Hamish Henderson film
Loren Joseph MacGregor
In article <790209...@scot.demon.co.uk>, cr...@scot.demon.co.uk (Craig
Cockburn) wrote as follows:
>
> Today, a group of us from ALP led by Eileen Penman were involved in the
> making of a film in conjunction with the Scottish Arts Council about
> Hamish Henderson and his anthem "Freedom come all ye". Hamish is in
Wow. I'd have quoted the entirety of your message, but my news server won't let me write a note shorter than what I've quoted. For quite some time over the years, I heard many songs which I assumed (or even was told) were traditional, and many if not most of them turned out, in fact, turned out to be written by Hamish Henderson. One of my all time favorite songs fit this category, and that's "Banks of Sicily" -- which is now running through my head, even as I type.
Yet I've never heard him sing, nor even seen an album by him.
Your move sounds like a marvelous project. Best of luck with it!
Steve Glover
: In article <790209...@scot.demon.co.uk>, cr...@scot.demon.co.uk (Craig
: Cockburn) wrote as follows:
: >
: > Today, a group of us from ALP led by Eileen Penman were involved in the
: > making of a film in conjunction with the Scottish Arts Council about
: > Hamish Henderson and his anthem "Freedom come all ye". Hamish is in
: Wow. I'd have quoted the entirety of your message, but my news server
: won't let me write a note shorter than what I've quoted. For quite some
: time over the years, I heard many songs which I assumed (or even was
: told) were traditional, and many if not most of them turned out, in
: fact, turned out to be written by Hamish Henderson. One of my all time
: favorite songs fit this category, and that's "Banks of Sicily" -- which
: is now running through my head, even as I type.
Hi, fancy meeting you here ;-) I think the WORDS to Banks of Sicily are
his, but the tune is older... this may be true of some of his other stuff?
: Yet I've never heard him sing, nor even seen an album by him.
Do you think he knows what's been done to "Banks of Sicily"?
Cheers
Steve
Douglas Clark
I happen to be reading `Alias MacAlias' at the moment.
Grampian TV put out a tape cassette of Hamish singing his songs
and reading poetry/prose in conjunction with a programme they put out.
It is called `Pipes, Goatskin and Bom [Bones]' by Hamish Henderson.
GPN 3001. 1992. rampian Television, Queen's Cross, Aberdeen AB9 2XJ,
Scotland. They might have some left as it was expensive for a tape.
--
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69 Hillcrest Drive, Email : D.G.D...@bath.ac.uk
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Bill Austin
: Grampian TV put out a tape cassette of Hamish singing his songs
: and reading poetry/prose in conjunction with a programme they put out.
: It is called `Pipes, Goatskin and Bom [Bones]' by Hamish Henderson.
: GPN 3001. 1992. rampian Television, Queen's Cross, Aberdeen AB9 2XJ,
: Scotland. They might have some left as it was expensive for a tape.
Greentrax list this as a stock item in their catalogue so anyone
interested should be able to get a copy from them.
Bill
Jack Campin
> Today, a group of us from ALP led by Eileen Penman were involved in the
> making of a film in conjunction with the Scottish Arts Council about
> Hamish Henderson and his anthem "Freedom come all ye".
There's a video made about 5 years ago in which Hamish Henderson is one
of four Scottish political activists featured (I can't remember all of
the others; one was the anarchist John Caldwell). One of its producers
was Peter Kravitz, then editor of Polygon Press (whose office was right
next door to the School of Scottish Studies). Worth looking for; I presume
Hamish knows where to find it.
TV archives must have more - I know I've seen him singing "The Banks of
Sicily" on TV once.
--
-- Jack Campin -- Room 1.36, Dept. of Computing & EE, Heriot-Watt University,
Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS WWW: http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~jack/jack.html
Internet: ja...@cee.hw.ac.uk Phone: 031 449 5111 ext 4195 Fax: 031 451 3431
Home phone: 031 556 5272 Home Internet: ja...@purr.demon.co.uk
Graham R Pearson
Anyone know if they ever froze the assets of NorAid?
Graham.
ceegrp[at]cee.hw.ac.uk
Dick Gaughan
Glover) writes:
> Hi, fancy meeting you here ;-) I think the WORDS to Banks of Sicily are
> his, but the tune is older... this may be true of some of his other stuff?
The tune here is the pipes tune 'Farewell to the Creeks'.
Nice to see such interest in Hamish. I don't think he has ever written
a tune - all the songs of his I know are to existing tunes. No harm in
that.
Can I just correct something ? The song repeatedly refered to in this
thread as the *Banks of Sicily* is in fact called *The 51st (Highland)
Division's Farewell to Sicily*. I feel calling it Banks of Sicily
diverts attention from the real subject of the song. Just a personal
gripe - I am not now nor have I ever been Hamish Henderson.
Dick Gaughan, Dun Eideann Alba
( Edinburgh Scotland )
Loren Joseph MacGregor
Glover) wrote as follows:
>
> Hi, fancy meeting you here ;-) I think the WORDS to Banks of Sicily are
> his, but the tune is older... this may be true of some of his other stuff?
>
That's true, I've been found out. All these years I've been pretending
to be a science fiction fan, but I've *really* been a fan of folk and
Celtic music. (Why would I want to go to Glasgow, were it not for the
folk festival?)
Certainly Henderson and others have used traditional tunes, yet I
remember a story (probably from Sing Out!) in which a frustrated Hamish
Henderson tried to explain that yes, in fact, he HAD written "Banks of
Sicily," and that it wasn't traditional at all, only to be told that of
*course* it was traditional, for the speaker had learned it from his
father, so it couldn't POSSIBLY be a new song. Sort of like suggesting
that someone may have written the Birthday Song -- who ever heard of
such a thing?
Craig Cockburn
--
Craig Cockburn (pronounced "coburn"), Edinburgh, Scotland
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Ga\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.