Aspettare e Sperare !

The last year for me has been one of the busiest of my life and certainly the busiest since the enforced retirement from my professional playing career in 1995 through contracting focal motor dystonia in one of the fingers of my left hand.

My son Fin and I are still busy in the workshop making these beautiful instruments and what a pleasure this brings. Nothing is more inspiring than chawin’ awa’ with Fin; at concepts – tuning, cane and its multitude of properties, relative merits of throat and staple diameters, problems with a certain grace note on a certain note, stuff of reamers and woods and harmonics and a thousand other things which go to making up our day which is so, so unimaginably unusual and sometimes even bizarre. The balance has probably shifted so that we are doing a higher percentage of repairs than we used to but this is no less satisfying, working at the bench to achieve sound perfection from this bag of harmonics. We often come across pieces of work by my father or surmise who, out of our trusted family of co-workers may have done whatever, and amazingly finding chanter reeds still in chanters and working that I made in the late 1980’s.

And – hey – we have a two year waiting list.

A flying and whirlwind trip to Barga in February was extraordinary. From the minute we crossed the threshold of The Old Town and our feet touched Via di Mezzo we were on a frenzied foray with old friends, great food, chat and wine to ease the hours away in what seemed like five days with not a minute to spare.

A painting trip back to Barga in May with the Prestonpans Art Group was for me, personally very frustrating but lovely to know that others were marvelling at and capturing on canvass the sights of the extraordinary place. Especially a treat for me was to witness under the gentle inspiration of our patient teacher, Tom Ewing, my great old pal Pete MacKenzie nurturing his art during this precious time for him away from horse colics and anal gland resections.

June and the Barga Summer School. What can I say? What work and what rewards. Thanks to all who helped in whatever way however small but special thanks to Martine Robertson who was a trooper, such an inspiration and willing helper on so may levels and in so many ways. Thanks also to Sonia Ercolini, without who’s input from the Barga end, this very special event would not have happened. Sonia’s creative presence was everywhere during the school and her help with all the daily problems invaluable. It would have been nice to have been able to announce The 2011 School but so far no decision has been made as to whether the Conservatorio can be available.

Getting to Barga in June was achieved at break neck speed and in record time but the trip home was leisurely, taking in the luscious array of French Camp Sites and Cuisine and stocking up on the best of wine to squirrel away for the long winter evenings in Scotland. More importantly, I bought cane from Cogolin near St.Tropez. Our now good friend and cane supplier, Mr. Rigotti did us proud once again supplying this most vital of all ingredients amongst the multitude of raw materials needed for our instrument making. The secret of the sound lies just a few kilometres from the coast of the French Riviera.

This July saw the 24^th anniversary of my Vermont Summer School and also the last in its very special site on the banks of The Huntingdon River near the beautiful village of Richmond. I am moving the school next year to a new site on The Shores of Lake Champlaign near the small City of Burlington. The School as always was a wonderful experience but poignant and tinged with a bit of sadness that it is to move and therefore will inherently change.

Home to Edinburgh, one day’s rest, on to The Piping Live festival in Glasgow and then to The Lorient Inter Celtic Festival in Brittany to be part of and hear “Seudan”. A culmination of 15 years work, my concept for “Seudan” (Gaelic for Jewels or Treasures) is a band playing copies made by us of a museum set of pipes originally built in 1785. The pipes are unique in that they play in concert “A” and the music, rather than the style employed by the military or that of competitions reunites its rhythmic and linguistic roots with the old dances and songs of Gaelic Scotland. What joy.

By the end of August I was off again and this time had been invited by Iain MacDonald to go as a guest of his Neilston Pipe Band to the biggest piping festival in the world in Strachonize in The Czech Republic. Every European Country (East and West) was represented with their own unique species of bagpipe. Bagpipes are revered and almost worshipped in Strachonize and one of the many and excellent breweries in the town, and this one dating back to 1649 names one of its fine beers, “Dudak”, Czech for bagpipe!!!

September witnessed a trip to Croatia and Montenegro to be part of, and play at, a good friend’s seventieth birthday party celebrations. Branislav is an amazing character and works as a criminal lawyer in Scotland, speaks several languages fluently and collects and races ancient Bugatti Racing Cars.

Just three days back home and then off this time to Nova Scotia, again with “Seudan” to play at The Celtic Colours Music Festival in Cape Breton. Oh how I love this island, its extraordinary talented, kind and humble people and their old Gaelic Culture that they treasure and hold on to tenaciously.

