ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of
emigrationThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
and a well-developed connection to music imported from the rest of Europe and the
United StatesThe music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationally-renowned genres are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, barbershop, pop, techno, and rock and roll. The United States has the...
, the
music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects; indeed, it has itself influenced many forms of music.
Many outsiders associate Scottish folk music almost entirely with the
Great Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
, which has indeed long played an important part of Scottish music. Although this particular form of bagpipe developed exclusively in Scotland, it is not the only Scottish bagpipe, and other bagpiping traditions remain across Europe. The earliest mention of bagpipes in Scotland dates to the 15th century although they could have been introduced to Scotland as early as the 6th century. The
pìob mhór, or
Great Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
, was originally associated with both hereditary piping families and professional pipers to various clan chiefs; later, pipes were adopted for use in other venues, including military marching. Piping clans included the
MacArthursClan Arthur, , or MacArthur is a highland Scottish clan that once held lands on the shores of Loch Awe opposite Inishail. The clan has been described as one of the oldest clans in Argyll. Clan Arthur and Clan Campbell share a common origin, and at one point the MacArthurs challenged the seniority...
,
MacDonaldsClan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...
,
McKaysClan Mackay is an ancient and once powerful Scottish clan from the far north of the Scottish Highlands, but with roots in the old kingdom of Moray. They were a powerful force in politics beginning in the 14th century, supporting Robert the Bruce. In the centuries that followed they were...
and, especially, the MacCrimmon, who were hereditary pipers to the
Clan MacLeodClan MacLeod is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is Macleod of Macleod, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Tormoid ; the Macleods of Lewis, whose chief is Macleod of The Lewes, are known in...
.
Folk music
Folk music takes many forms in a broad musical tradition, although the dividing lines are not rigid, and many artists work across the boundaries. Culturally, there is a split between the Gaelic tradition and the Scots tradition.
The oldest forms of music in Scotland are theorised to be Gaelic singing and
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
playing. Although much of the harp tradition was lost through extinction, the harp is being revived by contemporary players. Later, the
Great Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
appeared on the scene. The original music of the bagpipe is called Piobaireachd, this is the classical music of the bagpipe. '
piobaireachdPibroch, Piobaireachd or Ceòl Mór is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations...
' means 'big music' in Gaelic. Piobaireachd consists of a theme melody called the 'ground' followed by variations. Later, the style of 'light music,' including
marchesA march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
, strathspeys,
reelsThe reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
, jigs, and
hornpipeThe term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
s, became more popular. The British army adopted piping and spread the idea of pipe bands throughout the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Presently, piping is closely tied to band and individual competitions, although pipers are also experimenting with new possibilities for the instrument. Other forms of bagpipes also exist in the Scottish tradition; they are detailed in the piping section below.
The piping tradition is strongly connected to Gaelic singing (some piping ornaments mimic the Gaelic consonants of the songs), stepdance (the traditional dance meters determine the rhythm of the tunes), and
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, which appeared in Scotland in the 17th century. These components are part of the
dance musicDance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
which is played across Scotland at country dances,
ceilidhIn modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
s, Highland balls and frequently at weddings. Group dances are performed to music provided typically by an ensemble, or
dance bandBritish dance bands developed a unique style of popular jazz and dance music during the 1920s and 1930s that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms thousands of miles away from the true origins of jazz...
, which may include
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, bagpipe,
accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
,
tin whistleThe tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
, cello, keyboard and percussion. Many modern Scottish dance bands are becoming more lively and innovative, with influences from other types of music (most notably
jazz chordJazz chords are chords and chord symbols which are commonly found in Jazz music and harmony.-Intervals:Each chord is described as a series of intervallic relationships to the root of the chord...
structures) becoming noticeable.
Vocal music is also popular in the Scottish musical tradition. There are
balladA ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s and
lamentA lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.-History:Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by...
s, generally sung by a lone singer with backing, or played on traditional instruments such as
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
,
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
,
accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
or
bagpipesBagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
. There are many traditional folk songs, which are generally melodic, haunting or rousing. These are often very specific to certain regions, and are performed today by a burgeoning variety of folk groups. Popular songs were originally produced by
music hallMusic Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
performers such as
Harry LauderSir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
and
Will FyffeWill Fyffe was a major star of the 1930s and 1940s, a star of stage, screen and shellac.Fyffe made his debut in his father's stock company at the age of six...
for the stage. More modern exponents of the style have included
Andy StewartAndrew "Andy" Stewart MBE was a Scottish singer and entertainer.-Career:The use of tartan patriotism and stereotypical Scottish humour goes back to Sir Harry Lauder and music hall songs. In the 1960s this strand was continued by the entertainer Andy Stewart.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland in...
,
Glen DalyGlen Daly was a Scottish singer and entertainer.-Career:Daly was born in Glasgow where he attended St Mary's School...
,
Moira AndersonMoira Anderson, OBE is a Scottish singer.- Life and career :Following an education at Lenzie Academy, Anderson quickly established herself at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow before getting her big break in the media after a successful audition at the BBC.She landed her...
,
Kenneth McKellarKenneth McKellar was a Scottish tenor.-Career:McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer...
,
Calum KennedyCalum Kennedy was a Scottish singer.Kennedy won a gold medal at the Mod , singing in Scottish Gaelic...
and the
Alexander BrothersThe Alexander Brothers are an easy-listening folk-music duo from Scotland, who have been performing since the 1950s.Tom Alexander and Jack Alexander were born in Cambusnethan, near Wishaw...
.
Folk song collecting
The earliest printed collection of secular music in Scotland was by publisher John Forbes in
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
in 1662.
Songs and Fancies: to Thre, Foure, or Five Partes, both Apt for Voices and Viols, printed three times in the next twenty years, contained 77 songs, of which 25 were of Scottish origin. Most are anonymous. The other songs in the book are mostly in English, and include works by
John DowlandJohn Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
.
While ballads had been written for centuries, and had begun to be printed in the 17th century, the 18th century brought a number of collections of Scots songs and tunes. Examples include Playford's
Original Scotch Tunes 1700, Sinkler's
MS. 1710, James Watson's
Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems both Ancient and Modern 1711, William Thomson's
Orpheus caledonius: or, A collection of Scots songs 1733, James Oswald's
The Caledonian Pocket Companion 1751, and
David HerdDavid Herd was a Scottish anthologist who was a noted collector of national ballads.-Biography:The son of a farmer in the parish of Marykirk in Kincardineshire, he became clerk to an accountant in Edinburgh, where he became a well-known figure among the literary men...
's
Ancient and modern Scottish songs, heroic ballads, etc.: collected from memory, tradition and ancient authors 1776. These were drawn on for the most influential collection, The Scots Musical Museum published in six volumes from 1787 to 1803 by James Johnson and
Robert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, which also included new words by Burns. The
Select Scottish Airs collected by George Thomson and published between 1799 and 1818 included contributions from Burns and
Walter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
.
Revival
In the 20th century, collections like
Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs, collected by Reverend James Duncan and
Gavin GreigGavin Greig was a folksong collector, playwright and teacher.He edited James Scott Skinner's biggest collection of music, The Harp & Claymore Collection, providing harmonies for Skinner's compositions, and he was jointly responsible for compiling The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, with the Rev...
, helped inspire the ensuing folk revival. These were followed by collectors like
Hamish HendersonHamish Scott Henderson, was a Scottish poet, songwriter, soldier, and intellectual....
and Calum McLean, both of whom worked with American musicologist
Alan LomaxAlan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
. Earlier, the first Celtic music international star, James Scott Skinner, a fiddler known as the "Strathspey King", had gained fame with some very early recordings.
Among the folk performers discovered by Henderson, McLean and Lomax was
Jeannie RobertsonJeannie Robertson was a Scottish folk singer.-Hamish Henderson and Alan Lomax:It is not known where Jeannie Robertson was born but she did live at 90, Hilton Street in Aberdeen, where a plaque now commemorates her. Like many of the Scottish Travellers from Aberdeen, Glasgow and Ayrshire, she went...
