Siobhan Wilson at Mugstock

The lovely Siobhan Wilson captivated with her floating engrossing voice at Mugstock festival - when she was joined on stage for Dylan’s 'Spanish Leather' by traditional singer and her good mate Alastair Ogilvie.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/siobhan-wilson/

Scottish summer festivals 2015

 - Party at the Palace, Linlithgow -  8th to 9th August. Headliners - Travis, Nile Rodgers, Julie Fowlis, Justin Currie, The Feeling, 

http://www.partyatthepalace.co.uk/ 

- The Stopover Festival, Rothiemurchus Cairngorms (NEW) - 31st July and 1st August.  Headlined by Mumford & Sons and their new album. Also with Primal Scream, The Maccabees, Ben Howard, Lianne La Havas and Honeyblood will also be performing at the 25,000-ticket event.  http://www.gentlemenoftheroad.com/stopovers/aviemore/

-  Boswell Book Festival -  the World's Only Festival of Biography and Memoir. May 10th at Dumfries house  Ayrshire. Jung Chang, author of international bestseller Wild Swans (yet to be published in China) will talk about her remarkable life, family and works. Plus many more authors.

'Moa ordered the flowers pulled up from the ground; Empress Cixi wore them in her hair.'

http://www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk/

- Mugstock Festival (new), at Mugdock country park north of Milngavie - 7th to 9th August.  Orkestra del Sol, Preston Reid, Siohban Wilson.   http://www.mugstock.org/

- Pittenweem Arts festival, 1st to 19th August.  http://www.pittenweemartsfestival.co.uk/

 

Other festivals include  -  Belladrum Tartan heart festival 6th - 8th August west of Inverness.  Kaiser Chiefs, Manic Street Preacher, Proclaimers.  http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/

 Wickerman in Ayrshire with the Waterboys. Sadly no Rockness in 2015. 

T In The Park, the biggest weekend Scottish summer festival, has now moved to a new site at Strathallan Castle, while there are problems with ospreys nests.  http://www.tinthepark.com/

 

Mugdock Music Festival 2009

This year the festival was held in a marquee in the walled garden, which seemed much simpler while missing the activities in the courtyard. The Mugdock festival brought together a broad range and depth of artists and had a strong international flavour. The Shawlands, Chinese and belly dancer dance groups brought colour. The flamenco dancers and musicians brought energy and colourful African drums with Arawarra. Seylan Baxter and Cheyanne Brown played their warm flowing harp and cello tunes. The Sighthill Project was a fresh, well taught group of talented youngsters from different countries, who sing and play violin together.

Headlining this year were John McCusker, Michel Marra, and the Battlefield band. The Battlefield band played a fun energy-filled set of Scottish tunes. McCusker. Woomble and Drever, three talented artists plus Heidi Talbot, have joined forces to produce a class album of contemporary tunes with folk influences. To our delight Scottish singing royalty Eddi Reader turned up and sang on a couple of songs with the group! 

Some artists are both unassuming and also brimming with talent and they play intelligent, insightful and instinctive music. Michael Marra and John McCusker both fall into the category in different ways. McCusker has that ability to sink into the emotion and grip you with his music through his expressive dynamic fiddle playing.

 

Michael Marra at Mugdock theatre

When he arrived at Mugdock he discovered the perfect small theatre. The theatre is fairly new and seats about 50 in a tiered semi circle and with a shiny grand piano to the left of the small stage. There is one side entrance and the door to the back stage room. It has been built with music lovers in mind. 

I managed a chat with Marra and he appeared to recognise me from last year. I sense he doesn’t miss a beat. He had his green shirt laid out on the side table and he said how much he loved the Mugdock theatre and the beautiful piano. You could feel his excitement. Last year in 2008 he said he had travelled through the rain and the winding country roads wondering where he was coming to. 

Marra's is unforgettable playing the small Murdock theatre. His songs are both very humorous (as is his chat) and insightful and his clever use of words and images in his songs, he takes himself into the others heads. There are echoes of his poet and musical hero, Bob Dylan. He cleverly uses humour and irony to describe the truths of the diversity of human nature. He draws on Dundee his home town often and of the football team Dundee United FC. All eyes are fixed on Marra throughout. 

Marra finished with the Robert Burn's song Green Grow the Rashes O and his smile said it all. For his encore he sang a beautiful, moving song, He talked about an uncle he never knew who died and about family being in the huff with each other 

He sang the words, ‘Did you forget the world and did the world forget you?’ 

You could feel Marra’s joy of it after his encore song. A perfect ending to the Saturday.

Whenever I think of the special audience connection this has to be the perfect small venue where that magic can happen. Buckley calls it the 'romance of the small venue'. 

MUGDOCK Music Festival 2008

The second Mugdock music festival June 2008 was a big success with sell out events for the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Michael Marra.

The Walled Garden Concerts - were a huge success. On Saturday the perfect harmonies of Prelude from Newcastle ( hit song Neil Young's the Goldrush) After which the Red hot Chilli Pipers rocked it with their pipes and drums and had the crowd on their feet. The Chilli Pipers are talented young men who can play those pipes! AND also dance and rock with the addition of a rock band. They had lots of colour and personality, and the crowd loved them. Their music ranges from the Beatles to traditional Scots tunes. The Chilli Pipers were followed by the colourful Massia Warriors in brightly decorated costumes who managed to smile their way through the rain (which started during their set) and  with jumping and getting the audience involved asking them questions. 

On Sunday the East Dunbartonshire Swing band brought jazz and sunshine, followed by the fun West African beats of smiling Samba Sene and Diwan, and the Beats of Brazil.

