> I found a very interesting old 78rpm fiddle record at a car boot sale
> yesterday featuring a player I've never heard of, tunes I've never
> encountered.
... snip
> Have I stumbled on something really important?
I think you have Stuart. This rang a distant bell with me, and I've spent all
today in the loft looking through the archives. I found what I was looking
for in the Fermer's Weekly of August 3rd 1928. My Grannie got them, because
she liked the sheepdog bits.
Anyway, in that week's "Forkin' Aboot" column there was a report of a sad case
of one F. MacRame who was caught 'in flagrante' with his stock. His defence
centred on the fact that his prize ewe was his 'muse' and he was seeking
inspiration in the composition of a tune that was to be entered in the Golden
Fiddle of Glengarioch competition for that year. The tune was later called
"the Ewie wi' the cheerie smile" (sic) but no trace of it was ever found.
Indeed, this is a great day that we should have the old Farquhar's music
exposed to the world at last. Perhaps Alasdair Fraser could be goaded into
recording these pieces on an album called "The Driven Ewe" ?
Derek
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