, who was brought to sing at the
People's FestivalThe Edinburgh Folk Festival has had a shadowy existence since about 1951. Hamish Henderson was instrumental in creating the first "People's Festival" in 1951, with funding from the British Council, The Communist Party and the Scottish TUC, this was revived in 2002 by the Scottish Socialist Party...
in Edinburgh in 1953. Across the Atlantic, in the United States, pop-folk groups like
The WeaversThe Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
,
Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
and
Woody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
were leading a folk revival; the singers at the 1951 People's Festival,
John StrachanJohn Strachan was a Scottish farmer and singer of Bothy Ballads.John Strachan was born on a farm, Crichie, near St. Katherines in Aberdeenshire. His father had made his fortune by trading in horses, and had rented the farm. From 1886 John attended Robert Gordon's College as a boarder in Aberdeen....
,
Flora MacNeilFlora MacNeil, MBE is a Scottish Gaelic singer. Originally discovered by Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson during the early 1950s, she continues to perform.-Life:...
,
Jimmy MacBeathJimmy MacBeath was an itinerant worker and singer of Bothy Ballads from the north east of Scotland. He was a source of traditional songs for singers of the mid 20th century Folk Revival in Great Britain.-Life:...
and others, began the Scottish revival.
Like many countries, Scotland underwent a
roots revivalA roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.After an...
in the 1960s, although arguably the music was never dead to 'revive' it. Folk music had declined somewhat in popularity during the preceding generation, although performers like Jimmy Shand, Kenneth McKellar, and Moira Anderson still maintained an international following and mass market record sales, but numerous young Scots thought themselves separated from their country's culture. A new wave of Scottish folk performers inspired by American traditionalists like Pete Seeger soon found its own heroes, including young singers Ray and Archie Fisher and Hamish Imlach, and, from the tradition, Jeannie Robertson and Jimmy MacBeath.
Scottish folk singing was revived by artists including
Ewan MacCollEwan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
, who founded one of the first folk clubs in Britain, singers
Alex CampbellAlex Campbell was a Scottish folk singer. Described by Colin Harper as a "melancholic, hard-travelling Glaswegian", he was influential in the British folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s and was one of the first folk singers to tour the UK and Europe...
,
Jean RedpathJean Redpath MBE is a singer of folk songs and Scottish music.Redpath was born in Edinburgh, to musical parents. Her mother knew many Scots songs and passed them on to Jean and her brother; her father played the hammer dulcimer. She was raised in Leven, Fife,Scotland, and later returned to...
,
Hamish ImlachHamish Imlach was a folksinger. He was born in Calcutta but claimed to have been conceived in Glasgow, Scotland. Although his commercial success was limited he influenced many other artists, including most notably John Martyn and Billy Connolly. In Central and Northern Europe Imlach enjoyed a...
, and Dick Gaughan and groups like The Gaugers,
The CorriesThe Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. Although the group was a trio in the early days, it was as the partnership of Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne that it is best known.-Early years:...
,
The McCalmansThe McCalmans were a folk song trio from Scotland. Formed in 1964, they recorded and toured without interruption up until they disbanded in December 2010....
and the
Ian Campbell Folk GroupThe Ian Campbell Folk Group were one of the most popular and respected folk groups of the British folk revival of the 1960s. The group made many appearances on radio, television, and at national and international venues and festivals. They performed a mixture of British traditional folk music and...
. Folk clubs boomed, with a strong Irish influence from
The DublinersThe Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
. With Irish folk bands like
The ChieftainsThe Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
finding widespread popularity, 60s Scottish musicians played in pipe bands and Strathspey and Reel Societies. Musicologist Frances Collinson published
The Traditional and National Music of Scotland in 1966 to surprising popular acclaim, as part of the burgeoning Scottish folk revival. Still, until the end of the 60s Scottish music was rarely heard in pubs or on the radio, though Irish traditional music was widespread. The Corries had established a fan-base, while the English band
Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
created a British
folk rockFolk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
scene that spread north in the form of
JSD BandThe JSD Band were a Scottish based celtic rock band, and one of the leading folk rock bands of the early 1970s. Following a split up, they reformed to produce two further albums due to the amount of interest in their early albums...
and
ContrabandContraband was a short-lived supergroup/side project that included members of several famous rock bands from the 1980s, such as The Michael Schenker Group, Ratt, Vixen, Shark Island and L.A. Guns....
. A more conventional approach was taken by
Andy StewartAndrew "Andy" Stewart MBE was a Scottish singer and entertainer.-Career:The use of tartan patriotism and stereotypical Scottish humour goes back to Sir Harry Lauder and music hall songs. In the 1960s this strand was continued by the entertainer Andy Stewart.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland in...
, Glen Daly and The Alexander Brothers.
During the 60s Scotland contributed 2 innovative rock musicians who were central to the international scene; folk/psychedelia guitarist/singer/songwriter
DonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
(Donovan Phillips Leitch), and blues-rock/jazz-rock bassist/composer
Jack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
(John Symon Asher Bruce). Traces of Scottish literary and musical influences can be found in both Donovan's and Bruce's work.
Donovan's music on 1965's
FairytaleFairytale is the second album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was first released in the United Kingdom on October 22, 1965 through Pye Records . The U.S. version of Fairytale was released by Hickory Records in November 1965 with a slightly different set of songs...
anticipated the British-folk rock revival.
DonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
pioneered psychedelic-rock with "
Sunshine Superman"Sunshine Superman" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. The "Sunshine Superman" single was released in the United States through Epic Records in July 1966, but due to a contractual dispute the United Kingdom release was delayed until December 1966, where it...
" in 1966.
DonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
's decidedly
Celtic rockCeltic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
directions can be found on his later albums like
Open Road and
H.M.S. Donovan, Donovan's session crew during the 60s included
Jimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
,
John BonhamJohn Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
and
John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
who would later go on to form
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
. Donovan is said to be an early influence and encouragement for
Marc BolanMarc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
founder of
T. Rex (band)T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
.
Jack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
as co-founder of
CreamCream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
along with
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and
Ginger BakerPeter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
in 1966 debuted the album
Fresh CreamFresh Cream is the debut studio album by British supergroup Cream. It was the first LP release of producer Robert Stigwood's new "Independent" Reaction Records label, released in the United Kingdom as both a mono and stereo version on 9 December 1966, the same time as the single release of "I Feel...
.
Fresh Cream and the band in general are considered a pivotal moment in blues-rock history by introducing virtuosity and improvisation to the form. Bruce as member of Tony Williams Lifetime (along with
John McLaughlinJohn McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
and Larry Young) on
Turn It Over similarly contributed to a seminal jazz-rock work. Jack Bruce's debut solo albums in 1969
Songs for a TailorSongs for a Tailor is the 1969 solo studio album debut of musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream...
followed by
Harmony RowHarmony Row is Jack Bruce's third album, originally released in July 1971.The album takes its title from a tenement street in Glasgow, near where Bruce grew up. The street, since demolished, was famous as the largest unbroken houserow in Europe, stretching for over a mile...
(whose LP cover depicts Bruce's former neighbourhood in the tenement districts of Glasgow). Bruce's ongoing work continues to demonstrate a convincing compositional style that combines (Scottish/British) folk, jazz, classical, blues and rock elements into progressive original works. In 2009 Bruce was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Glasgow Caledonian University.
1970s
Music had long been primarily a solo affair, until
The CluthaThe Clutha was a traditional Scottish band hailing from Glasgow, that released a small number of albums in the 1970s. The line-up on the Clutha's first album, Scotia , was John Eaglesham , Erlend Voy , Calum Allan , Ronnie Alexander and Gordeanna McCulloch...
