forward to something of a change in planning (or, actually, planning as an innovation) to be able to get more involved in specific projects. R3F included.

Beannachdan na Nollaige agus deagh bhliadhn' ur nuair a thig i. Happy New Year when it comes...


MA x

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hello and Seasonal Good Wishes to you, too, MA!

If a Plug can't be shameless what use is it?

Thanks for the link.

[johncorrigan]

Good to hear from you Mary Ann. Very best wishes to you and yours.

That were a couple of great World Routes programmes from Canada (which I notice are still available). I don't know how these things work but the programme from Cape Breton could go down very well on Radio Scotty - I thought it was such interesting territory

[PatrickOD]

Beannachtai an tSeasuir, MA, and many thanks for a wonderful programme, so full of good music, lovely people and great performances, with a profound sense of place, language and community agus rudai mar sin. Yes, you have 'something that can't be taken away', and I for one would like to acquaint myself with more of your music. I can't single out anything in particular, but I did enjoy the final sequence of the film.

[Lateralthinking1]

Thanks Mary Ann for the great programmes this year. I'd like to second John's comments about the recent ones from Canada. I really enjoyed them and am also looking forward very much to Celtic Connections. Not long to go now.

I have just watched the film you kindly included and found it interesting. You have a remarkable background. As you say, our landscapes may change but there is still so much history in song. You and your family deserve every accolade for all your commitment and involvement in taking forward the Gaelic tradition.

The performances were lovely and I would like to know more about the record. I am aware of the EP "Tha Mi'n Dùil" but have found it difficult to locate the album. Details would be appreciated. It would also be good to hear the music at Womad. I was reminded of the huge success there in recent years of A Filetta and Lo Cor De La Plana. It would be well received.

Have a good New Year. Rest assured we will be rooting for you. We are watching those strangely shifting schedules eagle-eyed.

Le deagh dhurachdan,

Lat.

[Oilrig]

Thanks all! The Canada programmes were a joy to work on, even if Roger Short didn't quite convert me to the joys of Tim Hortons...

The material we collected actually yielded up enough for an unexpected third programme (!) so March will feature another WR with a concert set from De Temps Antan (a trio of young Bottines) and a round the room session the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time!

Meanwhile, for your aural delight tonight, Global G on Radio Scotty (like it) has a house concert set from Vasen at Watercolour, and they are in very fine form indeed - my favourite trio of six-foot-plus traddies.

Lat - the album isn't out yet - but it will be in March! ... Kenna at WOMAD... scary thought...

Slainte

MA

[Lateralthinking1]

Thanks all!......Lat - the album isn't out yet - but it will be in March! ... Kenna at WOMAD... scary thought...MA

Many thanks for the news on the album. I will listen out for it. On Womad, can we take that as a yes then? The finale to Sunday in the Siam tent, I think. From memory that was the A Filetta slot and it worked a treat.

(PS - On a different subject, and thinking back to track lists at the turn of last year, there is no such thing as too much Michael Marra on the wireless :whistle:)

[Brassbandmaestro]

Some of my ancestors came from Scotland!! A verey warm welcome to you and Happy new Year!!!

[johncorrigan]

Meanwhile, for your aural delight tonight, Global G on Radio Scotty (like it) has a house concert set from Vasen at Watercolour, and they are in very fine form indeed
Mary Ann, now I know that you and Andrew Cronshaw were discussing the merits of the harmonium in Finnish music on Global Gathering, but how could you go 15 minutes and not mention the great exponent of the instrument, the man who made it sexy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LddPuhzt0F4

The last time I saw him live, in the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen, he said that touring was so much more difficult because it was so hard to find a harmonium anymore and he didn't want to cart his with him - I do remember he gave a mention to the woman in Aberdeen that he borrowed it from for the Gig.

[Oilrig]

The late Mr C is indeed a revered and beloved icon - and I claim nothing for these brief conversations with Andrew, but that they follow one potential path out of many - I am still smarting from my roasting from a representative of British hammered dulcimer players! And of course, that they are great fun and a wonderful afternoon and evening spent in the other Mr C's company as we horse through a huge amount of stuff in a very short space of time.

