Duncan Chisholm will play BURNS Gregg fiddle New York!

Duncan Chisholm, 

one of Scotland’s acclaimed fiddlers and composers, will play Scotland’s poet Robert Burn's Greg fiddle at the Hoolie at Carnegie hall New York this April

 

I took this photo when Chisholm was playing with Su a Lee for her Celtic Connections concert to celebrate her album Dialogues.

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Scotlands-Hoolie-in-New-York-0800PM 

  

An 18th Century fiddle linked to Robert Burns is to be used again for two special concerts.The Gregg fiddle - believed to have been owned by the poet's dance teacher - will be played at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow and Carnegie Hall in New York, 

It is usually on display in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway but will be loaned thanks to a collaboration between the Hoolie in the Hydro concert series and the National Trust for Scotland. The Gregg fiddle, dating from 1750, belonged to William Gregg and is thought to have been played at the Bachelors club Tarbolton where Burns was learning dance steps. 

Hoolie in the Hydro organiser and broadcaster Gary Innes said the two gigs would be a "landmark occasion. Robert Burns is an unparalleled figure within Scotland’s culture, so to be able to bring part of his legacy to the Hoolie stages, both at home and across the Atlantic, is remarkable. I hope it will create a moment of magic for both the musicians and our audiences.”

Two of Scotland’s most accomplished players - Ewen Henderson and Duncan Chisholm - will perform using the intricately decorated instrument.  Duncan has travelled to the museum in Alloway to learn the intricacies of playing the instrument. The event will then cross the Atlantic next year for an event held as part of New York's Tartan Week celebrations on 5 April.

Edinburgh International Festival 2025 announced

 

This years theme is “the Truth We Seek”

Now for the first time in its 75 year history run by both a scot and a woman. 

 

In our present world of chaos and uncertainties, Edinburgh festival cultural celebrations bring offerings of light and hopes. The festival offers several Scottish premiers. 

 

 Succession actor Brian Cox appears in theatre show, Make it Happen. 

 

Shakespeare’s As You Like is a Radical Retelling

 

Scottish ballet’s Mary Queen of Scots

 

Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, opera in concert

 

Our 2025 Edinburgh International Festival invites you to explore The Truth We Seek — a journey into the elusive nature of truth, in our personal and public lives.      Nicola Benedetti, Festival Director

 

TICKETS on sale - https://www.eif.co.uk/

 

TOP FOLK songs

 

My TOP FOLK songs

Jock O Hazeldean, Walter Scott

The Blacksmith, traditional

Ye Banks and Braes, Robert Burns

Westlin Winds, Robert Burns

Gently Does It, Rab Noakes

Scotland Yet, Davy Steele

Garden Valley, Dougie MacLean

 

Both Sides Now, Joni MItchell

The Times they are a changing, Bob Dylan

Poetry Shapes Us

 

While Burns loved the lassies, his legacy is much deeper and more wide-ranging poetically than his love life. Some of his songs are so familiar, perhaps we can overlook his literary significance – both of his time and of ours.  The musicality of his song writing and poems, is unmatched and many famous poets and songsmiths name Burns as a favourite writer– from Bob Dylan to Wordsworth. 

In his short life he touched hearts, wrote of the worth of man (and woman), respect for the natural world, of freedom fighters, and he was a man o independent mind. 

 

“Poetry hold s mirror to a nations heart and soul. “ Jackie Key

“Its the language of being human” 

 

 *Famous Scots Poems 20^th century 

 

Memo for Spring - Liz Lochead

Drunk man looks at a Thistle – Hugh MacDiarmid

In my Country – Jackie Kay

A Man in Assynt – Norman McCaig

 

Gaelic Song

A rare beauty, or the big sky of Lewis. 

Gaelic poems were songs, tunes and words intertwined. The connections to place.

  

Norman McCaig

“Who owns this landscape – has it anything to do with love? Even the dead are part of it. Land is a character…Landscape is my religion, I feel at home. My substitute for religion and politics.“

 

Drunk man looks at a thistle – Hugh MacDiarmid – Where extremes meet

His poem, revolutionized Scots poetry ’to be yoursell” 

“He showed us that small nations are better than large ones, and the possibility of a new Scotland.” Alan Riach. “A revolutionary vision of what society can be. To rethink the Burns cult for a multi-faceted identity. Language matters.”