, a
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
-based group, began solidifying the idea of a Celtic band, which eventually consisted of
fiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
or
pipeBagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
s leading the
melodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, and bouzouki and guitar along with the vocals. Though The Clutha were the first modern band, earlier groups like The Exiles (with Bobby Campbell) had forged in that direction, adding instruments like the fiddle to vocal groups. Alongside The Clutha were other pioneering Glasgow bands, including The Whistlebinkies and Aly Bain's
The Boys of the Lough-The early years:Their first album, called Boys of the Lough consisted of Aly Bain , Cathal Mc'Connell , Dick Gaughan and Robin Morton ....
, both largely instrumental. The Whistlebinkies were notable, along with
AlbaAlba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is cognate to Alba in Irish and Nalbin in Manx, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as similar words in the Brythonic Insular Celtic languages of Cornish and Welsh also meaning Scotland.- Etymology :The term first appears in...
and The Clutha, for experimenting with different varieties of bagpipes; Alba used
Highland pipesThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
, The Whistlebinkies used reconstructed
Border pipesThe border pipes are a type of bagpipe related to the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe. It is perhaps confusable with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument...
and The Clutha used
Scottish smallpipesThe Scottish smallpipe, in its modern form, is a bellows-blown bagpipe developed by Colin Ross and others, to be playable according to the Great Highland Bagpipe fingering system. There are surviving examples of similar historical instruments such as the mouth-blown Montgomery smallpipes in E,...
alongside Highlands.
Bert JanschHerbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
and Davy Graham took
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitar and eastern influences into their music, and in the mid-1960s, the most popular group of the Scottish folk scene, the
Incredible String BandThe Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
, began their career in Clive's Incredible Folk Club in Glasgow taking these influences a stage further. The next wave of bands, including
Silly WizardSilly Wizard was a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones and Bob Thomas...
,
The Tannahill WeaversThe Tannahill Weavers are a popular band who performs traditional Scottish music. Releasing their first album in 1976 they became notable for being one of the first popular bands to incorporate the sound of the Great Highland Bagpipe in an ensemble setting, and in doing so helped to change the...
,
Battlefield BandBattlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, there are no founder members in the band....
,
OssianOssian are a Scottish traditional music group, formed in 1976.The initial line-up brought together Billy Ross and former members of the group Contraband, Billy Jackson, John Martin, and George Jackson. One of their earliest gigs was at the 1976 Kinross Folk Festival.Each of the members was a...
and Alba, featured prominent
bagpipersBagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
, a trend which climaxed in the 1980s, when Robin Morton's
A Controversy of Pipers was released to great acclaim. By the end of the 1970s, lyrics in the Scottish Gaelic language were appearing in songs by Nah-Oganaich and Ossian, with
RunrigRunrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...
's
Play GaelicPlay Gaelic is the first album by the Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig. It was released in 1978.-Album Style:The band's sound on the album is half way between traditional ceilidh music and pastoral folk as opposed to the harder rock edge which woud characterise the next album the Highland Connection...
in 1978 being the first major success for Gaelic-language Scottish folk.
Established Scottish folk club performers such as Archie Fisher, The Corries, Rab Noakes, and Gerry Rafferty in the ‘Humblebums’ with Billy Connolly, introduced more contemporary flavours to a traditional audience by writing and presenting their own new 'folk' songs. Robin Williamson, and Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band also created new songs and music in an acoustic style, which while very different, remained sympathetic to traditional Scottish music and took the contemporary sound to a much wider folk crowd. It was the Corries however, who were to take Scottish folk music to its largest audience with a combination of atmospheric arrangements of older folk and new songs which connected the Scotland of the past with Scotland of today. In his victory speech following the 2011 election victory for the SNP First Minister Alex Salmond would echo the lyrics of Scotland Will Flourish.
A growing taste for new songs in the 70s and 80s, sometimes justified as reminiscent of the original roots of folk music, saw some Scottish folk performers move to concentrate entirely on new self penned songs. Established Scots song writers Bennie Gallagher and Graham Lyle, who had a UK hit with McGuinness Flint, performed as a successful duo throughout the 1970s presenting strong new songs which were often covered by mainstream pop artists. Guitarist and songsmith, English born adopted Scot, John Martyn, who started his professional career under the guidance of Hamish Imlach,[ref:Ed: Colin Larkin:The Guinness who’s who of Folk Music], together with Gerry Rafferty, and Gallaher and Lyle inspired a whole new wave of Scots singer songwriters. Dougie MacLean emerged from his roots in traditional bands such as Puddocks Well, and Tannahill Weavers, and carved a successful solo career as a singer songwriter, with his own record label producing some of Scotland's best known pieces including “The Geal” and “Caledonia”.
Early 80s duo
Findask, toured extensively playing self penned original songs in a traditional framework. Their melodies and arrangements were often catchy and complex, while Willie Lindsay’s lyrics, revealed their Glasgow roots, but were appreciated by contemporary reviewers, as witty and literate. Willie Lindsay and Stuart Campbell recorded four albums of original songs throughout the 1980s tackling Scottish issues big and small from “Independence Day” to elated football emotions “Going to Hampden”.
[ref:Ed: Colin Larkin: The Guinness who’s who of Folk Music: ]
Early music
Bards, who acted as musicians, but also as poets, story tellers, historians, genealogists and lawyers, relying on an oral tradition that stretched back generations, were found in Scotland as well as Wales and Ireland. Often accompanying themselves on the
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, they can also be seen in records of the Scottish courts throughout the medieval period. Scottish church music from the later Middle Ages was increasingly influenced by continental developments, with figures like 13th-century musical theorist Simon Tailler studying in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music. Scottish collections of music like the 13th-century 'Wolfenbüttel 677', which is associated with
St AndrewsSt Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, contain mostly French compositions, but with some distinctive local styles. The captivity of James I in England from 1406 to 1423, where he earned a reputation as a poet and composer, may have led him to take English and continental styles and musicians back to the Scottish court on his release. In the late 15th century a series of Scottish musicians trained in the Netherlands before returning home, including John Broune, Thomas Inglis and John Fety, the last of whom became master of the song school in Aberdeen and then Edinburgh, introducing the new five-fingered organ playing technique. In 1501 James IV refounded the Chapel Royal within
Stirling CastleStirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...
, with a new and enlarged choir and it became the focus of Scottish liturgical music. Burgundian and English influences were probably reinforced when Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor married James IV in 1503. James V (1512–42) was a major patron of music. A talented lute player he introduced French chansons and
consorts of violsA consort of instruments was a phrase used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to indicate an instrumental ensemble. These could be of the same or a variety of instruments. Consort music enjoyed considerable popularity at court and in households of the wealthy in the...
to his court and was patron to composers such as
David Peebles-Biography:Little is known of his life but the majority of his work dates to between 1530 and 1576. He is known to have been a canon at the Augustinian Priory of St Andrews until the Scottish Reformation . After leaving the priory at the Reformation he seems to have married and had two children...
(c. 1510–1579?).
The
Scottish ReformationThe Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
, directly influenced by
CalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, was generally opposed to church music, leading to the removal of organs and a growing emphasis on metrical psalms, including a setting by David Peebles commissioned by
James Stewart, 1st Earl of MorayJames Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, was Regent of Scotland for his nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570...
. The most important work in Scottish reformed music was probably
A forme of Prayers published in
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1564. The return from France of James V's daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots in 1561, renewed the Scottish court as a centre of musical patronage and performance. The Queen played the lute,
virginalsThe virginals or virginal is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family...
and (unlike her father) was a fine singer. She was brought many influences from the French court where she had been educated, employing lutenists and viol players in her household. Mary's position as a Catholic gave a new lease of life to the choir of the Scottish Chapel Royal in her reign, but the destruction of Scottish church organs meant that instrumentation to accompany the mass had to employ bands of musicians with trumpets, drums, fifes, bagpipes and tabors. The outstanding Scottish composer of the era was
Robert CarverRobert Carver was a Scottish Renaissance monk and composer of Christian sacred music.He spent much of his life at Scone Abbey in Perthshire and is regarded as Scotland's greatest sixteenth-century composer. He is best known for his sacred choral music, of which there are five surviving masses and...
