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Ceilidh band �not Scottish enough� wins case
An Aberdeenshire ceilidh band yesterday awarded a withheld �800 fee plus costs � after a court threw out claims its music was �not Scottish enough� for a Hogmanay gig. Ceilidh on the Breinnh took the Bancar Hotel at Lonmay to court, claiming the management had failed to pay the agreed �800 fee for the Hogmanay booking.
Following yesterday�s civil action victory at Peterhead Sheriff Court, the ceilidh band spoke of the booking that turned into their �gig from hell�. Band member Art Dickinson said they were happy with the court verdict, but were sorry it had to come to this.
�We have been vindicated in court. But I am still flabbergasted that the defence could stand up in court and claim that our music was �not Scottish enough� for a Hogmanay gig we were booked for. It beggars belief that this can happen. It is amazing that this level of racism exists�.
However, hotel manager Tina Gibbons said last night many disappointed audience members had complained the band did not play traditional ceilidh music ant that is why they were only offered �300.
Mr Dickinson claimed he and the other three band members were subject to a Hogmanay tirade of taunts, jeering and obscenities when they played in the hotel near Fraserburgh.
The two-man and two-woman ceilidh band played on from 9pm-1.30am and claim they were then told by hotelier David Gibbons that he would not pay their �800 fee.
The four claimed they were offered �300, with host Mr Gibbons telling the performers he had received �a lot of complaints that the band was not Scottish enough�. Mr Dickinson said the band had flatly refused the �300, and had no option but t take the hotelier to court.
Ceilidh on the Breinnh had previously played for the annual dinner-dance of the Buchan Tennis League, staged at the Bancar last autumn. Mr Dickinson said �They were a cosmopolitan crowd and gave us a tremendous reception, and were never off the floor. It was after that the hotel booked us for their Hogmanay night, saying we had gone down so well. �On Hogmanay we played the same style of music, just the same programme. But it turned out to be our very own gig from hell�, said the keyboard player.
Over his twenty years on stage and the several years his latest band has been playing at functions across the North-East, he said he had never met such a hostile reception.
�It was simply because two of us were English,� he said, pointing out the audience had repeatedly jeered his and guitar player Dick Trickey�s accents. They joined Dick�s drummer wife Maggie � the couple, come from Ythanbank near Ellon � in vocals. Also on stage was 16 year old Fyvie fiddler Gemma Gall.
Mr Dickinson from Auchnagatt said he was subjected to anti-English comments and swearing from audience members. �To suddenly have your English accent thrown in your face � and I was being sworn and jeered at from a face 4in from mine � was a genuine shock. �These were not yobs. They were not drunk. This was an audience of middle-aged and well-dressed teuchters from Fraserburgh area�, said the countryside ranger for the Buchan area. �We have electric instruments and do rock-style music. Maybe they expected an accordion, a fiddle and snare drum. �But it was obviously our accents that really jarred. We were just too English, and they meant us to realise it.
�None of us could have believed such a racist reaction was possible. �People kept coming on stage to swear at us. We kept going because we had a job to do, and we just had to carry on. But it was very ugly, and it was an ordeal.� Last night Bancar Hotel manager Tina Gibbons said they had been inundated with complaints about the band. �When you go to a Hogmanay party to see a ceilidh band pretty much know what you�re going to hear. �But people were very disappointed with this band. They complained that it was not a traditional ceilidh music sound and you simply couldn�t dance to it.
�They were booked as entertainers, but they just didn�t entertain. That�s why we paid them the �300, because that�s what we felt that was all they had earned. But, at the end of the day the court�s definition of a ceilidh was different from ours.�
She declined to discuss the band�s claims that they had been suffered racial abuse from the 220-strong crowd. �I don�t want to be drawn into that kind of argument. I�m from England so it doesn�t really make sense.�
By Alistair Beaton & Jamie Buchan
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