Scottish music: rock of the north

[MichaelMcGuire]

Frightened Rabbit: 'Now there's more confidence about staying in Scotland.' Photograph: www.dannynorth.co.uk

Talk of independence is giving Scottish culture a boost – especially in the thriving music scene. The new bands are inspired by the country's traditional music, and they sing in their own accents tooAidan Moffat is contemplating whether devolution makes a certain kind of sound. "There seemed for a long time in Scotland to be an embarrassment in being yourself," says the former Arab Strap vocalist. "When I was young, all Scottish bands seemed to want to be English or American and I found that really peculiar. We're still a fucking miserable bunch, but we certainly seem more proud and comfortable with our own identity than we were in the past."

Novelist Alasdair Gray's dictum to "work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" – now carved on the wall of the Scottish parliament – is finding its most obvious application in Scotland's vibrant arts output. Almost 15 years after devolution and with the SNP government gearing up for an independence referendum in 2014, a period of seismic change is finding a parallel expression through music.

You won't find many bands north of the border hymning independence or singing about the sanctity of the union – it's less clear-cut than that. There is, however, evidence of what folk musician and Burns Unit member Karine Polwart calls "a massive sense of cultural confidence": acclaimed scenes encompassing everyone from cutting-edge electronic artists to million-selling rock bands; collaborations across genres and art forms; above all, a tangible sense of a nation looking to itself for inspiration and validation. "Many musicians are embracing their Scottishness," says BBC Radio Scotland's Vic Galloway. "It's not about tartan, bagpipes and shortbread, but a contemporary forward-thinking Scotland that isn't afraid to sing in its own accent and embrace its own culture."

Read on: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/08/scottish-music-rock-north

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Runrig - Cnoc Na Feille / Siol Ghoraidh

[pinboy3niner]

1. K&R

And, btw, thankyou. Your post about St. David's Day helped me solve part of CTyankee's Friday Afternoon Challenge:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=406662

A toast to you from this 3/4 Irishman/1/4 Welshman.

[MichaelMcGuire]

2. Daffodils dead give-away

[marasinghe]

3. the music r'Och's. :)

thanks.

[MichaelMcGuire]

4. Personally I like Runrig's Gaelic stuff best

Runrig - An Ubhal as Airde or (The Highest Apple)

In Scottish (Gaelic)
Comhla rium
A tha thu an drasd
Mo shuilean duinte, mo chuimhne dan
Nam sheasamh a' coimhead
Gach cnoc is gach traigh
Is an siol a dh'fhag thu ann a 'fas

Tha an garradh lan
Le craobhan treun
Le meas a' fas dhuinn ann ri bhuain
Ubhlan abaich
Milis geur
Ach tha aon ubhal nach ruig sinn idir air

Is co 'nar measg
A mhaireas la
Seachad air am is air oidhche fhein
A liuthad uair
A shreap mi suas
Airson an ubhal as airde chur gu beul

Seididh gaoth is dearrsaidh grian
Tro mheas nan craobhan lin gu lin
Ach thig an la is thig an t-am
Airson an ubhal as airde
Air a' chraobh a bhuain

In English
At present
All you were is with me
My eyes closed, my memory confident
Standing here watching
Each hill and shoreline
With the seed you left still growing

The garden is well stocked
With mighty trees
With fruit growing for the whole world
Ripe, sweet
And bitter apples
And the one apple that is beyond reach

Who amongst us
Can exist a single day
Beyond our own time and our own limits
Countless and futile
Are times I've climbed
To reach and taste the forbidden fruit

The winds will blow and the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree

[likesmountains 52]

5. I like Frightened Rabbit quite a lot.

&feature=related

[MichaelMcGuire]

6. Thats pretty good

[roguevalley]

7. I lean toward Silly Wizard and Big Country. Old school. :-D I will check these guys out. I

love Scotland. Fort William is god's country and my family is from Newpitsligo on my father's side.