Piped Music

These days we listen to a great deal of piped music - or rather piped sound and extremely random playlists some random person (or machine?) came up with.

The worst I have heard is in Asda, and it is so bad it puts me off shopping there except with my music player in my ears. The piped artificial sound is irritating and mind numbingly bad.

M & S play 60s or 70s nostalgia for its aging clientele - which irritates also. I am older but I enjoy new music too, I don't like to be reminded of my age! 

People used to hear their music live - played by real instruments at their local or orchestra's in the park or singers at the theatre.

'Music' has become a a cheap commodity and when broken down into bite sized chunks it becomes like cheap sliced white bread or cheap chocolate - it may pretend to nourish our souls but really is instantly forgettable.

The sensible shops offer no annoying backdrop play lists. Some restaurants offer 70s or 80s songs, probably cheaper than new ones!  .

The best playlists I've heard is up at a lovely independently owned bar /restaurant in Callander who play lesser known folk artists and ceilidh bands.

**The Scottish Enlightenment

**The Scottish Enlightenment ** I have been busy researching the 'Scottish Enlightenment' – and there is so much to be proud of with figures such as David Hume and Buchanan.  I studied Higher History at school in Edinburgh, where we studied the Tudor and Stuart kings and 17th century European history - and yet I NEVER heard anything of the 'Scottish Enlightenment' until my son studied philosophy here!  I was astonished to hear of the connections between the Scottish Enlightenment, the Declaration of Arbroath and the American Declaration of Independence. Which seriously makes me question why we only learn of the dull and duller kings and not the great thinkers, creators or inventors?

   

It is a journey of the roots of liberty and of radical political thought, the Arbroath Declaration of Independence (1370); Scotland's Education Act (1496 and also 1616) which meant everyone should be taught to read the Bible and was revolutionary thinking - all helped to pave the way for future democracies. In France Voltaire said "we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization," 

'The Scottish Invention of America, Democracy and Human Rights': The History of Liberty and Freedom from the Ancient Celts to the New Millennium (2004). By Dr. Alexander Leslie Klieforth and Dr. Robert John Munro. 1300 BC to 2004 AD.  The book is the first historical analysis of the doctrine of the 'consent of the governed'  by the medieval scholar John Duns Scotus (c1265-1308), the Scholastic Theologian and Philosopher of the Friars Minor, the Franciscans, and derived from 'Celtic' traditions of rule amongst the Scots. The authors write that the roots of liberty originated in the radical political thought of the ancient Celts, the Scots’ struggles for freedom, John Duns Scotus and the Arbroath Declaration (1320), a tradition traceable through the writings of Buchanan, Knox and Frances Hutcheson and a tradition that influenced Locke and the English Whigs theorists and our Founding Fathers - Jefferson, Madison, Wilson and Witherspoon.  

The book is an alternative to the traditional Anglocentric view that freedom, democracy and human rights descended only from John Locke and England of the 1600s.  John Duns Scotus, studied at Oxford, Paris, and Cologne, major centres for scholars of Western Christendom.  In the Scots adoption of his ideas, they were not alone and they shared a larger heritage. They also state that there was a rich exchange of ideas in the 17th century between the traders of Norfolk, Flanders, the Duchy of Burgundy, North Italian Cities, Cologne, Hamburg and parts of the Hanseatic League.

Key Figures - John Duns Scotus (1290s), Frances Hutcheson (1694 – 1746), David Hume (1711 – 1776), Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), John Locke (1632 – 1704)

Scotland showed that through education for all we developed an enriched and enlightened country where reasoned thought held sway rather than brute force. Scotland was a world leader in medicine, the sciences, law, education, philosophy, economics, engineering and more. The culture was based around knowledge, books, discussions and rational thought.     

I attended an informed talk on the Scottish Enlightenment by top Scottish historian Tom Devine - The Road Ahead. He talked of - 'The Land Divided The Sea United'  - My Blog here - 
http://yesforscotland.blogspot.co.uk/the-road-ahead-prestige-lecture.html

We stand on the brink of a momentous decision to restore our voice again.   http://yesforscotland.blogspot.co.uk/

Music 2014

I forgot to write about new music. I'm enjoying 'The Head and Heart' from Seattle, whose Oran Mor gig was very good. (new album Let’s Be Still)

Very good gig though and the audience were really up for it. Also some excellent gigs at the Milngavie folk club - although in folk I am worried that all the Scottish folk legends are over sixty now and I'm not sure who there is from the younger generation to replace the likes of Dick Gaughan or Rab Noakes.

I admire Karine Polwart and Inge Thomson though and RM Hubbert was certainly excellent supporting Mogwai. Justin Currie (with Del Amitri ) was wonderful at the Hydro in January at Celtic (he's not so young either). But otherwise? Many of the younger singer songwriters lack substance, character or depth.

Poalo Nutini? I watched him on Jools Holland last night and he has come on since the early contrived pop of his first album, and much respect to him. 

I've been listening to Canadian Sarah McLachlan, who has written some top quality songs and is great live. She has a new 2014 album out Shine On. I'm a fan.

With the age of the internet I prefer to find my own music. I don’t wish to follow what is promoted at me.

Otherwise I go back for my Dylan or folk fix - with a bit of the Stones or Stevie Nicks thrown in. Karine's new album ‘Traces’ is very good, with lovely textures (recorded by her husband drummer Mattie Foulds).   

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Highland Cathedral

Pipers at Edinburgh Castle

For a new anthem for Scotland my votes on the tune Highland Cathedral with new words - 'The Highlands Call on eagles wings...' This tune is stirring and uplifting ....and nothing much beats the pipes, but adding the strings of the orchestra makes it easier to sing to.

I went in search of a good version on YouTube. Loved this version with the orchestra adding that extra depth -  oh wish they might play this at the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014 ( and not Flower of Scotland!)  Check it here -

https://www.youtube.com/highlandcathedral

I agree with many that Flower of Scotland now sounds out-dated and even slightly bitter. We need a forward looking more positive and inspired song. This is not about sending the English homeward - its about an inclusive and confident way forward for all who wish to live in Scotland. When I lived abroad I did used to think of the pipes and the Highlands and those damp misty mornings. 

Where the highlands call home on eagles’ wings,

And where heathers always bloom,

I will always be true

 To the highlands that are calling home for me.   

By many bonny lochs and rugged wild shorelines, 
Misty mornings and wide open spaces, 
My heart will always be  
Where the highlands are calling home for me.