Re: [scots-l] another place for Rob (or maybe Nigel) to visit
The kobza is fairly weel-kent tae ethnomusicologists and organologists. It is sill used in parts of Hungary as well, and is regarded as a folk instrument. It certainly does look similar to the Melrose lute. The lute seems to have been born in Persia 2 to 3 thousand years ago and was known as the barbat. It spread all over Africa, out to China and Japan and to Europe (and then Russia) via the Moorish invasion of Spain. Its latest incursion is into Tayport... There are three basic routes which the lute could have taken to get here: trade - (Phoenicians are said to have visited England 2000 years ago, and 'black men from the Mediterranean' were said to have built Calanish) - pilgrim routes (places like Melrose and Rosslyn were on the pilgrim route - which drew people from Spain via France into Scotland. Not all pilgrimages were to the Middle East), and Crusades which involved the Knights Templars (Rosslyn especially), the aristocracy and their peasant lackies. I'm looking in to all of this and will put it all up on my website later this year. If you see any image of a lute, citole or gittern-type instrument at a palace or kirk near you, please let me know about it. Cheers, Rob Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] another place for Rob (or maybe Nigel) to visit
Jack Campin wrote: There is a carving in Melrose Abbey of someone playing a small three- course lute. This (if the carving is anywhere near as old as the abbey itself) is by far the oldest documentation of any stringed instrument in Scotland. The type of lute was one I couldn't think of another parallel for, though; its shape was between an ud and a rebec, maybe rebec-sized (i.e. nearest to a mandolin among modern instruments, which should please Nigel). But today I spotted a picture of an instrument that looks just the same, in the New Grove's section on folk music of the USSR. It's the local lute type in Kirgizia; I forget the exact name, something like "kobuz" or "kobuk". It has a wacky tuning with the middle course the highest. Maybe the Kirghiz got it from Persia, but I can't see how any chain of influence could have transmitted an instrument design from Persia to Scotland in the Middle Ages either. I've already sent Rob the carvings of players using citterns in Kilconqhar Castle. You can see these by this URL: http://www.maxwellplace.demon.co.uk/pandemonium/kilconquharguittars.jpg These are clearly five-course instruments and the carvings are Jacobean, assumed. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Hogg, Kilmeny: The Emerant Lea
cramphorne wrote: Hi David- Everything you might want to know about Hogg (http://www.aikwoodscottishborders.com/final/hoggst~1.htm) PLUS a website for the James Hogg Society (http://www.cc.gla.ac.uk/hogg.htm)? Someone there must know the answers to your questions- good luck! Now I'm off to MP3.com for a sneak listen :o)! Aikwood? Sounds like Judy's work - will take a look... she rather nicked Hogg for her own, though... David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Hogg, Kilmeny: The Emerant Lea
Aikwood? Sounds like Judy's work - will take a look... she rather nicked Hogg for her own, though... David Or Hogg-ed him to herself. Dave Francis Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] another place for Rob (or maybe Nigel) to visit
John Chambers wrote: Jack Campin writes: | Maybe the Kirghiz got it from Persia, but I can't see how any chain | of influence could have transmitted an instrument design from Persia | to Scotland in the Middle Ages either. Not much mystery there, actually. The Norse were trading through Russia down to the Black Sea by at least the 800's. They spread all sorts of things along their trade routes. And unless I'm mistaken, the Rus were Vikings in origin and European Russia owed as much to Nordic influence as Scotland and England did, only a bit earlier. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Hogg, Kilmeny: The Emerant Lea
Nigel Gatherer wrote: David Kilpatrick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Any enlightenment on the location for Kilmeny... I'm not sure if this question is as simple as it sounds, but there's a Kilmany (pronounced Kilmeny) in North Fife (North of Cupar), where Lady Kilmany resides. It certainly sounds more like a title name than a first name, for a girl, doesn't it? I've never heard of anyone being christened 'Kilmeny'... thanks! David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] another place for Rob (or maybe Nigel) to visit
David wrote: | John Chambers wrote: | Jack Campin writes: | | Maybe the Kirghiz got it from Persia, but I can't see how any chain | | of influence could have transmitted an instrument design from Persia | | to Scotland in the Middle Ages either. | | Not much mystery there, actually. The Norse were trading through | Russia down to the Black Sea by at least the 800's. They spread all | sorts of things along their trade routes. | | And unless I'm mistaken, the Rus were Vikings in origin and European Russia owed as |much | to Nordic influence as Scotland and England did, only a bit earlier. You're not at all mistaken. Part of the story is that in much of eastern Europe, there was a custom of hiring town managers from far away, so that they wouldn't have family and financial ties locally and could be impartial in how they ran things. Since the Norse were often sailing up and down the rivers, a lot of them managed to hire on as town managers. Many settled there permanently. Historians use this as the conventional explanation of all the Nordic names, customs and construction techniques throughout the area. About the only connection to Scottish topics is that in this case, "Norse" seems to have meant anyone who learned the language well enough to sign on and travel with them. This seems to have included a lot of people from the British Isles, not surprisingly, as well as from the rest of northwestern Europe. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Fields of the West (by Dave Boothroyd)
English (Worcestershire) songwriter Dave Boothroyd asked me to try a recording of a song he wrote in 1997 called 'The Fields of the West', in the style of an Irish/Scots ballad of emigrant longing for an imaginary home country. It opens - 'Oh my heart is ever yearning for the clear air of the mountains Where the cool and crystal waters run down to the sea..' The verse tune is a little like 'Ladies of Spain' and I've kept to Dave's original key of C/Am modulating up to D/Bm for the final verse and chorus. I have included the lyrics on the mp3.com info for the song but as usual I don't see them when I try to view them. Dave has given permission for the song to be posted on mp3.com and is credited accordingly. http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1339/1339973.html His reason for asking me to have a go at this was mainly to do with vocals, but in fact I found his own demo vocals better than he indicated (many people don't like the way they sound when recorded and are surprised that others find them OK!). I enjoyed doing this one as he had judged correctly, it's pretty much in my genre and fits my vocal range and guitar style. Lowden O-10 guitar with a little bit of 12-string mixed in the background. David Kilpatrick Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
