Well, it certainly got our attention when we got the request to provide the music for a joint birthday party for Sarah and Sam.

“It’s to be held in a tattie-shed,” Sarah casually remarked when Andy spoke to her after getting the enquiry from AMPdj.

OK, unphased as ever, Andy played along.

“Fine,” says Andy, “I’ll need to have electricity though - a power supply.”

“No problem,” replied Sam.

Now, it’s part of Andy’s routine to check out every new venue before an event. He wants to know the logistics of the place – ease of access; how big the actual hall is so that he can guage the amount of equipment he will need; stairs; is there a dedicated stage area etc. He likes to have every eventuality covered so there are no surprises or avoidable hitches on the day/night.

It’s fair to say, then, that he was a little bit apprehensive  as he made his way to the location given by Sam.

Don’t get us wrong, he’d have gone ahead (and has done in the past) in a barn as long as it had a power supply, but imagine his shock when he got to the address and found not a dilapidated old shed, smelling of earth and wellie-boots, but a huge modern steel framed metal structure, more like an aircraft hangar, with a smoothe concrete floor!

Wow, was he impressed!

So, on the night of the disco, he had one of the easiest set-ups ever, and he was like a wee laddie because he was able to give his brand new amps a thorough testing, as well as seeing his light show transform the inside of the ‘arena’. (Check it out on our Facebook page.)

The hosts had added some nice lighting touches of their own, with coloured paper lanterns and tubs decorated with string lights.

Did that “shed” bounce!

The guests came from far and wide and, as happens on such occasions when you haven’t seen people in years, quite some time was spent at the start with folk condensing the major events of their lives into bite-size chunks to divulge in groups over drinks and nibbles.

Then they got down to the serious business of the dancing and they did themselves and Andy’s library of tracks proud until the wee sma hours. He’d still be there yet if the guests had had their way!

Andy enjoys every occasion like it’s his own event, but some are extra special. This one is definitely on that list.

And the only “tatties” in sight were the ones in the tattie salad!

A half-hour devoted to Scottish music and dancing, led by the then well-known face of Andy Stewart, decked out in his kilt and a boyish grin. Presumably it was the Stewart tartan but, since it transmitted in black and white the exact tartan was left to the imagination.

During each episode, which followed a very distinct formula, you could be sure that Andy would sing a Scots song or two and the dancers, led by Dixie Ingram, would entertain with their interpretation of a Scottish dance – not one you would see in any country dance hall or get-together, being too stylised for comfort but, nevertheless, an artistic manoeuvre displaying their fitness to perfection.

Whether or not you agreed with this brand of “Scottishness” is irrelevant. What they were doing was broadcasting (and perpetuating) a myth about what Scotland and, consequently, its people are all about. They became weel-kent faces on national television as the programme lasted for some years and had a good following, part of the reason for this being the sense of community it depicted – a oneness we could all share in and have a bit of fun and laughter and, even in your own living-room, join in, with the singing at least, if not the dancing.

Each time, Andy would finish off the programme by singing Haste Ye Back (We Loue Ye Dearly) which, of course, perpetuated the camaraderie image.

Maybe they all fought likes cats and dogs once the cameras were turned off but, for those thirty minutes, harmony prevailed.

Last night (January 25) was Burns Night and BBC Alba aired a programme entitled Burns and the Nashville Lassies recorded last October (according to BBC Alba’s website info) at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Great, we thought. We’ve always been exponents of the belief that Burns is open to interpretation – the more the merrier. That’s why his appeal endures. We’ve stated before that the best televised tribute we’ve seen in recent years was one where Maya Angelouwas invited to a Scottish Burns Night celebration. To see the annually-repeated formula played out again through her eyes was fantastic and so emotional.

Now, everyone knows about Burns’ fondness for the lassies, and the line-up for this latest programme was outstanding. Heading the bill was Beth Nielsen Chapman – a great favourite of ours.  We didn’t manage to see her when we visited Nashville a few years back, but we did catch her on a tour of the UK, when she did a concert at the SECC in Glasgow. That was such a fantastic evening. (She’s due to play The Queens Hall, Edinburghon March 24, 2013. Get your tickets now.)

The Scottish contingent included Tayside’s Laura McGhee and the Isle of Barra’s Cathy Ann MacPhee, resplendent in her sequined dress, who sang a Gaelic version of Green Grow the Rashes, after first apologising to her audience, in English, for singing it in a language most of them would not understand.

