The Vikings (1965)

The Vikings: Orkney Goes Dancing (Phoenix Recordings, 1965)

Published by Phoenix Recordings and recorded in the Phoenix Cinema in Kirkwall, Orkney. The band's line-up was Allan Anderson (accordion), Jim Anderson (accordion, piano), Robin Bain (bass), Hugh Inkster (Stroh violin), Brian Fidlay (guitar) and Linay Linklater (drums). According to the sleeve notes, the band were known all over the mainland of Orkney. Fiddler Hugh Inkster was recorded a few times and pops up on some interesting albums later on, from the Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society (recorded in 1976) to School of Scottish Studies recordings and a Smithsonian Folkways album of 1979.

01 Roxburgh Castle/Wind That Shakes the Barley/Inver Lasses
02 The Balintore Fisherman/The Royal Scots Polka
03 Bonnie Dundee/Jackson's Jig/Kenmuir's On an Awa
04 Meeting of the Waters/Gledaruel Highlanders

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Songs of Scotland (EP, 1981)

Various Artists: Songs of Scotland (EP, SRTS 81 CUS 1091, 1981)

01 Craven: The Rose of Allandale
02 Killiecrankie: Killiecrankie
03 Elizabeth: Sons o' the Soil
04 Elizabeth: Dark Lochnagar

This was a fundraiser for the Dundee branch of the Scottish Nationalist Party, featuring "Elizabeth" (singer Elizabeth Barry, backed by Tom Berry), "Craven" (Arthur and Ian Dryden on vocals and guitars) and "Killiecrankie" (Tom Berry on bass, guitar, piano, synthesiser and vocals, with George Boag on vocals and guitar).

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Ron Gonnella: Fireside Fiddle Chats 3

Fiddle Chats 3a: A Gordon for Me (William Marshall)

1) Miss Admiral Graham
2) The Marquis of Huntly’s Snuffmill/Lady Loiusa Gordon/Charles of Pettyvaich
3) Lady Niven Lumsden of Auchindoir/The Earl of Fife/Lowe’s Hornpipe
4) Lament for Sir Harry Niven Lumsden of Auchindoir
5) Mr Morison of Bognie/Miss Stewart’s Jig of Bombay
6) Miss Ann Cameron of Balvenie/Mrs Stewart’s Strathspey of Inverogie
7) Mrs James McInness/Lochrynach
8) Mrs Maj L Stewart of Java/Mrs Maj L Stewart of Java

Fiddle Chats 3b: Playing Second Fiddle

1) Jamie Lyall (Peter Milne)
2) Mrs Campbell of Saddell (air)/Mrs Campbell of Saddell (jig) (Robert Mackintosh)
3) Miss Barstow/Miss Robertson (Robert Mackintosh)
4) Miss Rose/Mrs Oswald of Auchincruive (Robert Mackintosh)
5) Miss Mary Lee’s Delight (Abraham Mackintosh)/Miss Marianne Oliphant of Rossie (Robert Mackintosh)/The Hon Mrs Maule (Robert Mackintosh)
6) The Flooers o’ the Forest
7) Miss Agnes Louden (Robert Lowe)/Rachel Rae (John Lowe)
8) The Prince of Wales (Joseph Lowe)/Sauteuse (Joseph Lowe)
9) Dandy Dismount (Joseph Lowe)/Sir David Davidson of Cantray (John Lowe)

This is the third of Ron Gonnella's Scottish Fireside Fiddle Chats, this time on the subjects of William Marshall, and a handful of other Scots composers (the Lowe family, Peter Milne, and Abraham and Robert Mackintosh).

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Ron Gonnella: Fireside Fiddle Chats 2

Fiddle Chats 2a: James Scott Skinner

1) Mrs Will/Sandy Grant of Battan
2) The Bonnie Lass o’ Bon Accord
3) The Queen’s Welcome to Invercauld
4) Sarona
5) The Fallen Chief
6) Death and Dr Hornbook
7) Donald MacPherson’s Lament
8) Sandy’s Goat/MacLeod and MacLay
9) Highland Cradle Song

Fiddle Chats 2b: Have You the Gaelic? (Cpt Simon Fraser of Knock)

1) The Fall of Foyers
2) The Rebel/Belladrum House/The Favourite Dram
3) Sitting In the Stern of a Boat
4) The General Gathering 1745
5) Prince Charles’s Last View of Scotland
6) Gudewife Admit the Wanderer
7) Lament for Archibald MacDonald of Keppoch
8) Angus Fraser/Three Sheeps Shanks
9) The Northern Meeting/The Sprightly Minnikin

The second Fireside Fiddle Chats from Ron Gonnella, this time exploring the music of James Scott Skinner, and on the other side, the music collected by Simon Fraser.

