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2000The Institute exists to study, record, and promote the cultural traditions and language of communities in the North of Scotland and, in particular, in the North East. Under its new Director, Dr Ian Russell, an imaginative programme of fieldwork, research, outreach, collaborative projects, and publication is being developed. The Institute is also concerned with the cultural traditions of groups that have recently moved into the region as well as Scottish expatriate communities abroad - the so-called Scottish diaspora.
Ian Russell is launching a systematic survey of the traditional culture of the North East. As a first step he is investigating current singing practices in psalmody and hymnody among the religious groups in the region, including the unaccompanied precenting of psalms in the Free Presbyterian Church as well as the Sankey hymn singing tradition of the Baptist and other faiths, particularly in the coastal communities. Any information, contacts or suggestions relating to local singing practices would be warmly welcomed. Other areas he intends to research include the role of free reed instruments (mouthie, melodeon, accordion, harmonium) in the North East, the vigorous tradition of verse recitation, and the work of individual singers.
This newsletter is timed to coincide with the official opening of the Elphinstone Institute in its new premises at 24 High Street (the former Sacrist's House) on 17 November 1999. The building is to be opened by Sir Lewis Robertson, Chairman of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. The University warmly acknowledges the generosity of the Trust, whose funding made the refurbishment possible. As part of the opening ceremony, a portrait of the author Jessie Kesson, by Michael Knowles, is being presented to the Institute by the former Chancellor of the University, Sir Kenneth Alexander. During the afternoon and evening (2.00-8.00pm), friends, colleagues, and the curious are welcome to look round the Institute building, meet the staff, and hear about our work. We look forward to seeing you.
A multi-media celebration of North-East Scotland's living culture is about to be published. The interactive CD-ROM, entitled North East Folk will be launched at a special event at Baxter's Visitors Centre at Fochabers on Saturday 27 November. Edited by Valentina Bold and Tom McKean, the CD-ROM is the result of two year's intensive development. Copies will be available from the Institute, priced £20 - please contact the Secretary for further details (e-mail elphinstone@abdn.ac.uk, telephone 01224-272996). Retail distribution is being handled by Highlander Music.
Professor Bill Nicolaisen, Honorary Fellow of the Institute, has been appointed President of the Folklore Society from 1999 to 2002. He held the Presidency of the American Folklore Society in 1983. He is thus the first person ever to have held both offices. Congratulations, Bill!
Some readers may have heard Mary Anne Alburger's recent contributions to BBC Radio Scotland's 'The Captain's Collection', about editor and fiddler Captain Simon Fraser of Knockie, near Fort Augustus. Mary Anne is looking at possible links between Fraser's published fiddle settings and well known Gaelic poems from the seventeenth century onwards. She is always pleased to examine old manuscripts, music, books and musical instruments relating to the North and North East.
Many of the duties of the Elphinstone Creative Writing Fellow, Sheena Blackhall, are collaborative and concerned with outreach, and this has been facilitated by strong links with the North East Library Service. In June Sheena took part in an event administered by Scottish Natural Heritage at Forvie, and on 12 September 1999, the Elphinstone Institute liaised with the National Trust to host a day at Drum Castle dedicated to celebrating part of the castle's history through song, play, and story. Sheena's contribution to the event was threefold, writing lyrics for a new Drum ballad, running a children's workshop, based on a specially written play which the children performed, and giving a reading for the general public.
In October, following on from the poet-politician link initiated by the Scottish Poetry Library, Sheena interviewed Elaine Thomson, MSP for Aberdeen North, who commissioned a poem. Sheena also won the poetry prize during the North East's Doric Festival. Her main work entails visiting schools, encouraging children to sing and speak in Scots, and running creative writing groups in the wider community. Why not get in touch?
The proceedings of the very successful 1997 Elphinstone conference on religious communities and traditions in North-East Scotland will appear shortly. The variety and vigour of the religious life of the area is reflected in the diversity of the essays, which discuss significant figures and movements from St Machar to Bishop Skinner, and from the Celi De to the charismatics. The 200-page volume will be available from the Institute in late November.
Siobhan Tolland's thesis, 'Working Class Culture, Gender and Politics in Twentieth-Century Dundee', aims to consider the relationship between creativity and political expression, looking particularly at the poet, folk singer and political activist, Mary Brooksbank. The use of song and dance as a means of raising consciousness, and strengthening solidarity and resolve, has a long history in working-class politics. Mary's involvement with the Dundee mill lassies and their struggles is part of that tradition, and the thesis will examine how she uses the interaction between the political and the aesthetic to create a new and democratic art.
In February 2000, Robert Crawford, one of the best-known of the younger generation of Scottish poets, will deliver the inaugural Charles Murray Memorial Lecture. This will be the first in an annual series in which a distinguished Scottish writer or critic will be invited to speak on the relation between tradition and contemporary writing in Scotland. The Charles Murray Lecture is a joint initiative by the Elphinstone Institute and the Charles Murray Memorial Fund. The lecture will be open to the public, free of charge; details will be announced early in the New Year.