Fair enough. No one who is a Burns’ fan should need a crib sheet for this one – and we’ve been to a Julie Fowlis concert where the Gaelic did not put us off enjoying the entertainment for its musicality alone.

However, she chose an unusual version which meant that even Beth had trouble keeping up with although, obviously, she wasn’t singing in Gaelic!

Part of the feeling of community at a Scots gathering such as a Burns Night celebration is the fact that you can sing along with the artistes and this was a small enough gathering that it wouldn’t have been a problem and would have helped gel the performers with the audience more. You know yourself – when you hear a well-known song while you’re shopping in a store or supermarket, you find yourself humming along. It makes you feel good … until you realise you ‘re actually singing aloud, to the astonishment of the other shoppers!

So, this didn’t work for us. Nothing wrong in translating Burns into other languages – it’s been done very well – but not to be performed to an audience whose knowledge of the language is limited or non-existent.  You break the thread of association. The audience applause was stilted. Perhaps they were as disappointed as we were.

If they (and you) want to hear a perfect performance of this poignant song, sung as it should be, listen to Michael Marra’srendition performed at the Celtic Connections Concert in Glasgow in January 2009. Sadly, Michael died in October last year. He will be very sadly missed. A tribute concert, entitled All Will Be Well, will be held for him at this year’s event. It’s a sell-out.

And all could have been well with Beth’s performance of Braes of Killiecrankie had she been given better tuition in pronouncing the Scots words. We were cringeing at some and totally dumfoonert (or bumbazed) at others.

We’re not saying this was entirely her fault. She must have relied on someone’s advice and singing in a language which is not your mither tongue is difficult.

Scots isn’t a difficult language to learn. It’s spoken every day by Scots people in every corner of the world, perhaps without them realising it. A word or two will creep into their conversation which will immediately identify them to any fellow Scot.

Children here don’t realise they are speaking Scots until it is pointed out to them. Gone are the days when Scots was left at the school gate, where it waited patiently for you to return at 3.45 p.m. to pick it up and play around with it at home. A bit like the family pet.

The real Scots language seems to reside in the works of writers of poetry these days. It is still alive and establishments such as the Glasgow Herald newspaper, in conjunction with Glasgow University, promote it annually with their McCash Poetry prize competition. The recent publication The Smeddum Test is an anthology of winning and commended poems over the past ten years.

Occasionally, an independent publication will appear on the shelves. One such is Eunice Buchanan’shighly readable As Far As I Can See, published by Kettillonia.

But it’s guaranteed that neither Ronnie Brown nor Roy Williamson of The Corries, who regularly included a rousing version of ’Killiecrankie’ in their concerts, would recognise the words Beth sang.

Probably, none of the Nashville audience was any the wiser. However, it does promote a very different image of the language and the people the artistes are purporting to celebrate – tae see oorsels as ithers see us!

All will be well, however, so long as the language stays within the reach of each successive generation, as long as it doesn’t go the way of text speak and transmute into a phonetic bastardisation of its own creating.

So, please, Beth, do continue to sing our timeless Scots songs – just get the pronunciations right. There are a lot of Scots folk out there more than willing and able to help you.

Haste ye back  -  see you in Edinburgh! We’ll be the ones waiving a Scots Thesaurus.

This is, of course, in no small measure due to the weather factor or, to be more correct, the BAD weather factor. And this January is proving to be one of the worst in our memory at least.

You can understand why people may be willing to organise an event and then, on the night, the weather takes over and either prevents people from venturing out or makes them think that, maybe, the fireside has more appeal than the effort to get dressed up and go out in the freezing cold.

Andy did have a birthday event at the start of the month and, although he would never have let the people down, he spent more time watching the weather reports than Sian Lloyd spent presenting them, so he was more than relieved when the day turned out to be relatively fair.

The logistics of getting all his gear from his trailer and car into a hall is something he has down to a fine art, as you can imagine. However, when you have to factor bad weather into the equation, it makes everything more difficult and time-consuming. Add to that, the fact that he often gets soaked in the process, and you begin to realise that it really is a labour of love! He just wouldn’t do it if he didn’t enjoy every one of his gigs.

This Saturday will be the first one he’s had off in some time so he plans to spend it relaxing at home without the need to be checking the skies for signs of more snow and, other than the odd comment about being glad he isn’t on the road in this weather, he’s coping remarkably well with a disco-free week – no withdrawal symptoms so far!

With all the snow we’ve had this week and which has, for now, turned to slush, he’d have needed to hire Santa’s sled to get around, complete with the sure-footed Rudolph and Co to get him to a gig.

