Author: simonchadwick

Alan Brown’s cappuccino concert is on 28th October, not as previously stated here the 21st. Sorry for any confusion.

Doors 10.30 for coffee and newspapers (donations to cover costs). Concert starts 11am, finishes around 12. Admission is £5. Upstairs in Dundee Central Library, DD1 1DB. See you on Saturday 28th!

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library, Dundee DD1 1DB

Lunchtime Recital with Jim & Kate Taylor!

Wednesday 4th October, 1.15pm Admission free.

For our October Lunchtime Recital we are delighted to welcome two stalwarts of the Scottish traditional music scene Jim & Kate Taylor and their extensive repertoires of old songs and bothy ballads of the northeast.

Jim Taylor was born near Garlogie where he still lives, and is a retired Quantity Surveyor. A nephew of the late King of the Bothy Ballads, Tam Reid, Jim is keeping Tam’s songs going as well as a few others. He is in great demand as a compere, which allows his native North East humour to shine through, and he has been a guest at several singing festivals throughout the UK and Ireland.

Kate Taylor started singing at the tender age of 40 and has not stopped since. She is passionately fond of traditional singing and has been influenced mainly by Sheila Stewart, Elizabeth Stewart and Jane Turriff. Kate is a member of the Aberdeen Folk Club and the Aberdeen Branch of the TMSA, and she has also been a guest at several folk festivals and singing weekends where her fine voice and sense of fun have won her many fans.

Lunchtime recitals   Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library, DD1 1DB, 1.15pm
 Admission free – retiring collection

4 Oct    Kate and Jim Allen, singers
1 Nov    Sylvia Crawford harp and fiddle
6 Dec    Wighton Singers
10 Jan   Shamblestones
7 Feb    Lorraine Wilson singer

Cappuccino Concerts
Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library, DD1 1DB
Admission £5
Coffee and newspapers served from 10.30am – suggested donation £1
Concert runs 11am to 12 noon

16th Sep:       Bob Stewart 
28th  Oct           Alan Brown singer/songwriter
18th Nov    Wilma Kennedy, Gaelic song
25th Nov;        Zakia and Farrah Fawcett
20 Jan ’18     Simon Kempston, singer
24th Feb:       Sandy Brechin  Ewan Wilkinson,  accordionist and singer/guitarist17th Mar:      Heather Innes, singer
28th April:    The Quiggs, Scottish / Danish folksong duo

Classes 
in the Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library, DD1 1DB

every Tuesday
Scots song with Sheena Wellington 2.00 pm
Suitable for beginners – just turn up

every Saturday
fiddle 
11.00am-12.3opm

every Saturday
whistle with Helen Forbes 12.30-2.00pm
Whistles can be provided

Most Saturdays
harp with Simon Chadwick 2.00-3.30pm
Suitable for beginners – just turn up
harps are available for use in class and also for long-term rental

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library, Dundee DD1 1DB

Cappuccino Concert with Bob Stewart!

Saturday 16th September, 11am (doors open 10.30am)

Admission £5 (tea/coffee available for small charge)

Bob Stewart has been entertaining delighted audiences for over 25 years and plays a variety of Scottish/Celtic and contemporary acoustic music. Bob’s performances are a very lively affair with a mixture of traditional and original material, a driving acoustic guitar sound, bodhran, whistle and mandolin (not all at the same time) and humour!

Bob has been a full time musician since 1989 and has played in several bands touring Scotland and Europe before going solo in 2007.  He has appeared on many successful albums over the years and has a new solo album due for release in Summer 2017 (album pre-orders will be available from June).

Bob has also performed for the BBC on local and national Radio and TV. 

He has worked with many top folk acts including appearing on stage at the Fochabers festival, guesting on bodhran, with the Battle Field Band. During this performance, Bob had to stuff the bodhran with guitar string packaging as the damp atmosphere had slackened the skin! Bob has worked in the studio with Ian McCalman who was a big influence throughout the years as well as Tich Frier, Andy Ramage, The Gaberlunzie, Blackeyed Biddy, Sheena Wellington and too many more to mention.

Bob has appeared with bands and solo at many festivals including, The Edinburgh Fringe, The Orkney Folk Festival, the Coastal Fringe Festival and he had the privilege to perform at the very first Fochabers festival……

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library, Wellgate, Dundee DD1 1DB

Saturday 18th February 2017, 11am (doors open 10.30am)

Cappuccino Concert   with  Andrew Gordon, Scottish Traditional Singer

Andrew Gordon’s music features a rich mix of traditional and contemporary Scottish songs.  (Some Irish, Canadian and English tunes also make it into the set!)

