The National Fiddle Championship, 1977

The National Fiddle Championship, 1977 (EMI Records NTS 130, 1977)

01 Yla Steven: Balmoral Castle/Glen Grant/The Gladstone (all Scott Skinner)

02 Yla Steven: Dunkeld House (Gow)/Lads o' Dunse

03 Iain Laing: Dean Brig of Edinburgh (Archie Allan)/Banks (Parazotti)

04 Donald Montgomery: Lament for James Moray of Abercairney (Gow)

05 Donald Montgomery: Leaving Glenurquhart/Bob Steel/Pretty Peggy

06 Donald Montgomery: The Valley of Silence (Scott Skinner)

07 Angus Cameron: Marquis of Huntly's Farewell/John McNeill

08 Angus Cameron: H Mackworth (Wm Marshall)/Eugene Stratton

09 Douglas Lawrence: Earl Grey (James Hill)/Waverley Ball (John Lowe)

10 Douglas Lawrence: Lady Charlotte Campbell (Macintosh)

11 Douglas Lawrence: Duchess Bedford (Marshall)/Miss Wharton Duff of Orton (Marshall)/Miss Wharton Duff's Jig (Marshall)/Bee's Wing (James Hill)

This competition was organised by Lothian Regional Council as part of the International Clan Gathering in 1977. Judges were Tom Anderson, the renowned Shetland fiddler, Bill Hardie from Aberdeenshire, and Jim Hunter. Douglas Lawrence from Banffshire, at that time a student, won the contest. He had been taught by the legendary Hector MacAndrew. Angus Cameron was runner-up and Yla Steven third. The standard of fiddling on the record is high, especially considering that it was recorded live in front of a capacity audience in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.

Unavailable

Other albums featuring Yla Steven:

Back to the Hills (1976)

Solos and Duets (n.d.)

Other albums featuring Angus Cameron:

Angus Cameron: Bow to the Fiddle (1975)

Angus Cameron: Strings to the Bow (1977)

Various Artists: Scottish Fiddlers to the Fore (1970)

The Cotters (1969)

The Cotters (Page One Records FORS 030, 1969)

The Cotters were Alex Sutherland and Alistair ("Ali") Watson from Edinburgh, and they got together after meeting in a folk club. They were popular in Edinburgh and elsewhere, at one point recording a commercial for Carling Black Label beer. The name of the duo came about after Ali bought a second-hand mandolin which had "The Cotters" written on it, so they took on that name.

Ali Watson left the Scottish music scene in 1980 and emigrated to Western Australia. He had had several jobs including a deep-sea mariner. He became ill with cancer and died in 2001, after having visited Scotland the same year. After Ali went to Australia, Alex Sutherland, a piano-tuner by trade, teamed up with Ian Simpson and performed as The Alexians. He had also died of cancer by the mid-1980s.

As far as I know, this is the only recording they made.

01 Mingulay Boat Song

02 Killicrankie

03 Lowlands Low

04 Ye Jacobites

05 Charlie's Lament

06 McPherson's Farewell

07 Tramps and Hawkers

08 Bonnie Ship the Diamond

09 Wild Flying Dove

10 Standard On the Braes O'Mar

11 Fair and Tender Ladies

12 Night Errant

Alex Sutherland: guitar

Alistair Watson: guitar and mandolin

Unavailable

Yla Steven, Solos and Duets (n.d.)

Yla Steven and Colin O'Riordan, Solos and Duets (n.d.)

1) The Fiddlers from Hoydalar

2) Lament for Archie Beaton

3) Mackworth/Mary Walker/Banks

4) Donald Macphersons lament

5) The Shetlander

6) The Coleburn

7) Edgefauld House/The Sands of Murness/Sandieburn Reel

8) The Wild Rose of the Mountain

9) Lady Charlotte Campbell/Robert McIntosh

10) Balmoral Castle/Glen Grant

11) The Academician

12) Chapel Keithack

13) The Tron Fiddlers

14) Lament for Lockerbie

15) The Hardanger

16) Niel Gow's Lament 2nd Wife

17) King Robert the Br/Craigellachie Bridge/The Devil and the Dirk

18) The Bonnie Lass O' Bonaccord

19) Back to Hills

20) The Duke of Fife's Welcome to Deeside/Tulchan Lodge/Left Handed Fiddle

I'm afraid I know very little about this recording, as I only had a copy on cassette. Yla Steven has been written about below; Colin O'Riordan was a highly influential music educator in Edinburgh who had a great love for traditional fiddle music. He took his own life in 2001 after becoming depressed about funding cuts. His only other fiddle recordings, as far as I know, are with the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. All I have of the cover is a couple of poor quality scans.

Unavailable

Other albums featuring Yla Steven:

Back to the Hills (1976)

National Fiddle Championship 1977

Yla Steven, Back to the Hills (1976)

Yla Steven, Back to the Hills (Scottish Records SR 142, 1976)

01 Back to the Hills

02 Duke of Fife's Welcome to Fife/Tulchan Lodge/Left Handed Fiddler

03 Caledonia's Wail for Neil Gow

04 Lady Charlotte Campbell

05 Glen Coe

06 Barren Rocks of Aden/Stirling Castle/Largo's Fairy Dance

07 The Valley of Silence

08 Queen's Welcome to Invercauld/Laird o' Drumblair/Deil Amang the Tailors

09 Dumbarton Castle/South of the Grampians/Marquis of Huntly's Reel

10 Ossian

11 Scott Skinner's Comps to Dr McDonald/The Iron Man/The Bungalow

12 Sitting In the Stern of a Boat

13 Beauty of the North/Geordie Affleck

14 Goodbye Gramin

15 Fyvie Castle

16 Balmoral Castle/Glen Grant/Gladstone

Yla Steven learned fiddle as a youngster in Edinburgh and Perthshire, and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. She has been teaching fiddle in Edinburgh schools for many years now, and in 1983 formed the Lothian Schools Strathspey and Reels Society. Yla has won many fiddle championships, including the exclusive Golden Fiddle Award in 1976. As far as I know, she has released to albums of fiddle music: Back to the Hills in 1976, and Solos and Duets with the late Colin O'Riordan.

Unavailable

Other albums featuring Yla Steven:

Solos and Duets (n.d.)

National Fiddle Championship 1977