On Saturday 5 February at Marischal College, the Institute presents a day of fiddle workshops introduced by Mary Anne Alburger and featuring acknowledged experts, including James Alexander (ceilidh bands), Paul Anderson (North East style), Edna Arthur (Scots fiddle 'high style'), and Jean-Ann Callender (basic fiddle). The day will culminate in a ceilidh dance hosted by the Elphinstone fiddlers directed by Douglas Haston, which will be introduced by Christine Kydd. The Institute is very grateful to the North East of Scotland Heritage Trust, which has generously provided funding support for the event, which is jointly organised with University Music.
Over the weekend of 21-23 July 2000 the Institute will be supporting a festival of traditional singing at Cullerlie Farm Park, hosted by Tam and Anne Reid. Some of the North East's finest singers will be joined by their counterparts from Orkney, England and Ireland in an informal non-competitive setting. This will be a completely new venture for this part of Scotland.
An all-day event on Saturday 6 May 2000 will feature description and performance of the rich song culture of the North East from the 18th century to the present day.
Initial steps have been made to set up a collaborative research project with Sheffield and Harvard Universities to study and exploit the rich materials contained in the unpublished collection of Dr James Madison Carpenter (1888-1984), a Harvard post-graduate who undertook fieldwork in Britain between 1928-1935. During this period, he recorded traditional singers and participants in the mummers' play with the aid of the latest technology, the Dictaphone machine.
The collection contains an estimated 700 texts and 850 tunes of the Child ballad canon (some rare and unique), 500 sea songs including sea shanties, 1000 other songs and ballads, 200 children's singing games and nursery rhymes, 300 mummers' plays, a number of folk tales, and information on customs. About 55% of the total material was recorded in North-East Scotland, and this includes most of the ballad material. Not only is the size of the collection impressive, but it bridges the gap between Greig-Duncan (1903-1917) and the 1950s collectors, most notably Hamish Henderson.
The Carpenter Collection was purchased by the Library of Congress in 1972 and microfilm copies of the manuscript materials are held by Aberdeen Public Library and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in London. Significant work on the collection has, however, been hampered by its lack of organisation. The project aims to raise the profile of the collection and to make it widely accessible. This will be achieved by the digitisation of the contents including text, images and sound recordings for worldwide web access, a critical edition of the materials alongside a critical biography of the man, and the publication of articles in refereed academic journals.
Important preliminary research has been undertaken by Dr Julia Bishop of Sheffield
University and her findings are published in two articles in the 1998 special
issue of Folk Music Journal, together with contributions by Ian Olson (Scottish
song), David Atkinson (English and Welsh balladry), Robert Walser (sea shanties),
and Steve Roud and Paul Smith (folk drama).
Along with the two publications of conference proceedings - After Columba, After Calvin and The 29th Ballad Conference, two others are planned.
The first presents the 'Ballads from Glenbuchat', a previously unpublished manuscript in Aberdeen University's Historic Collections. Attributed to the parish minister, Robert Scott, and dated about 1817, it was prepared for publication by the late David Buchan. As well as facsimile reproductions, transcriptions, annotations, and an introduction, the volume will also contain an essay by Professor James Moreira (Director of the North East Archive of the University of Maine) on the socio-cultural context for the manuscript and the ballads it contains.
In the second, The Bedesman and the Hod-bearer, Professor Mary
Ellen Brown (Director of the Folklore Institute of the University of Indiana)
examines the correspondence between Francis James Child and William Walker of
Aberdeen, an exchange which offers important insights into Child's methods.
When Child's monumental The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898)
was published in five volumes, it lacked both a preface and introduction. In
fact, his undertaking to elucidate 'the plan and conduct of his work . . . by
and by' was overtaken by his death. Child's fascinating epistolary conversation
with William Walker helps to bridge this gap in our knowledge.
The Elphinstone Institute hosted the highly successful 29th conference of the International Ballad Commission (Société Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folklore) from 9-15 August 1999 at King's College. Sixty delegates attended with fifteen countries represented. A wide range of topics was covered, from studies of individual ballads such as, 'George Collins' by David Atkinson from London; through studies of song traditions such as Italian 'Tarantismo' by Luisa del Giudice of UCLA, and song communities such as the railroad builders in Scandinavia by Reimund Kvideland of the University of Bergen; to thematic studies such as 'Women's Journeys in Traditional Newfoundland Balladry' by Pauline Greenhill of the University of Winnipeg.
Among the highlights of the week were several memorable performance events, which featured notable local ballad singers, including Elizabeth Stewart, Jock Duncan and Stanley Robertson.
A publication featuring a selection of the papers is planned, under the editorship of conference convenor, Dr Thomas A. McKean, a former research fellow.
Page last updated: Tuesday, 27-Sep-2005 15:27:31 BST
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