(c.1485–c.1570) whose works included the nineteen-part motet 'O Bone Jesu'. James VI, king of Scotland from 1567, was a major patron of the arts in general. He rebuilt the Chapel Royal at Stirling in 1594 and the choir was used for state occasions like the baptism of his son Henry. He followed the tradition of employing lutenists for his private entertainment, as did other members of his family. When he came south to take the throne of England in 1603 as James I, he removed one of the major sources of patronage in Scotland. The Scottish Chapel Royal was now used only for occasional state visits, as when Charles I returned in 1633 to be crowned, bringing many musicians from the English Chapel Royal for the service, and it began to fall into disrepair. From now on the court in Westminster would be the only major source of royal musical patronage.
18th and 19th centuries
For a long period few Scottish composers achieved international renown.
Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of KellieThomas Alexander Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie , styled Viscount Fentoun and Lord Pittenweem until 1756, was a British musician and composer whose considerable talent brought him international fame and his rakish habits notoriety, but nowadays is little known...
(1732–81) was well known in his era, but his work was quickly forgotten and interest has only just begun to see renewed interest. There were signs of a national revival in the late nineteenth century with the foundations of the Scottish Orchestra (1891), now the
Royal Scottish National OrchestraThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
. The work of Sir Alexander Mackenzie was able to gain some wider attention, celebrating his native land in three
Scottish Rhapsodies for orchestra (1880–81, 1911), and in various concerted works for piano or violin and orchestra composed during the 1880s and 1890s. Similarly,
John McEwenSir John Blackwood McEwen was a Scottish classical composer and educator.- Biography :John Blackwood McEwen was born in Hawick in 1868. After initial training in Glasgow, he studied with Ebenezer Prout, Corder and Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
's
Pibroch (1889),
Border Ballads (1908) and
Solway Symphony (1911) also incorporated traditional Scottish folk melodies. Other composers of the period who wrote in the
Romantic traditionRomantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
included
Hamish MacCunnthumb|right|Portrait of MacCunn, 1889, by [[John Pettie]]Hamish MacCunn , Scottish romantic composer, was born in Greenock, the son of a shipowner, and was educated at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.MacCunn's first success...
and
William WallaceWilliam Wallace was notable as a Scottish classical composer and writer; he first became an ophthalmic surgeon. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Music in the University of London.-Early life and education:...
.
20th and 21st centuries
Many modernist composers of the period (such as
Francis George ScottFrancis George Scott was a Scottish composer.Born in Hawick, Roxburghshire, he was the son of a supplier of mill-engineering parts. Educated at Hawick, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Durham, he studied composition under Jean Roger-Ducasse...
and
J. Murdoch HendersonJ. Murdoch Henderson was a Scottish fiddler, composer, and music critic.John Murdoch Henderson was born in New Deer, Scotland, and became a mathematics teacher in Aberdeen. A childhood accident hampered Henderson's playing, but he took an interest in the interpretation of fiddle music and...
) tended to concentrate on shorter forms like songs, rather than symphonies or operas. After World War II
Robin OrrRobert Kelmsley Orr CBE was a Scottish composer.Born in Brechin, he studied at the Royal College of Music in London and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Following studies with Alfredo Casella and Nadia Boulanger he returned to Cambridge in 1938 as Organist of St John's College. During his war...
,
Thomas WilsonThomas Wilson CBE was a Scottish composer of classical music.One of the greatest musicians Scotland has produced, Thomas Brendan Wilson was born in Trinidad, Colorado, USA to British parents, but moved to Scotland with his family when he was 17 months old. They settled in the Glasgow area where he...
,
Thea MusgraveThea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music.-Biography:Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger...
,
Edward McGuireEdward McGuire is a Scottish composer.He studied composition with James Iliff at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1966 to 1970 and then with Ingvar Lidholm in Stockholm in 1971....
,
James MacMillanJames MacMillan CBE is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.-Early life:MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977....
,
James DillonJames Dillon, born October 29, 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Scottish composer often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.Honors include...
,
Gordon McPhersonGordon McPherson is a Scottish composer. He studied at the University of York, England, returning there for his doctorate, continuing with post-doctoral research at the Royal Northern College of Music....
,
John McLeodJohn McLeod is a contemporary composer based in Edinburgh, who writes music in many media including film and television...
and
Judith WeirJudith Weir CBE, is a British composer.-Biography:Her music has been appreciated by audiences and critics alike. She trained with John Tavener while still at school and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976...
attracted international attention. Movie soundtrack composers
Muir MathiesonJames Muir Mathieson was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on a large number of British films.-Career:...
,
Patrick DoylePatrick Doyle is a Scottish musician and film score composer. A longtime collaborator of actor/director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work scoring such critically acclaimed films as Henry V , Sense and Sensibility , Hamlet , and Gosford Park , as well as noteworthy blockbusters as Harry...
and Craig Armstrong achieved international renown.
The English composer Sir
Peter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
founded the
St Magnus FestivalThe St Magnus Festival is an annual 6-day arts festival which takes place on the islands of Orkney off the north coast of mainland Scotland.-History and Management:...
of music on Orkney, where he lives. The
Edinburgh International FestivalThe Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
each year attracts some of the best musicians in the world to Scotland. The
East Neuk FestivalThe East Neuk Festival is a chamber music festival that takes place over five days at the end of June/beginning of July in the area known as the East Neuk of Fife, in the south east corner of Scotland.- History :...
presents a range of international performers in historic churches and other venues in the North East of
FifeFife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
. Sound is North-East Scotland's festival of new music, presenting events in
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
and venues throughout
AberdeenshireAberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
.
Scotland has provided the inspiration for international composers, most notably
Felix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
,
Benjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
and Sir
Malcolm ArnoldSir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain...
. Britten in particular arranged several Scottish folk songs for voice and piano as well as the orchestral
Scottish Ballad, a reworking of the old
hymn tuneA hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....
Dundee.
Classical Performers
Scotland has produced several notable performers of classical music, including the percussionist
Evelyn GlennieDame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...
, the pianist Murray McLachlan, the violinist
Nicola Benedetti- Early life and the Yehudi Menuhin School :Benedetti was born in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire to an Italian father and a Scottish mother. She started to learn the violin at the age of four...
, the violist
William PrimroseWilliam Primrose CBE was a Scottish violist and teacher.-Biography:Primrose was born in Glasgow and studied violin initially. In 1919 he moved to study at the then Guildhall School of Music in London. On the urging of the accompanist Ivor Newton, Primrose moved to Belgium to study under Eugène...
, singers
Isobel BaillieDame Isobel Baillie DBE was a Scottish soprano, popular in opera, oratorio and lieder. She was regarded as one of the 20th century's great oratorio singers.Isobel Baillie was born in Hawick, Scottish Borders, in 1895...
,
Henry HerfordHenry Herford is a Scottish baritone singer.He read Classics and English at Cambridge University, and studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he was awarded the Curtis Gold Medal. He is currently the RNCM's Tutor in French Song...
,
Margaret MarshallMargaret Anne Marshall OBE is a Scottish soprano.Marshall was born in Stirling. Her career started in the 1970s and she has sung a wide range of classical and operatic roles....
and
Kenneth McKellarKenneth Douglas McKellar was an American politician from Tennessee who served as a United States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as a United States Senator from 1917 until 1953...
, classical guitarist Paul Galbraith, clarinettist
Alison TurriffAlison Turriff is a Scottish folk fusion clarinetist, recording artist, researcher, composer, producer and Artist for world leading clarinet makers Buffet Crampon.-Early life:...
and conductors
Bryden ThomsonBryden Thomson was a Scottish conductor.Bryden Thomson was born in Ayr. He led several British orchestras, including the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra from 1977 to 1985...
,
James LoughranJames Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD is a Scottish conductor.-Early life:Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law...
,
Donald RunniclesDonald Runnicles is a Scottish conductor who has worked extensively in other countries, particularly Germany and the USA....