At the end of The Festival I spent a weekend teaching with Barga Summer School’s flute instructor, Chris Norman. The teaching weekend was hosted by Chris in his beautiful hometown of Lunnenburg on the Nova Scotian mainland.

Before flying home, I managed to squeeze in a delightful two day visit with Bill and Cynthia who live just outside Halifax and who’s house, Casa Rosa, they so generously let me use when I lived in Barga in 2008.

All of this, the busiest of years peppered and interspersed with making pipes, clearing my Father’s house, lectures, gigs, conferences, gatherings, sessions, farewells and of all things a Barga School Reunion in Edinburgh. Franco Zampogna, a piping student in Barga came over to Edinburgh to collect his newly finished set of small pipes and co-ordinated his visit to coincide with The Lowland and Border Piper’s Society Annual Conference. His pal, Denis O’Flynn came too, from Cork, to reunite with his newly found friend from Barga. Of course he did and what a weekend. We gathered as many of the Barga veterans as we could for a few great tunes, memories and laughs all together in The Capital.

I’m now in Barbados with no reference points, no pointers that it has just been Christmas or may be New Year soon but am enjoying two or three hours in the Caribbean Sea every day and slowly slowly making moves to building my home in the tropics very close to the island where I was born and grew up.

Piano, piano though. I’m here till March and then another era ends. I’m giving up daily work in the workshop. The carefully constructed and nurtured business is being handed over to my son Fin who I know will look after it and treasure it.

No one could have earned it more or deserves it more than Fin and I wish him all the best of everything (and especially good cane) in his work.

Of course, I won’t ever stop making pipes, and of course I will step in to help out when necessary. I do intend however to make only one or two sets a year and to make every part of them myself. They will form a limited edition, limited by the life (and death) of the next stage; the next and maybe, final era.

Grazie mille Barga e grazie mille Keane.

This Friday the Teatro dei Differenti will be the scene for the Gala Concert put on by the staff and students to celebrate the opening of the school.

Other tutors include Allan MacDonald (pibroch), Sarah Hoy (fiddle), Chris Norman (flute) and Frank McConnell (stepdancing)

[View with PicLens]

A wide range of piping styles is on offer as well as the school catering for the complete range of abilities from beginners to advanced.

Fiddle – Sarah Hoy.

Sarah is one of Scotland’s brightest and best young fiddlers and teachers and can offer a wide range of styles from Scottish, Irish, Shetland to Cape Breton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFr39bONP4A

Dance – Frank McConnel

Frank McConnel is arguably Scotland’s best step dancer with a huge wealth of teaching and choreographic experience. He is also a very well known and respected contemporary dancer.

He will be offering classes in some of Scotland’s oldest and most exciting dance forms.

Flute – Chris Norman

Chris Norman is a world renowned flute player and teacher and runs the hugely successful and popular teaching festival in Nova Scotia, “Boxwood”

Chris will be teaching traditional Scottish Music of the Flute and can also offer Baroque style, something he is in demand for all over Europe.

Cello – Christine Hanson

Christine Hanson who although originally Canadian has made her home in The West of Scotland and has become known as one of the best players and teachers of Scottish Cello. She will be teaching the big Scottish melodies as well as cello accompaniment to Scottish tunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv2XzRTPDn4

There will also be song-sharing sessions and these will be shared by Tom Lawrie and Scott Gardener. Tom has an absolutely stunning voice and interprets songs with great passion and commitment. He will be concentrating on some of the great contemporary songs that have entered out culture in recent years like “The Immigrants Song”, “Caledonia” or “Follow the Heron Home”

Scott is generally regarded as the best Bothy Ballad singer of his generation. He will be leading his singing classes, concentrating on traditional material and Bothy Ballads.

Ad esibirsi sul palco del Differenti, in una serata di pimpanti ballate e languidi brani di cornamusa presentata  da Sonia Ercolini, sono stati la violinista Sara Hay, la violoncellista Christine Hanson, il flautista Chris Norman, gli insegnanti di cornamusa Allan MacDonald, Fin Moore, Tiber Falzett e Alberto Massie, che hanno accompagnato i balli tipici di step dance eseguiti da Frank Mc Connel con cori e brani solisti eseguiti dagli allievi sotto la direzione di Tom Lawrie e Scott Gardener.
Tutti loro, con Hamish Moore, autorità nel campo della musica gaelica e nella costruzione artigianale di bagpipes, sono musicisti di fama internazionale, veri cultori della musica tradizionale scozzese.
Per rimarcare poi il legame tra la terra di Alba e l’Italia, accompagnata dal flauto di Chris Norman e dal violoncello di Christine Hanson, si è esibita anche Sally He Li, soprano ormai tutto barghigiano, che ha eseguito un bel fuori programma con il Brindisi dalla Traviata, simbolicamente alzando i bicchieri all’amicizia bargo-scozzese.