I also have a harmonium in the studio - salvaged from the Partick Burgh Halls (or a skip outside it, actually) and it's wonderfully wayward, very loud and smells of hymn-books and pandrops if anyone wants a shot.

[Globaltruth]

I had to find out what a pandrop was....

http://www.scottishsweets.com/images/77RossLargePanDropssmall.jpg

I think they may be what are called Mint Imperials in England.

I can see that may be an offensive name North of the Border....

anyway it's a delightful-sounding perfume you've assembled there...patent it quickly.

[Paul Sherratt]

JC, MA, IC fans ( ie everyone ), I presume you've all seen this before ?
http://www.ubu.com/film/cutler_last.html

[johncorrigan]

JC, MA, IC fans ( ie everyone ), I presume you've all seen this before ?
http://www.ubu.com/film/cutler_last.html
Thanks Paul - hadn't seen it before - my brother will be delighted to get a link to this one.

[Globaltruth]

ubuweb is the home of many good things, and we always used to post/refresh a general link to it from time-to-time...well worth a browse, you'll always find something there....

http://www.ubuweb.com/

and, not much to do with music, but 'cos we're doing film and, as an example which surprised me right now , here's something I just discovered on there. a film by/about a friend of a friend of mine, Ian Breakwell... The Walking Man (3min 20s in) is particularly famous in these parts...http://www.ubu.com/film/breakwell_diary.html

[johncorrigan]

a film by/about a friend of a friend of mine, Ian Breakwell... The Walking Man (3min 20s in) is particularly famous in these parts...http://www.ubu.com/film/breakwell_diary.html[/I]
Thanks G...loved the nuns in the taxi with the carcasses; also the walking man....wonder what happened to him; the bike journey from Smithfield to Wapping was excellent and with his commentary about the Falklands celebration a fine bit of film making... many brought up in industrial towns in the fifties and sixties would recognise his journey back home. I ran out of steam with the marathon but will revisit when I've done a spot more training.

[Globaltruth]

I'm really glad you enjoyed bits of it; the story doesn't have a happy ending, he died of cancer a few years back, documenting his decline in a most haunting, direct and graphic way. He excelled at seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary and maintained his wry and detached perspective until the end.

Sadly more of a fan of Schubert than Diabate so I'll stop whiffing on about him in this place...

[handsomefortune]

stop whiffing on

well i'm glad you whiffed on globaltruth, as i watched the whole thing and was rivetted!

i enjoyed ian breakwell's observations, the film footage, poetry, as well as him 'seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary' and 'his wry and detached perspective', all very welcome.

i too particularly enjoyed the trip to wapping! i worked briefly in 'elephant studios', and wonder where ian breakwell's studio, number 82, was/(is)? in relation to the music studio ....(when he said 'wapping was damp and quiet'...i thought no, not where i was it wasn't)! i nevertheless instantly recognised exactly the atmosphere and 'quiet' he described simultaneously! (terrific wharehouses - hate to think what buildings stands there now.....)

seeing ivor cutler mentioned, i just wanted to mention bruce lacey, who worked with cutler (amongst many others) in 'the alberts' apparently. i discovered cutler on john peel's radio programme in the 90s, and lacey while looking at counter culture 'happenings' on my fine art ba in the 90s ....but i've only just linked the two, using ye olde wiki....! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lacey, as with ian breakwell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Breakwell - fascinating people to learn of, find out more about, as relatively unsung 'eccentrics'. though perhaps this doesn't adequately sum up the unique visions implied of course.

thanks again :ok:

[Globaltruth]

The Alberts, first of the anarchist music groups - I spent time at Bruce Lacey's studio in Hackney and also saw their simply extraordinary film (is it on the Internet somewhere ?), shown at the Electric Cinema, Portobello Rd to an audience of 2. That was me and the lovely (some may say long suffering) Mrs GT.

They are on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_O_R9eR-9E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qGMCeqwW8g
and, as you can hear, were a huge influence on both the Bonzos and the Temperance 7.
It appears Mr Lacey is still extant at a very ripe old age which is excellent news.

I'll maybe provide a bit more info another time but need a thread starting over on the Forum Arts & Ideas thread...(on unsung eccentrics perhaps to include Les Grandes Dames Edith S and Miriam R too)


need to get this thread back to the music...