We know someone who doesn’t like the snow much either – but then she weighs less than a bag of sugar and has very short legs, so she won’t be getting a call to help out any time soon.

See what happens when she attempts to build up speed for a take-off. Don’t think Santa will be putting her name on his reserve list any time soon. Well done B though, for your great efforts in the snow! Food for thought, Andy?

Santa Trials

Maybe there is good reason why January is a quiet month after all…

So, it was as much out of curiosity as anything else that he responded to a request for a private  karaoke-style birthday party to be held in a Youth Hostel in the Angus Glens. A smallish party in terms of numbers but, as he soon found out, the guests were more than willing to make up for that in sheer enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Andy’s familiar with the Angus Glens, being a keen hill-walker (and Munro bagger) himself, so he felt an affinity with the group from the outset. The fact that they liked to sing too was just the icing on the cake. Andy felt more like a party guest than the entertainment provider. What a great night it turned out to be!

The guests had chosen this venue for their weekend of celebration as it was more informal than renting rooms in a guest-house and allowed them to come and go as they pleased. Since they first became friends, their lives and work had taken them to many different parts of the UK and abroad but they liked to keep in touch and meet up whenever possible.

Having such a diversity of geographic placements and occupational pursuits would make for an unusual and, perhaps, awkward mix of people under normal circumstance, but it neither mattered nor affected their willingness to take part in a shared experience, a celebration of  long-standing friendships, and their choice of venue, which might have prevented them from getting someone to provide the means to entertain themselves with the music they wanted, was ideal for their purpose.

Some DJs (or karaoke providers) will not take on work for smaller numbers or that proves to be so far off the beaten track.

However, in his late teens, Andy often frequented a hostel-type cottage in the Glens with other members of a youth club and he has fond memories of happy times spent enjoying the countryside and the company, all gathered round roaring log fires at night singing along to the accompaniment of a couple of accoustic guitars amateurishly strummed by young would-be musicians.

He had visions of an up-dated version of this as he happily set off with all his gear to wind his way up the narrow roads into the Glens.

And he wasn’t disappointed!

What a night they had. It was as if the party of friends were hell-bent on reliving a similar past experience and they did themselves and Andy proud. They, in turn, were amazed at Andy’s collection of karaoke tracks. He had all their requests and more and they sang on long into the night – the “meter” long forgotten.

Andy says it was just as well they had chosen a secluded spot for their weekend retreat, since only a few local deer would be left wondering what all the commotion was about, and they weren’t likely to be chapping on the door asking for the noise to be kept down.

He’s looking forward to their next get-together and hoping he gets an invite!

2012 wasn’t a bad year, but most folk would agree it could have been better – in many ways.

When those bells strike up, we all wish each other a Happy New Year as we long to forget the old, remembering the worst events in more graphic detail than we do the good times; those fleeting moments when we realise, suddenly, that we are, in fact, quite happy with life. Then guilt at feeling happy steps in – our Calvinistic upbringing, perhaps – and we revert to our droll selves for a while. That’s us Scots for you.

However, the pundits are already predicting a good year for Scottish tourism due, mainly, to the latest Bond movie, Skyfall, and the wonderful Highland scenery that Bond and M discovered whilst on their dash north to Bond’s ancestral pile. Most Scots, if they felt any comment was necessary, would simply mutter a vague “yeah, yeah” when confronted with the tranquil beauty of Glencoe and how it made the fleeing pair speechless for a brief moment. You need a fresh pair of eyes to see – and appreciate – what’s right in front of you at times.

Let’s hope, then, that “what’s afore us will no gae by us” and this will be the year to make all such predictions come together in a way that would put a smile on the staunchest exponent of the Scottish psyche.

Some of you might be wondering at the meaning of the title of this piece.

Well, it’s an old Scots saying delivered, in the past, by older relatives not so much as a put-down to the younger generation, in that time-honoured way of not letting them get above themselves if it could be helped but as a way of letting them know, in no uncertain terms, that the old folk still knew a thing or two about how the world was run. They, somehow, had a direct line to the Almighty, who kept them in the loop as far as predictions were concerned.

It was unwise, therefore, to cross an elderly relative, for they had long memories for such infringements of protocol, and a ready hand for a quick slap in case you didn’t get the message the first time.

What it actually did, though, was give you carte blanche to behave how you liked, as long as it was out of sight or hearing of said elderly relative, to do as you pleased since your future was already mapped out for you no matter how you interfered with their dire warnings. A kind of confessional reprieve until the next warning. And many kids took full advantage of this, arguing that it was written in their fate, and hadn’t their Granny already given her ruling on the matter, in the manner of an Act of Parliament.