,
Garry WalkerGarry Walker is a Scottish conductor.Garry Walker is the conductor of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra , permanent guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , and principal conductor of Paragon Ensemble.When he was...
and Sir
Alexander GibsonSir Alexander Gibson, CBE was a Scottish conductor and opera intendant.Gibson was born in Motherwell and studied music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, as well as in London, Salzburg and Siena, Italy...
.
Scotland has three internationally renowned orchestras:
Royal Scottish National OrchestraThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
(RSNO),
BBC Scottish Symphony OrchestraThe BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is a broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation , it is the oldest full-time professional orchestra in Scotland...
(BBC SSO) and the
Scottish Chamber OrchestraThe Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
(SCO), with the first two based in Glasgow and the SCO based in Edinburgh: the RSNO's home is at the
Glasgow Royal Concert HallGlasgow Royal Concert Hall is an arts venue, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow’s City Halls and Old Fruitmarket venue...
, whilst the BBC SSO has its home at City Halls.
Scottish OperaScottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
is the national opera company whose home venue is the
Theatre Royal, GlasgowThe Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow, located at 282 Hope Street in Cowcaddens. The theatre originally opened in 1867, changing its name to the Theatre Royal in 1869, and is the longest running theatre in Scotland...
. There are also several chamber ensembles, such as the Hebrides Ensemble, specialising in contemporary music, the Edinburgh Quartet, the
Auricle EnsembleThe Auricle Ensemble is a chamber ensemble based in Scotland. It was created by a co-operative of professional musicians working in the UK in 2007 and has become known for its diverse programming....
, Concerto Caledonia, and the
Scottish EnsembleThe Scottish Ensemble is one of Scotland's finest string ensembles, formed from some of the most highly respected string players in Europe. Playing standing in a semicircle and without a conductor, it is led from the violin by Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton.Originally formed in 1969 as the...
.
The independent classical record labels
Linn RecordsLinn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products.-History:While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became frustrated with some of the specialist test LPs they were using...
and
Delphian RecordsDelphian Records is a small Edinburgh-based independent classical record label founded in 2000 by two students of the University of Edinburgh, Paul Baxter and Kevin Findlan with start-up funding from two private individuals and support from the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust.The label has...
are based in Scotland.
Pop and rock
Pop and rock were slow to get started in Scotland and produced few bands of note in the 1950s or 1960s, though thanks to accolades by
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and others, the
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
- based band 1-2-3 (later
CloudsClouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...
), active 1966–71, have belatedly been acknowledged as a definitive precursor of the progressive rock movement. However, by the 1970s bands such as the Average White Band,
NazarethNazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...
, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band began to have international success. The biggest Scottish pop act of the 1970s however (at least in terms of sales) were undoubtedly the
Bay City RollersThe Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at...
. Several of the members of the internationally-successful rock band
AC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
were born in Scotland, including original lead singer
Bon ScottRonald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
and guitarists
MalcolmMalcolm Young is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist, best known as a founding member, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, along with the other members of AC/DC...
and
Angus YoungAngus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
, though by the time they began playing, all three had moved to Australia.
Scotland produced a few punk bands of note, such as
The ExploitedThe Exploited are a Scottish punk band from the second wave of UK punk, formed in 1979. Originally a street punk band, they transformed into a faster hardcore punk band with a heavy political influence. From about 1987 on they changed into a crossover thrash band...
,
The VaselinesThe Vaselines are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1986, the band was originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession. McKee had...
,
The RezillosThe Rezillos are a punk/new wave band, who formed in Edinburgh in 1976 and still play gigs around the world in a re-formed line-up. Although frequently aligned with the punk movement, the Rezillos' irreverent glam rock image and affection for campy girl-group iconography, set them distinctly apart...
,
The SkidsSkids were an art-punk/punk rock and new wave band from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, founded in 1977 by Stuart Adamson , William Simpson , Thomas Kellichan and Richard Jobson...
,
The Fire EnginesThe Fire Engines are a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The band was a part of the same literary art-punk scene as the Scars and their most famous contemporaries, Josef K. They grew out of the Dirty Reds which had actor Tam Dean Burn as singer....
, and the
ScarsScars were a Post-punk band that hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland, and were a part of that city's bustling music scene of the late 70s - early 80s.-History:...
. However, it was not until the
post-punkPost-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
era of the early 1980s, that Scotland really came into its own, with bands like
Cocteau TwinsCocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
,
Orange JuiceOrange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
, The Associates,
Simple MindsSimple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
,
Maggie ReillyMaggie Reilly is a Scottish singer best known for her collaborations with the composer and instrumentalist Mike Oldfield...
, Annie Lennox (
EurythmicsEurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
),
Hue and CryHue and Cry is a pop duo formed in 1983 in Coatbridge, Scotland by the brothers Pat Kane and Greg Kane . They had a number of modest hits in the UK Singles Chart in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, and have released sixteen albums from 1987 to date.-Career:Their first single "Here Comes...
,
Goodbye Mr. MackenzieGoodbye Mr. Mackenzie were a Scottish 1980s and 1990s rock group formed in Bathgate, near Edinburgh, Scotland...
, The Jesus&Mary Chain
The ProclaimersThe Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
and
Josef KJosef K were a Scottish post-punk band, active between 1979 and 1982, who released singles on the Postcard Records label. The band was named after the protagonist of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial...
achieved critical acclaim. Since the 1980s Scotland has produced a more or less constant stream of important rock and
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
acts.
The 1980s also saw the rise of Scottish progressive rock/metal, with
MarillionMarillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
receiving worldwide recognition. Bands such as these have given inspiration to countless hundreds of 21st century Scottish rock bands resulting in the fruitful and diverse underground music culture present in Scotland today.Most recently, Scottish piping has included a renaissance for cauldwind pipes such as smallpipes and border pipes, which use cold, dry air as opposed to the moist air of mouth-blown pipes. Other pipers such as
Gordon DuncanGordon Duncan was a Scottish bagpiper. He began playing at the age of eight, taught initially by Bill Hepburn then by his father and his older brother Ian Duncan, himself a successful piper and Pipe Major...
and
Fred MorrisonFred Morrison is one of the world's leading pipers and is a globally renowned composer of music for the bagpipes.Morrison is known for his unique, powerfully exuberant, virtuosic and highly improvisational style which combines the Gaelic piping tradition of South Uist with contemporary and eclectic...
began to explore new musical genres on many kinds of pipes. The
accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
also gained in popularity during the 1970s due to the renown of
Phil CunninghamPhil Cunningham, MBE, born 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland is a Scottish folk musician and composer.-Biography:Phil played accordion and violin from a very young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised Mormon, attending church regularly and playing organ...
, whose distinctive piano accordion style was an integral part of the band
Silly WizardSilly Wizard was a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones and Bob Thomas...
. Numerous musicians continued to follow more traditional styles including
Alex BeatonAlex Beaton is a Scottish, guitar-playing folksinger who makes more than 20 concert appearances annually at various events across the United States . Beaton appears annually at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, and the Stone Mountain Highland Games in Atlanta, Georgia,...
.
More modern musicians include
ShoogleniftyShooglenifty are an Edinburgh-based six-piece Celtic fusion band that tours internationally. The band blends Scottish traditional music with influences ranging from electronica to alternative rock...
, innovators of the
houseHouse music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
fusion acid croft, along with
Peatbog FaeriesThe Peatbog Faeries are a largely instrumental Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.Their music embodies many styles and influences, including folk, electronica, rock and jazz, - but their main influence is traditional celtic music...
. The Easy Club,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
fusion bands,
Talitha MacKenzieTalitha MacKenzie is an American world music recording artist, teacher and ethnomusicologist. Initially known for her work as the singing half of the original Mouth Music lineup, she has gone on to follow a highly-respected solo career...
and
Martin SwanMartin Swan is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, record producer, recording engineer and instrument designer....
