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VARIOUS ARTISTS - Scotland’s Voices

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Scotland’s Voices
Greentrax Recordings CDTRAX400

The unveiling of a painting led not only to the inspiration for this recording, but also to its title. The picture depicts a number of the greats of Scots music and song down the years, along with the figure of Hamish Henderson with recording gear, and Ian Green set about the production of a CD to represent all the dozen people represented. We have songs and music from the likes of Willie Scott, Jeannie Robertson, Flora MacNeil, Belle Stewart – in fact many of the classic singers of days gone by.

The tracks are well selected, from Jeannie’s awesome rendition of MacCrimmon’s Lament as track 1 right through to Hamish’s own singing of The Freedom Come All Ye as the final 16th track, and there isn’t a single dud. This recording would make an excellent introduction to any of the featured singers, a few of whom get a couple of tracks. Variety comes from Aly Bain’s fine fiddling on Hector The Hero and Hugh MacDiarmid’s recitation of The Watergaw.

I’m sure many people will name others who should have been included in such a compilation (my own list would include Jane Turriff and Ian Manuel, among others), but that is to miss the point. This exercise is aimed purely at showcasing the people in the picture, but it does leave me hoping that there may be more compilations to come, covering some of the many other great singers and musicians that Scotland’s produced...

www.greentrax.com

John Waltham


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This album was reviewed in Issue 124 of The Living Tradition magazine.