There were many such ‘Acts of Parliament’ delivered from a great height in those times and woe betide the child who didn’t give face value to the delivery if not the content as they were being pronounced.

It became a bit like nursery rhymes – you learn them by rote and repeat them subconsciously long into your own adulthood. You even catch yourself uttering them on the odd occasion to an amazed youngster who wears a look of sheer disbelief and disgust before returning to the solitary pursuits of his X-Box.

One of the great remaining opportunities for generations to get together for mutual enjoyment is, of course, the Festive Season – be it at Christmas or, in the case of the Scots, Hogmany and New Year’s Day itself.

Parties abound and, for a time, the older generation rule the roost from the advantage of the top of the table, the place given to the patriarch (or matriarch) of the family who, due to advancing years, is relieved of the need to have any direct  involvement in the preparations and can happily devote his/her attention to the intricacies of manoeuvring said X-Box until called upon to preside over the table.

It is at such times that he/she may feel the need to deliver a well-remembered Scots saying or two – much to the disgust of middle generation and the amusement of the younger – just to ensure that the day’s proceedings go off in the correct manner, like a mantra that must be delivered in order to appease some god of good things promised.

We all know how to enjoy ourselves, but it depends on how we choose to entertain ourselves and our families so that everyone goes home feeling satisfied that we’ve all celebrated Christmas or seen in the New Year in memorable fashion.

This Festive Season proved to be a great period for us at Bracklin Disco Services, with lots of different celebrations taking place over the territory we cover – not just seasonal parties but birthday and anniversary parties too filling the books for December.

As we’ve said before, every party is different because it’s the people who make it what it turns out to be. Andy, as ever, provides an excellent disco because he listens to what people want and is ever watchful during the event to see how things are going, but it’s all down to how the guests interact on the night, and how much they want to enjoy themselves, permit themselves to become lost in the moment, in the way children can enjoy a party for the joy of a shared experience.

Andy was kept very busy preparing for each event but he enjoys each and every one because he treats them as parties where he’s as much responsible for the good memories folk leave the hall with as the hosts themselves for inviting their guests along to join in their celebrations.

And he’s never disappointed with the variety of music people want to hear, sometimes from the most bizarre and long-forgotten artistes. People remember things that amused them or things that stuck in their minds from childhood, relate to them, haul them out from time to time during their life just so they can say “remember when…” with a smile on their face at the private moment it recalls.

And, sometimes, they even provide a bit of entertainment themselves!

Take Friday night for instance. A birthday party was in full swing when a guy approached Andy and asked him to play along with a bit of entertainment he had planned for the hostess.

Andy is always up for helping add another dimension to the night’s entertainment as long as it doesn’t embarrass or insult anyone so, once he had an idea of what was planned, he went along with it.

What followed was, in his opinion, a first-class piece of entertainment, worthy of televised screening. The guy delivered a smooth ventriloquist-type performance, using the hostess as his highly amused, but not reluctant, assistant. He employed a family-known piece of information on a particular song preference of the hostess to create a conversation that had the entire audience in stitches for those few moments. Simply delivered, highly effective. Showmanship!

Andy takes his hat off to you sir! You provided the entertainment within the entertainment that gels such occasions in a way that unites mixed age group parties to perfection. He’s still enthusing yet about it.

That’s what it’s all about. What’s afore us will no gae by us… but we can give it a wee poke in the ribs now and again, just to make sure that whoever is watching *taks tent that his ain folk still hae a bit o **smeddum in them.

Happy New Year!

* taks tent – pays attention

** smeddum – gumption, backbone (in the sense of spirit)

We’re speaking, of course, about the Olympics and ’Golden Saturday’, followed by THAT tennis match on Sunday afternoon and, to cap off a great weekend of sport, Usain Bolt’s magnificent 100m win at night.

Now, we realise that not everyone is into sport so let me say, right away, that the ‘Heroes’ in the title are not, in fact, these fantastic Olympians, but Heroes of the Cartoon version!

Saturday night saw Andy covering a birthday party in a local hostelry – and, when he could, texting base to find out how Jessica Ennis was doing in her bid for the heptathlon Gold Medal (yet another GB Hero!).

It was one of those parties where all ages were represented and also where some family members had travelled the length of the country to attend, so a lot of catching up was to be done before (and during) getting themselves up on the dance floor.