,
puirt a' bhèilPuirt a beul is a traditional form of song native to Scotland, Ireland, and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.-Name:The Scottish Gaelic for such a tune is port à beul: "a tune from a mouth—specifically a cheerful tune—which in the plural becomes puirt à beul...
mouth musicians, pioneering singers
Savourna StevensonSavourna Stevenson is a Scottish clarsach player and composer. While she is identified as an interpreter of Scottish traditional music, she has also made inroads into world music, blues and jazz....
, Heather Heywood and Christine Primrose. Other modern musicians include the late techno-piper
Martyn BennettMartyn Bennett was a Scottish musician who was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada...
(who used
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
beats and
samplingIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
), Hamish Moore,
Roger BallRoger Ball is a Scottish saxophonist, keyboardist, songwriter and arranger.-Biography:Ball attended the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee from 1962, studying architecture. While there he met Malcolm “Molly” Duncan and Alan Gorrie...
,
Hamish StuartHamish Stuart is a guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer.- Biography :Stuart had recorded a couple of singles with his first band, the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band in June 1972.A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to...
,
Jim DiamondJames "Jim" Diamond is a Scottish singer-songwriter. Diamond is best known for his three Top 5 hits. The first was "I Won't Let You Down" , as the lead singer in the trio Ph.D., with Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips. His solo performance, "I Should Have Known Better", was a United Kingdom number one...
,
Sheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
and Gordon Mooney.
Scotland produced many indie bands in the 1980s,
Primal ScreamPrimal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
,
The Soup DragonsThe Soup Dragons were a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Named after a character in the 1970s children's television show Clangers, the group is best known for its cover of the Rolling Stones' song "I'm Free."-History:...
,
The Jesus and Mary ChainThe Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
,
The Blue NileThe Blue Nile is an adult alternative/pop band from Glasgow. The music of The Blue Nile is built heavily on synthesizers and electronic instrumentation and percussion, although later works featured acoustic guitar more prominently.-Early years:...
,
Teenage FanclubTeenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
,
18 Wheeler18 Wheeler were a Scottish rock band active in the early 1990s, consisting of Sean Jackson , David Keenan , Alan Hake , and Neil Halliday...
,
The PastelsThe Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.Their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records, had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time...
and
BMX BanditsBMX Bandits are a Scottish 1960s-influenced guitar pop band who have been making music from 1986 to the present day. They have shared members with other Bellshill bands Teenage Fanclub and The Soup Dragons....
being some of the best examples. The following decade also saw a burgeoning scene in Glasgow, with the likes of
The AlmightyThe Almighty are a hard rock/heavy metal band, from Glasgow in Scotland who formed in 1988. They have released seven studio albums, two anthologies and one live album.-1988-1993:...
,
Arab StrapArab Strap were an indie rock band from Scotland that consisted of core members Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, and split in 2006...
,
Belle & SebastianBelle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...
,
Camera ObscuraCamera Obscura are an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band formed in 1996 and have released four albums to date.-History:Camera Obscura were formed in 1996 by Tracyanne Campbell, John Henderson, and Gavin Dunbar. Several other members performed with the band before David Skirving joined...
,
The DelgadosThe Delgados were a Scottish indie rock band from Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. The band was composed of Alun Woodward , Stewart Henderson , Paul Savage and Emma Pollock .-Biography:...
,
BisBis are a Scottish indie pop band composed of Steven Clark , John Clark , and Amanda MacKinnon . Formed in 1994, the band broke up in 2003, but reformed briefly in 2007 for a series of concerts.-History:...
and
MogwaiThe word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
. The late 1990s and 2000s has also seen Scottish guitar bands continue to achieve critical or commercial success, examples include
Franz FerdinandFranz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
,
Biffy ClyroBiffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band from Kilmarnock, comprising Simon Neil , James Johnston and Ben Johnston...
,
TravisTravis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
,
Calvin HarrisCalvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...
,
KT TunstallKate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...
,
Amy MacdonaldAmy Macdonald is a Scottish recording artist. Macdonald rose to fame in 2007 with her debut album, This Is the Life and its fourth single, "This Is the Life". The single charted at number one in six different countries worldwide, and charted inside the top ten in another eleven countries worldwide...
,
Paolo NutiniPaolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are Scottish, his family having been in Scotland for three generations....
,
The ViewThe View are a Scottish indie rock band. They incorporate various styles such as punk, pop, alternative rock, pop punk, powerpop, folk, and acoustic in their music....
,
IdlewildIdlewild are a Scottish rock band, formed in Edinburgh, in 1995, comprising Roddy Woomble , Rod Jones , Colin Newton , Allan Stewart and Gareth Russell...
,
GlasvegasGlasvegas are a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow. The band consists of James Allan , Rab Allan , Paul Donoghue and Jonna Löfgren . The band received critical acclaim for their debut album Glasvegas which was released in September 2008, reaching No...
,
The FratellisThe Fratellis were an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli , bass guitarist Barry Fratelli , and drummer and backing vocalist Mince Fratelli .The band released 2 albums during their career, Costello Music in 2006 and Here We Stand in...
, and
Twin AtlanticTwin Atlantic are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band is composed of Sam McTrusty , Barry McKenna , Ross McNae and Craig Kneale ....
.
Jazz
Scotland has a strong jazz tradition and has produced many world class musicians since the 1950s, notably
Jimmy DeucharJames "Jimmy" Deuchar was a jazz trumpeter and big band arranger, born in Dundee, Scotland. He found fame as a performer and arranger in the 1950s and 1960s...
,
Bobby WellinsRobert Coull "Bobby" Wellins is a Scottish tenor saxophonist best known for his collaboration with Stan Tracey on the seminal 1965 British jazz album Under Milk Wood....
and
Joe TemperleyJoe Temperley is a Scottish saxophonist. He has performed on various instruments but is most associated with the baritone saxophone and bass clarinet....
. A long-standing problem was the lack of opportunities within Scotland to play with international musicians. Since the 1970s this has been addressed by enthusiast-run organisations such as
Platform and then
Assembly Direct, which have provided improved performance opportunities.
Perhaps the best known contemporary Scottish jazz musician is
Tommy SmithTommy Smith is a jazz saxophonist, composer and educator. The late jazz critic Richard Cook said of him, 'Of the generation which emerged in the mid-80s, he might be the most outstandingly talented'.-Biography:...
. Again, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival brings some of the best jazz musicians in the world to Scotland every year, although, increasingly, other cities (such as
GlasgowGlasgow International Jazz Festival is a jazz festival in Glasgow, Scotland.-Main Festival:One of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe, the Glasgow International Jazz Festival is held annually in June in the Merchant City area of Glasgow...
and
DundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
) also run international jazz festivals.
Accordion
Though often derided as Scottish kitsch, the accordion has long been a part of Scottish music.
Country danceA Scottish country dance is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography...
bands, such as that led by the renowned
Jimmy ShandSir James Shand MBE was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion.-Early life:...
, have helped to dispel this image. In the early 20th century, the melodeon (a variety of
diatonic button accordionA diatonic button accordion or melodeon is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys...
) was popular among rural folk, and was part of the
bothy bandA bothy band is a musical group which comes from the farming culture of nineteenth century Scotland. At that time agriculture was relatively labour-intensive. As a result large farms often had a small community associated with them, the farm toun. This was made up of married couples who lived in...
tradition. More recently, performers like
Phil CunninghamPhil Cunningham, MBE, born 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland is a Scottish folk musician and composer.-Biography:Phil played accordion and violin from a very young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised Mormon, attending church regularly and playing organ...
(of
Silly WizardSilly Wizard was a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones and Bob Thomas...
) and
Sandy BrechinSandy Brechin is a Scottish musician and accordionist. He has developed an instantly recognisable style and is well known as a player, teacher and composer of traditional Scottish music ....
have helped popularise the accordion in Scottish music.
Bagpipes
Though bagpipes are closely associated with Scotland by many outsiders, the instrument (or, more precisely,
family of instruments) is found throughout large swathes of Europe, North Africa and South Asia. The most common bagpipe heard in modern Scottish music is the
Great Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
, which was spread by the Highland regiments of the British Army. Historically, numerous other bagpipes existed, and many of them have been recreated in the last half-century.
