At the end of June, English Folk Expo’s CEO Tom Besford sent an open letter to James Purnell, BBC’s Director of Radio and Education, calling for a confirmation of the BBC’s commitment to support the presence of folk, roots and acoustic music, and specialist music as a whole, in the BBC’s music programming, as a vital element of the BBC’s role in supporting our cultural heritage through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author and educator Ewan McVicar has been lightening his lockdown in Cromarty by learning to record videos of his songs for Feis Rois’s YouTube channel for home schooling kids, and by creating new online Treasure Hunts about Scottish songs with virtual gold and silver coins to be won.

It is over 50 years since Frank Purslow edited Marrow Bones, the influential book of folk songs collected by Robert and Henry Hammond and George Gardiner in Hampshire and Dorset between 1905 and 1908. Purslow went on to produce The Wanton Seed, The Constant Lovers and The Foggy Dew (the last two reprinted in 2017 by Francis Boutle Publishers as Southern Harvest) – 350 songs in all out of a total of 2,400.  Now, Southern Songster makes available a further 100 songs and ballads that have not seen the light of day for over a century. There are some unique tunes and texts, as well as interesting versions of songs already visited by Purslow.

The University of Edinburgh’s Celtic & Scottish Studies department will host an online event celebrating the School of Scottish Studies Archives on Saturday 22nd of August.  The day will feature specially commissioned new work from Scottish musicians Mhairi Hall and Rachel Newton, as well as film screenings and panel discussions, followed by an evening concert of music, storytelling and dance from a stellar cast of performers from both sides of the Atlantic. The evening concert will be hosted by Professor Gary West, Chair in Scottish Ethnology.

Artistic Director Changes at Scots Fiddle Festival

Having been a key part of the Scots Fiddle Festival team for the last four years, Artistic Director Rosie Munro is moving on after the 25th festival this year in November.  “Rosie brought an excitement and enthusiasm to the festival, and was a very capable pair of hands in which to entrust our programming, pushing our fiddle boundaries, whilst respecting the tradition. We’ll all miss her,” said Malcolm Gillies, the festival Chair.

Salford City Radio have two regular folk programmes that cover a wide selection of folk and roots music, as well as other related genres (as seen in an advert in LT134).  The station is currently experiencing very restricted live broadcasting due to COVID-19 studio curtailments, so at present most shows will be pre-recorded or will be repeats, some from former times.  The programmes will be going fully live again when the station gets the go ahead.

'Near And Far' with Rob Dunford - Tuesdays from 3-4pm
'Salford Folk' with Mather & Robinson - Thursdays from 6-7pm

The search for the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2021 has begun.  If you are a singer or instrumentalist aged between 16 and 27 with a passion for traditional music, you can apply now and you could win this prestigious title, an additional recording session with BBC Radio Scotland, a performance at the Scots Trad Music Awards and one year’s membership of Musicians’ Union.

from Pete Heywood on Vimeo

 

Rothbury Music Festival ‘frontload’ artists’ payments

Like so many events, the Rothbury Traditional Music Festival, which was due to take place in July with performances from the likes of Martin Carthy, Cathal Hayden, Northern Company, 422 and the Newcastle Kingsmen, has been cancelled. However, unlike a lot of other events, the acts and artists who were booked to play will all be offered their fee, paid in advance of the rescheduled festival, which will take place in July 2021.

With over 200 members, more than 100 of which are festivals, the AFO has been supporting its membership to help them get through this most difficult year.

Enjoy Travel, the company behind the Costa Del Folk events in Spain and Portugal among others, has gone into liquidation due to problems arising from coronavirus-related cancellations.  In a statement on their Facebook page they say: “The timing of COVID-19 could not have been worse, with over 1200 people due to travel to a number of our overseas events between April and June, all of which have now been cancelled.

Slí na mBeaglaoich - traditional Irish music series on TG4

Renowned West Kerry traditional musicians, Father and son Breanndán and Cormac Ó Beaglaoich, travel up the West coast of Ireland from Kerry to Donegal in their 40 year old camper van, Beauty, on a journey of musical discovery. In this exciting new six-part traditional music series, they meet with friends old and new, traditional musicians and artists as they embark on a trip of a lifetime.

New album of Doc Watson live recordings

Over the years Doc Watson has inspired countless people to pick up the guitar and learn to flatpick the old melodies of the Appalachians.  A continuing influence on music in America and beyond, a new release of some old recordings of Doc alongside his fiddling father-in-law, Gaither Carlton, has been scheduled for the end of May by Smithsonian Folkways.

Tobar an Dualchais (TAD) has launched a CD of Gaelic songs and rhymes suitable for young children. For the CD, entitled Seinnibh Còmhla Rinn (Sing With Us), TAD chose some of the best material for children from its website. The CD and accompanying booklet promise to be a fantastic educational resource for Gaelic school and nursery children across the country.