Many requests for favourite music appeared on his desk – he puts out slips before the start of each event asking for special requests – but one song kept appearing. Cartoon Heroes, released in 2000 by Scandinavian group Aqua (they of Barbie Girl fame) is, apparently, a family anthem.  “One by one, we’re making it fun,” is the intro to this oldie and, boy, it did just that! Not in ones, though.

As soon as they heard the pounding intro beat the entire party sprinted for the dance floor. It was a bit like Sunday night’s 100m final – almost everyone across the line (between carpet and floor) in under ten seconds!

We’re talking young kids to grand-parents here!

Andy knows his stuff and he is familiar with this track but he’s never seen a reaction such as this in the handful of times it’s been requested. Everyone had a great time dancing and singing along to that and, later, to Rolf Harris’ King Caractacus!

Not only does this show what a diverse library Andy holds but, also, the sort of music that families will associate with. These weren’t the only times the dance floor was full and the guests enjoying themselves, but it was certainly the main attraction for many.

Most people have a favourite song – you know the sort of thing, a song playing when a couple met, a song that reminds you of a happy time in your life, a deceased parent’s favourite etc. But, the fact that one song and, let’s face it, not a particularly lyrical one, can unite an entire crowd is magical. It’s the sort of thing you may experience on a grand scale if you were at T in the Park , or how I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing made drinking Coke a feel-good product.

But on a smaller and more intimate scale, where everyone on the dance floor meant something, either by blood or friendship, to everyone else, it made for a wonderfully sensitive moment – on a far deeper level than the song itself merits!

So, of course, when a little girl shyly ventured up to the stage towards the end of the evening and politely asked if Andy could play Cartoon Heroes again, what could he say to the little Local Hero who had made it all the way to the podium under her own steam??

New trends are always interesting since, often as not, they’re not really new at all, just new to a generation – as in the recent ladies’ fashion for geometric designs and 60′s colour-ways a la Twiggy and Co.

Now, some ladies out there will recall those days with a bit of a tremor in the voice – a bit like blokes discussing their first cars – as they reminisce over the lengths of the skirts and how successful (or not) they were at getting out of the house before their fathers got out of their chairs quick enough to vet the outfit for decency. No daughter of mine is going out wearing a PELMET a typical comment from one household in particular.

We at Bracklin see all sorts of fashion styles and, even, see some returning after a (sometimes) decent interval of a few years, just long enough for the new generation to claim it for themselves. Bring back Mary Quant!

However, it’s not dress-sense or styles we’re thinking about here, it’s wedding styles.

Nothing much changes in the events of the BIG DAY do they? Or do they?

Fair enough, brides’ dresses tend to follow a distinct trend, although we haven’t seen many recent brides following the style of the super-slim Duchess of Cambridge’s bridal gown. Perhaps her’s was determined more by modesty of the future monarch’s wife than fashion. We couldn’t imagine Katherine gliding down the aisle of Westminster Abbey wearing a bustier-style gown, which seems to be the favoured style of the moment – great for summer weddings but the bride’s body temp soon becomes apparent on the photos after a more commonly cool wedding day!

Still, that’s a small part of the BIG DAY and, once the party retires indoors for the eating and dancing, the bride’s only worry is keeping up her modesty while taking part in the more strenuous dances!

Many brides (and grooms) will tell you that they hardly ate a thing at their wedding. This is a great pity, since they had probably gone to great lengths to see that the food offered to their guests was not only different but unique and a meal they wanted talked about for ages to come…or, at least, until the next wedding their guests attended.

In this respect, there’s a new trend in the meat course – the hog roast!

Now, I don’t mean that all the guests decamp to the manicured lawns of the fancy hotel to dig up the grass with their high heels, or leave scorch and grease marks like a scout camp had had their bonfire and ging-gang-goolie singalong there.

No, there are companies available who offer to spit-roast a hog to whatever stage you want and bring it along to your celebration. Obviously, the process takes many hours, so they can start it off, bringing along the part-roasted hog to your event in an oven that looks like an over-turned drum (doubles up for the calypso dancing once the hog has been roasted) trundling along at the back of their van.

Or, they can bring the whole thing ready-prepared – great if anyone is a little squeamish about seeing what they’re to be eating roasting on a spit – sliced to perfection on huge banqueting platters a la Henry VIII’s dining halls.

Andy has covered two events recently where this has been done and he says it goes down a treat …and the hog tasted very nice too!

So, as the saying goes, there’s really nothing new under the sun.

Of course, it would be nice to see some sun too….