Andrew has been a folkie for as long as he can remember.  Brought up listening to the music of The Corries, Andrew developed a deep love of Traditional (and not so traditional) folk music.  He started playing when he was 13 and had his first solo performance at 17 supporting Gaberlunzie in The Kings Arms, Perth in 1994.

Like many Scottish musicians, Andrew remembers the days when the family and neighbours would gather at Hogmanay, to drink, sing songs, and make merry.  It was this community aspect that first led Andrew to get involved, and he became a regular at sessions around Perthshire in his early career. Things really began to take off for Andrew in 1999 when he played his first overseas gigs, visiting San Francisco and racking up 9 gigs in 3 weeks.

Andrew steadily increased his profile, and the opportunity to live and play in North America proved too exciting to turn down and Andrew moved across the pond in 2004. Over 18 months he performed all over Ontario, Michigan and Indiana.  On returning to Scotland in 2005 Andrew picked up where he left off, and started building a touring schedule in Europe. Andrew now performs in Germany several times each year, and is a regular at Stadthalle Gladbeck, Hermannsburg Highland Games, Folkival Festival in Nurtingen and the Kutschenmuseum Gescher as well as venues in Stuttgart, Wezlar, Grevenbroich, Hagen, Altena, Borken, Bremen, Celle, Bad Fallingbostel and Esslingen. He also has annual trips to Norway and Denmark.  Andrew has also been lucky enough to perform with Skerryvore and The Red Hot Chilli Pipers in Scotland, and with Sean Cannon from The Dubliners at Stadthalle Borken.

Folkingcool.co.uk said there was something compelling about Andrew’s music and passion.  Fellow musician Brian Higgins has always been a fan of the “robust” rhythms on both guitar and bodhran that Andrew uses to accompany his distinctive and passionate singing.  Andrew believes that one of the reasons audiences get behind his music is that he “gives it some welly”.

Tickets  £5  at door, tea/coffee available for small donation

The Friends of Wighton will host two Cappuccino Concerts and a Lunchtime Recital to round off what has been a very memorable year!

First up, on Saturday 19th November,  Mary Ann Kennedy and long-time musical collaborator Finlay Wells who will reveal some brand-new material from two forthcoming albums in a series of intimate concerts. ‘Glaschu’ – a lovesong to her urban Gàidhealtachd home town, and ‘An Dàn’ – a unique collection of original Gaelic songwriting by Mary Ann and some of Scotland’s finest poest – are scheduled for release in 2017. Join Mary Ann and Finlay to be among the first to hear these very special songs.

An urban Gael from multi-cultural Glasgow, Mary Ann Kennedy’s life has been one of music. A younger member of the ‘first family of Gaelic music’, her earliest memories are of a home filled with songs of community, history, work and worship from their exile island of Skye.

A hothouse classical training – and a brief diversion running the BBC’s Gaelic news service – sees her today as musician, singer, broadcaster, conductor, composer and producer, based at her creative Highland hub, Watercolour Music. 

On Saturday 26th, the Cappuccino Concert will feature Abercraig!  This group of young musicians were brought together by Friends of Wighton tutor Karen Hannah to appear at the MG Alba Scots Music Trad Awards in the Caird Hall on 3rd December.  The youngsters, ranging in age from 6 to 17, hail from Dundee, Angus, Perthshire and Fife and have been working hard with Karen, Kevin Findlay, Paul Anderson and MoragAnne Elder.  

Why Abercraig?  One of the last two ‘Fifies’ which linked both sides of the Tay before the Road Bridge opened 50 years ago!

And last event of theyear is the Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 7th December, 1.15pm – 1.45pm with the traditional performance by The Wighton Singers.  The Singers have had a busy year giving performances in day centres, churches and the University of Dundee’s Baxter Suite. Their programme will feature seasonal and traditional Scots songs laced with their usual warmth and  good humour.

As always doors open for the Cappuccino Concert at 10.30am, tickets £5, and you can enjoy refreshments (available for a small donation) and enjoy a newspaper before the concert starts at 11am,

Lunchtime Recital, 1.15pm – 1.45pm,  is free, donations for the work of Friends of Wighton welcome.