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Ron Gonnella: Fireside Fiddle Chats 1

Fiddle Chats 1a: Robert Burns

1) There Was a Lad That was Born in Kyle

2) My Love She's But a Lassie Yet

3) I Am My Mammie's Ae Bairn/Killiecrankie

4) Afton Water

5) Comin' Thro' the Rye/Corn Rigs

6) Ay Waukin O

7) Green Grow the Rashes o/Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut

8) My Wife’s a Winsome Wee Thing/O Kenmure’s On and Away, Willie

9) Awa’ wi’ Yer Witchcraft o’ Beauty’s Alarms/Last May a Braw Wooer

10) O Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast

11) Guid Nicht and Joy Be Wi’ Ye A’

Fiddle Chats 1b: The Gow Family

1) Come Ye By Athole?

2) Atholl Volunteers

3) Coilsfield House

4) Miss Stewart of Grandtully/The Fairy Dance

5) Farewell to Whisky

6) Miss Graham of Inchbraikie/Lady Charlotte Campbell

7) Caller Herring

8) Miss Sally Hunter of Thurston/Miss Margaret Brown

9) Miss Lucy Johnston’s Compliments to Niel Gow

In the mid-1980s, Scots fiddler Ron Gonnella issued a series of cassettes on various aspects of fiddle music. I know of three of these, the first of which featured music associated with the poet Robert Burns, as well as music from the Gow family on the other side. Gonnella was a master fiddler, and these rare recordings are a joy. 

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Ron Gonnella: National Scotland (1985)

01 Loch Lomond 1
02 Loch Lomond 2
03 Miss Margaret Brown's Favourite/Lady Charlotte Murray
04 Flowers of Edinburgh
05 The White Cockade
06 The Yellow Haired Laddie
07 Will Ye No Come Back Again
08 Lady Madelina Sinclair/De'il Amang the Tailors
09 Major Graham of Inchbraikie
10 Corgarff Castle/Whistle O'er the Lave O't

An unusual solo recording by Gonnella, this was part of an LP which formed one of a large library of recordings by Chappell aimed at radio and television producers. So if, for example, a shot required a pipe band, a gaelic singer or a solo fiddler as background music, you would have a selection of recordings and snippets to choose from. The first track, "Loch Lomond" is played as an air, and then there is a 30-second "jingle" version of it.

The Ron Gonnella segment of this album is worth listening to, not least because it is completely solo (he usually used piano accompanists, and sometimes a bassist too).

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The Bluebell Polka

One of the few times a traditional musician has entered the hit parade was when Jimmy Shand took his recording of The Bluebell Polka into the Top 20 in 1955. Many people have assumed that the tune is a Shand composition, but it predates him. Jimmy got a lot of his repertoire from the previous generation of Scottish melodeon players: The Wyper Brothers, Pamby Dick, James Brown, etc, and indeed, Brown recorded a version of the tune on a 78rpm record on the 19th April 1911, calling it Little Pet (Caledonian Polka) (I used to have a copy of that track but, frustratingly, I cannot find it right now).

Going back further in time, possibly the first appearance of the tune in print is in the popular Kerr's Merry Melodies Book 1, where it is attributed to no composer, although it does say "Pianoforte copies of above…" The attached is one of those sheets for piano, where the composer is clearly given as "F Stanley" (I have 

Irish musicians also recorded versions of the tune: fiddler James Morrison recorded it in the 1930s (along with Happy Birdie), and more recently by fiddler Jesse Smith. There is an old American polka by the name Little Pet (see here), but it's a different tune.

Although its origins are unclear, The Bluebell Polka captured the hearts of many people, musicians, dancers and listeners alike. It is still played and regarded fondly in Scotland to this day (I played a ceilidh last Saturday evening; during our break a singer made me do the Macarena while she sang a vocal version of the song!).