The classical music of the
Great Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
is called
PìobaireachdPibroch, Piobaireachd or Ceòl Mór is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations...
, which consists of a first movement called the
urlar (in English, the 'ground' movement,) which establishes a theme. The theme is then developed in a series of movements, growing increasingly complex each time. After the
urlar there is usually a number of variations and doublings of the variations. Then comes the
taorluath movement and variation and the
crunluath movement, continuing with the underlying theme. This is usually followed by a variation of the crunluath, usually the
crunluath a mach (other variations:
crunluath breabach and
crunluath fosgailte) ; the piece closes with a return to the
urlar.
Bagpipe competitions are common in Scotland, for both solo pipers and pipe bands. Competitive solo piping is currently popular among many aspiring pipers, some of whom travel from as far as Australia to attend Scottish competitions. Other pipers have chosen to explore more creative usages of the instrument. Different types of bagpipes have also seen a resurgence since the 70s, as the historical
border pipesThe border pipes are a type of bagpipe related to the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe. It is perhaps confusable with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument...
and
Scottish smallpipesThe Scottish smallpipe, in its modern form, is a bellows-blown bagpipe developed by Colin Ross and others, to be playable according to the Great Highland Bagpipe fingering system. There are surviving examples of similar historical instruments such as the mouth-blown Montgomery smallpipes in E,...
have been resuscitated and now attract a thriving alternative piping community.
The
pipe bandA pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
is another common format for highland piping, with top competitive bands including the
Victoria Police Pipe BandThe Victoria Police Pipe Band is a past grade one pipe band champion based in Melbourne, Australia. Though the band still exists, it no longer competes after a controversial decision in 2000 to reshape the band....
from Australia (formerly),
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
's Field Marshal Montgomery, Canada's
78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe BandThe 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band, is a pipe band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 78th Frasers became the first non-Scottish band to win the World Pipe Band Championships, in the summer of 1987...
and
Simon Fraser University Pipe BandThe Simon Fraser University Pipe Band is a grade one pipe band affiliated with Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada . The band has consistently placed in the top three in world competition and has won the Grade One World Pipe Band Championships six times: 1995, 1996, 1999,...
, and Scottish bands like
Shotts and Dykehead Pipe BandThe House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band, also known as Shotts and Dykehead or simply "Shotts", is a grade one pipe band from Shotts, in the North Lanarkshire region of Scotland...
and
Strathclyde Police Pipe BandThe Strathclyde Police Pipe Band is a grade one pipe band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band was formed in 1883 as the Burgh of Govan Police Pipe Band and was one of the first pipe bands to be formed outside the ranks of the British military...
. These bands, as well as many others, compete in numerous pipe band competitions, often the
World Pipe Band ChampionshipsThe World Pipe Band Championships is a pipe band competition currently held in Glasgow, Scotland every August. The event has been operating regularly since 1930, when the Scottish Pipe Band Association was formed...
, and sometimes perform in public concerts.
Fiddle
Scottish traditional fiddling encompasses a number of regional styles, including the bagpipe-inflected west Highlands, the upbeat and lively style of Norse-influenced
Shetland IslandsShetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
and the Strathspey and slow airs of the North-East. The instrument arrived late in the 17th century, and is first mentioned in 1680 in a document from
Newbattle AbbeyNewbattle Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which has subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution.-Monastery:...
in
MidlothianMidlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
,
Lessones For Ye Violin.
In the 18th century, Scottish fiddling is said to have reached new heights. Fiddlers like
William MarshallWilliam Marshall is regarded as one of the greatest composers of Scottish fiddle music.Marshall was born in Fochabers, Scotland. He entered the service of the Duke of Gordon, eventually becoming the Factor to the Gordon Estate. James Hunter's The Fiddle Music of Scotland credits Marshall with...
and
Niel GowNiel Gow was the most famous Scottish fiddler and dancie of the eighteenth century.-Biography:...
were legends across Scotland, and the first collections of fiddle tunes were published in mid-century. The most famous and useful of these collections was a series published by
Nathaniel GowNathaniel Gow was the fourth son of Niel Gow, and a celebrated performer, composer and arranger of tunes, songs and other pieces on his own right. He wrote about 200 compositions including the popular "Caller Herrin'".-Early life:...
, one of Niel's sons, and a fine fiddler and composer in his own right. Classical composers such as Charles McLean, James Oswald and
William McGibbonWilliam McGibbon was a Scottish composer and violinist.Born and died in Edinburgh, he was the principal violinist of the Edinburgh Musical Society orchestra. Although a prolific composer, particularly for the flute, recorder and fiddle, only a few of his works are now known.-External links:...
used Scottish fiddling traditions in their
BaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
compositions.
Scottish fiddling is the root of much American folk music, such as Appalachian fiddling, but is most directly represented in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, an island on the east coast of Canada, which received some 25,000 emigrants from the Scottish Highlands during the Highland Clearances of 1780–1850. Cape Breton musicians such as
Natalie MacMasterNatalie MacMaster, CM is an award-winning fiddler from the rural community of Troy in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada who plays Cape Breton fiddle music....
,
Ashley MacIsaacAshley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian professional fiddler from Cape Breton Island.His album Hi™ How Are You Today?, featuring the hit single "Sleepy Maggie", with vocals in Scottish Gaelic by Mary Jane Lamond was released in 1995...
, and
Jerry HollandJerry Holland was a fiddler who lived on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada.He was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, United States to Canadian parents - his father was from New Brunswick and his mother was from Quebec. During his childhood, Jerry was exposed to the music of the large Cape...
have brought their music to a worldwide audience, building on the traditions of master fiddlers such as
Buddy MacMasterHugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster, is one of the most renowned artists in the tradition of Cape Breton fiddle music.-Early life:...
and
Winston Scotty FitzgeraldWinston "Scotty" Fitzgerald was a renowned Cape Breton fiddler. He was a pioneer in recorded performances of the music, and has heavily influenced the style and repertoire of later generations of players....
.
Among native Scots,
Aly BainAly Bain MBE is a Shetland fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. Bain is now considered one of the finest fiddlers in the Scottish tradition. In the early days of his career he formed part of the band The Humblebums with two other ‘unknowns’ Gerry Rafferty and...
and
Alasdair FraserAlasdair Fraser is a Scottish fiddler.Fraser operates Culburnie Records, and is a leading artist on the label. He has founded three summer fiddling programs: the fiddle camp in California , a week-long course on the Isle of Skye and the more recent in California...
are two of the most accomplished, following in the footsteps of influential 20th century players such as
James Scott SkinnerJames Scott Skinner was a Scottish dancing master, violinist, fiddler, and composer.Skinner was born in Banchory, near Aberdeen. His father was a dancing master on Deeside. James was only eighteen months old when his father died. When James was seven, his elder brother, Sandy, gave him lessons in...
, Hector MacAndrew, Angus Grant and
Tom AndersonDr. Tom Anderson MBE, was a renowned Shetland fiddler and teacher. He was affectionately known to his peers as "Muckle Tammie" .Dr...
Iain MacFarlane, Catriona MacDonald, Eilidh Steel, Jenna Reid. The growing number of young professional Scottish fiddlers makes a complete list impossible.
The Annual Scots Fiddle Festival which runs each November showcases the great fiddling tradition and talent in Scotland.
Guitar
The history of the guitar in traditional music is recent, as is that of the
citternThe cittern or cither is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is descended from the Medieval Citole, or Cytole. It looks much like the modern-day flat-back mandolin and the modern Irish bouzouki and cittern...
and
bouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, which in the forms used in Scottish and Irish music only date to the late 1960s. The guitar featured prominently in the folk revival of the early 1960s with the likes of
Archie FisherArchie Fisher MBE is a Scottish folk singer and song writer.-The early years:Archie Fisher was born in Glasgow on 23 October 1939 into a large singing family. His sister Cilla Fisher is also a professional singer, as was his late sister Ray. In 1960 he moved to Edinburgh and appeared regularly at...
