J Scott Skinner and Taigh na Teud: Weaving together print and orality
Soundyngs has posted quite a bit in recent months about the infrastructures for maintaining and disseminating traditional music in Scotland, … Read more
Jane Pettegree
Scottish Historical Musical Instruments Collections
Soundyngs has the greatest of respect for people who make things that make music, since its own cottage industry experiments … Read more
Greentrax Recordings: the sounds of Scottish music history
Scotland has a small but highly creative group of independent recording labels, which do important work in curating and shaping … Read more
Review: Brian Bannatyne-Scott A Singer’s Life
At the start of its own (digital) life, Soundyngs wondered what constituted ‘Scottish’ music, and decided that if it was … Read more
The More Taubroner: A Black Musician at the Court of James IV
Image: The Westminster Tournament Roll of John Blanke, a trumpeter in the service of the court of Henry VIII, in … Read more
Review: Songs of Gaelic Scotland Anne Lorne Gillies
Soundyngs doesn’t speak Gaelic. There it is; and sorry, the failing memory and current work pressures means that it won’t … Read more
Review: The Coigach & Assynt Collection
Music, place, and people are woven together in this collection from the far north-west of Scotland. Subtitled ‘òrain, sgeulachdan, puirt’ … Read more
Pete Shepheard and Springthyme Records
Image: Scots Songs and Music Recorded at the Kinross Festival of Traditional Music and Song (Springthyme Records SPR/SPRC 1001 LP, … Read more
Pete Shepheard remembers Scottish Folk Festivals and TMSA Competitions
Image: Festival at Blairgowrie (Topic Records, Topic 12T181, 1967), recorded by Pete Shepheard. An interview with Pete Shepheard held on … Read more
Pete Shepheard remembers … the St Andrews Folk Club, and the early days of the traditional song revival
Image: Imperial Hotel, South Street, St Andrews, from late 1905s postcard “Dig from where you stand” is a precept that … Read more
Review: The Bagpipes, a Cultural History by Richard McLauchlan
Astonishingly affordable at £20 for the hardback book, there’s not excuse not to sneak this into a last-minute Boxing Day … Read more
Review: Jock Duncan: The Man and His Songs
Image: cover, Jock Duncan: The Man and his Songs, compiled and edited by Peter Shepheard (Perth: Rymer Books, 2024) Jock … Read more