For the FREE Courtyard event we had a marquee this year, and it buzzed all afternoon on both the Saturday and Sunday with a strong line-up and variety of artists and dancers. The dancers brought colour and drama and included flowing Chinese, stately Indians and the power of Flamingo. Ben the Hoose from New Zealand (winners of the traditional album). Two young men originally from Scotland on fiddle and guitar who played some top tunes and got everyone’s feet tapping. Ayawarra with funky African drums had the children dancing on the stage. Great fun.

Seylan and Cheyanne played their classic traditional music on harp and cello along with Seylan's rich vocal. The refuges children of the Sighthill Project were a delight both singing and playing their fiddles. Plus festival director Erne Parkin and the Crossborder band entertained with upbeat folk/bluegrass song.  http://pkimage.co.uk/mudockfestival2008

MICHAEL MARRA at Mugdock Festival theatre

The theatre highlight was Michael Marra. Marra is a Scottish songwriting legend from Dundee. Out of this small grey haired man with the weather beaten face came this huge gravely voice and clever songs, with a strong Scottish and American favour to them. With his clever wit and playful way with words, his songs talk about the eccentricities of the Scottish character. He writes about women’s choirs, meeting artist Freda Kahlo at the pearly gates -well more exactly at a pub on the Tay Bridge because she’s held up! He sang ‘If Dundee was Africa’ ‘Maggie Shae’ ‘Wa can Tell the Difference’ Jersey Kitchen Partner’ ‘Hamish’ and Dylan’s ‘Tomorrow wasn’t such along Time’. He’s the real deal! He finished his set with a perfect version of a Burns classic - ‘Green Grow the Rashes O’

While Marra’s voice draws from jazz, blues, pop and folk with the likes of Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Dylan, he keeps it essentially Scottish in flavour. In 1985 he released his solo album, Gaels Blue, on his own label. .’.

MARRA's music is soaked in the Scottish experience, strained through a gauze of ragtime blues-piano and shot with filaments of traditional folk and American voices ... ‘; Scotland on Sunday

Mugdock Music Festival 2007

The Festival brought young and old, Indian and Scot, European and African together in a celebration of world, modern, classical, traditional music, and ‘jazzy Afro grooves!’ The festival braved many hazards also fFrom wind, rain, midges, accidents and more ….. so that music from the cool of Norway to the warm breezes of Africa might bring us all together. We had Chinese and Indian dancers, Scottish and Gaelic singers and pipers, Norwegian songs, fiddlers and African drums. The headliners were Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), Caledon the three tenors, and world famous fiddler Ali Bain and Alle Muller.

Friday Concert - June 2007. This evening we had Erne’s Crossborder band, who combine English and Scottish folk and with Harry on tamblas and a cello player who were followed by the local Milngavie pipe band and the Islay choir

Saturday The Courtyard, Peter Donegan’s (son of Lonnie) upbeat skiffle band. The central hub of the festival was the Courtyard stage at the historic visitors Centre which staged a wide variety with colourful dancers, cool classical music, traditional Celtic and atmospheric Jewish wedding music, upbeat Scottish drummers, cheerful Barbershop, children’s choirs and enthusiastic young Indians.

Saturday Afternoon concert. Seylan and Cheyanne, Cheyanne on harp played delicate yet energetic rhythms that were like waterfalls that counterpointed perfectly to Seylan’s deep toned cello melodies. The band Caledon were next and included Alan Beck, Jamie MacDougall and Ivan Sharpe and they belted out Scottish songs, with Burns, traditional and modern tunes.

Saturday Evening Concert was a Night of Contrasts and a classy concert of Scottish traditional music and African rhythms. Fribo from Edinburgh, bean the evening with serene, innovative sounds, and they blend Scandinavian and Scottish music traditions, combined with a positive feel for contemporary sounds and rhythms.

Lovely Gaelic singer Karen Matheson was engaging with a beautiful, natural purity to her  voice, that takes you on a calm breeze. Karen sang Gaelic, Burns and modern songs. She has been hailed as the ‘finest Gaelic singer. She was followed by Diwan and Samba Sene, and their wild, infectious vitality and a chaotic stage presence, both loose and ragged, that added to their laid back yet upbeat feel. Diwan band members play African percussion instruments and are from Senegal, Mali, Colorado and Scotland. Catch them if you can!

Sunday - The Courtyard,  .
The Sighthill Project ,were enchanting and were led by two former RSAMD students. They consisted of asylum seekers and refugees from the likes of Kosovo, Albania, Ski-Lanka and Africa. They played Scottish and Irish traditional music.  They were followed by Two’s Company: a classical trio from Edinburgh, that included violin, piano ,clarinet and cello.  Vivien Scotson provided a contrast as a solo singer songwriter with only her acoustic guitar, her soul-searching voice and her emotive songs. Sunday afternoon concert, was led by accomplished players Ali Bain and Ali Moller on the bandstand stage. Here were two musicians, one the master of traditional Shetland music, the other on mandolin, an accomplished Norwegian musician. Ali Bain’s fiddle music has an unsurpassed clearness and a lyrical beauty.

The new festival included many accomplished, entertaining, diverse and interesting artists, performing both traditional and new music. From the expert and world travelled Ali Bain to enthusiastic young singers. We had two bands bringing together Norwegian and Scottish traditional music. One band, Diwan, that brought artists together from around the globe – from the USA, Mali, Senegal and Scotland. We had the two main stages, the Courtyard and the Walled Garden. The Highlights for me were the energy of Diwan, the beauty of Karen Matheson’s voice, the expert traditional violin of Ali Bain and the innocence and joy of the Sighthill project.

MUGDOCK -  http://pkimage.co.uk/mugdockfestival

Mugdock 2008 -

http://www.musicfootnotes.com/2009/12/mugdock-music-festival-2008.html

Mugdock festival 2009 -

http://www.musicfootnotes.com/2009/12/mugdock-music-festival-2009.html