,
the CorriesThe Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. Although the group was a trio in the early days, it was as the partnership of Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne that it is best known.-Early years:...
,
Hamish ImlachHamish Imlach was a folksinger. He was born in Calcutta but claimed to have been conceived in Glasgow, Scotland. Although his commercial success was limited he influenced many other artists, including most notably John Martyn and Billy Connolly. In Central and Northern Europe Imlach enjoyed a...
,
Robin HallRobin Hall was a Scottish folksinger.He was born in Edinburgh but spent his childhood years in Glasgow. After studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he briefly became an actor....
and
Jimmie MacGregorJimmie Macgregor is a Scottish folksinger and broadcaster.He was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art, becoming a potter and teacher....
. The virtuoso playing of
Bert JanschHerbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
was widely influential, and the range of instruments was widened by the
Incredible String BandThe Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
. Notable artists include
Tony McManusTony McManus is a Scottish Steel-string guitarist of Irish descent born in Paisley, Scotland. English guitarist John Renbourn described him as "the best Celtic guitarist in the world". His first self-titled album was released in 1996 on Greentrax Recordings...
,
Dave MacIsaacDave MacIsaac is a Canadian musician from Nova Scotia who plays the fiddle and guitar, specialising in the Celtic music style.-Awards and recognition:...
,
Peerie Willie Johnson"Peerie" Willie Johnson was a Scottish folk guitarist and bassist...
and
Dick GaughanRichard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...
. Other notable guitarists in Scottish music scene include
Kris DreverKris Drever is a Scottish contemporary folk musician and songwriter, who came to prominence in 2006 with the release of his debut solo album, Black Water...
of Fine Friday and
LauLau is a contemporary folk three-piece from Scotland, named after an Orcadian word meaning "natural light." The band is composed of Kris Drever , Martin Green and Aidan O’Rourke . To date, the band has released two studio albums and a live album.Their debut album, Lightweights and Gentlemen, was...
, and Ross Martin of Cliar, Daimh and Harem Scarem.
Harp
The harp, or
clarsachClàrsach or Cláirseach , is the generic Gaelic word for 'a harp', as derived from Middle Irish...
, has a long and ancient history in Scotland, and was regarded as the national instrument until it was replaced with the Highland bagpipes in the 15th century. Stone carvings in the East of Scotland support the theory that the harp was present in
PictishThe Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
Scotland well before the 9th century and may have been the original ancestor of the modern European harp and even formed the basis for Scottish pibroch, the folk bagpipe tradition.
Barring illustrations of harps in the 9th century Utrecht psalter, only thirteen depictions exist in Europe of any triangular chordophone harp pre-11th century, and all thirteen of them come from Scotland. Pictish harps were strung from horsehair. The instruments apparently spread south to the Anglo-Saxons, who commonly used gut strings, and then west to the Gaels of the Highlands and to Ireland. The earliest Irish word for a harp is in fact Cruit, a word which strongly suggests a Pictish provenance for the instrument. The surname MacWhirter,
Mac a' Chruiteir, means son of the harpist, and is common throughout Scotland, but particularly in
CarrickCarrick is a former comital district of Scotland which today forms part of South Ayrshire.-History:The word Carrick comes from the Gaelic word Carraig, meaning rock or rocky place. Maybole was the historic capital of Carrick. The county was eventually combined into Ayrshire which was divided...
and
GallowayGalloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
.
The Clàrsach (
Gd.Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
) or Cláirseach (
Ga.Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
) is the name given to the wire-strung
harpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
of either Scotland or Ireland. The word begins to appear by the end of the 14th century. Until the end of the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
it was the most popular musical instrument in Scotland, and harpers were among the most prestigious cultural figures in the courts of Irish/Scottish chieftains and Scottish kings and earls. In both countries, harpers enjoyed special rights and played a crucial part in ceremonial occasions such as coronations and poetic bardic recitals. The Kings of Scotland employed harpers until the end of the Middle Ages, and they feature prominently in royal
iconographyIconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
. Several Clarsach players were noted at the Battle of the Standard (1138), and when Alexander III (died 1286) visited London in 1278, his court minstrels with him, records show payments were made to one Elyas, "King of Scotland's harper."
Three medieval Gaelic harps survived into the modern period, two from Scotland (the Queen Mary Harp and the Lamont Harp) and one in Ireland (the Brian Boru harp), although artistic evidence suggests that all three were probably made in the western Highlands.
The playing of this Gaelic harp with wire strings died out in Scotland in the 18th century and in Ireland in the early 19th century. As part of the late 19th century Gaelic revival, the instruments used differed greatly from the old wire-strung harps. The new instruments had gut strings, and their construction and playing style was based on the larger orchestral pedal harp. Nonetheless the name "clàrsach" was and is still used in Scotland today to describe these new instruments. The modern gut-strung clàrsach has thousands of players, both in Scotland and Ireland, as well as North America and elsewhere. The 1931 formation of the Clarsach Society kickstarted the modern harp renaissance. Recent harp players include
Savourna StevensonSavourna Stevenson is a Scottish clarsach player and composer. While she is identified as an interpreter of Scottish traditional music, she has also made inroads into world music, blues and jazz....
,
Maggie MacInnesMaggie MacInnes is a Scottish folk singer and clàrsach player, who performs primarily in Scottish Gaelic...
, and the band
SileasSíleas is a Scottish harp duo. Patsy Seddon plays electric harp and gut-strung harp, and Mary Macmaster plays electric harp and metal-strung harp. Together they make up part of the all-women folk band The Poozies....
. Notable events include the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, which recently staged the world record for the largest number of harpists to play at the same time.
Tin whistle
One of the oldest tin whistles still in existence is the Tusculum whistle, found with pottery dating to the 14th and 15th centuries; it is currently in the collection of the Museum of Scotland. Today the whistle is a very common instrument in recorded Scottish music. Although few well-known performers choose the tin whistle as their principal instrument, it is quite common for pipers, flute players, and other musicians to play the whistle as well.
Samples
- Download recording of "Na cuperean", a traditional Scottish song from Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
ns in California from the Library of Congress' California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection; performed by Mary A. McDonald on 11 April 1939 in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
See also
- Music Schools in Scotland
Music schools in Scotland are available at several levels. Formal music education begins at 4½ years and can progress as high as postgraduate studies. Education in Scotland is a responsibility of the Scottish Government...
- Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
- Hector the Hero
"Hector the Hero" is a classic lament penned by Scottish composer and fiddler James Scott Skinner in 1903. It was written as a tribute to Major-General Hector MacDonald, a distinguished Scottish general around the turn of the century...
- World Wide List of Pipe Bands
- Temple Records
- Scottish Baroque music
Scottish Baroque music is a style of music that combines features of traditional Scottish music and European classical music. It originated in Scotland in the 18th century, before there was a clear distinction between folk and concert traditions...
- Gaelic music
Gaelic music is an umbrella term forthe folk music of the Scottish Highlands and of Ireland . It has also been used for any music written in the Gaelic languages of Scottish Gaelic and Irish. Gaelic music could thus be seen as a type of Celtic music....
- Scottish Gaelic punk
Scottish Gaelic Punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which bands sing some or all of their music in Scottish Gaelic. The Gaelic punk scene is, in part, an affirmation of the value of minority languages and cultures...
- Scottish hip-hop
Scottish hip-hop is the Scottish manifestation of the hip hop culture, comprising the five elements of MCing, DJing, beatboxing, graffiti and b-boying.-History:In the 1980s the elements of hip hop culture had spread to Scotland...
- Ailein duinn
Ailein duinn is a traditional Scottish song for solo female voice, a lament that was written in Gàidhlig for Ailean Moireasdan by his fiancée, Annag Chaimbeul . In 1788, Ailean, a sailor, set off with his ship to Scalpay, Harris, where he and Annag would be married...
External links