Today it was the turn of Chris Norman, hailed as one of the finest flute players of our time, Chris Norman proves over and over again that the simple wooden flute is the original- and still unsurpassed- woodwind of expression, passion, joy and subtlety. His influential work as a performer, composer, recording artist and teacher has brought the simple wooden flute to the forefront as an alternative voice to the modern orchestral instrument.

Born in Halifax Nova Scotia, he began his musical studies at the age of ten. His interest in the traditional music of Maritime Canada; Scottish, Irish and French Canadian Styles, drew him from his early path studying classical flute. Chris embarked upon a quest to learn the music from the tradition bearers, travelling across North America and Europe. His subsequent work has redefined the boundaries of both traditional and classical styles, forging a synthesis that has been embraced by audiences, scholars, and critics of both schools.

His busy performing schedule includes solo engagements and concerts with a variety of ensembles, appearing frequently as soloist with orchestra and touring with his own Chris Norman Ensemble. In years past Chris has also appeared worldwide as a member of the international folk trio, Helicon, and the all-star Celtic fusion group, Skyedance, and the acclaimed early music group, The Baltimore Consort and across Europe with Concerto Caledonia.

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Norman’s flute playing can be heard featured in the Oscar winning soundtrack of Titanic as well as the 1998 Hollywood film, Soldier. His solo CD releases have received unanimous praise from critics and audiences alike. Man With the Wooden Flute made the Billboard crossover charts for 12 weeks. The Beauty of the North and The Flower of Port Williams are collections of music from Quebec and Maritime Canada. Lullaby Journey is a collaboration with soprano Custer LaRue and harpist Kim Robertson. Highlands includes three world premieres of folk inspired work for flute and string orchestra in collaboration with The Camarata Bariloche, Argentina’s finest chamber orchestra. Most recently, the Boxwood Media Label has released The Caledonian Flute, hailed as “ . . .the restoration of the flute to its proper place in the Scottish repertoire” (John Purser – noted author and musicologist) and In the fields in frost and snow, a Canadian roots musical celebration of the winter season.

“A musician like Chris Norman comes along, oh, perhaps once in a century. He’s the kind of player whose virtuosity serves the music without becoming the performance itself; whose exceptional technique not only is of the “he’s so good he makes it sound easy” variety, but also frees the music to reel out as if it, the instrument, and the player were one communicative entity. ” — CD Review

“. . .Norman stands out for his spirited eclecticism . . . His rootsy heritage shines through in every nuanced embellishment, trill, triple tonguing, and silky slide. It’s clear that Norman is having a ball, with the chops to make it sound effortless.” — Billboard Magazine

“ . . .a flute player of spectacular & imaginative virtuosity” – The New Yorker Magazine

“A flute superstar . . .the musicianship just came wailing out” –Toronto Globe & Mail

“The finest wooden flute player in the world . . .and few that have heard him play would dispute that description.” — Halifax Mail Star

As a composer Chris is the recipient of numerous grants and commissions, and recently premiered Out of Orkney, a tone poem for flute, harp, and string orchestra. His compositions been featured on National Public Radio, the CBC in Canada and the BBC, as well as concert halls in Europe, North America Australia and New Zealand.

Chris regularly teaches master classes and has conducted symposia at many schools of music around the world. He has inspired thousands of musicians both young and old as the founder and director of the Boxwood Festival and Workshop. Boxwood has established a worldwide presence celebrating and sharing the music and traditions of the flute, inviting a multicultural and multi-disciplinary dialogue between performers, teachers, scholars, students, and makers of the flute through annual week-long festivals taking place in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Rotorua, New Zealand. In each case, Boxwood’s participants join with members of the local community for music, concerts, dances, classes, and informal sessions creating a tightly woven bond for an experience to be treasured. Under Norman’s guidance Boxwood has followed the paths of musical oral tradition in Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton, Quebec, and New England, as well as exploring music of Breton, Galician, Cuban Charanga, Native American and classical Indian styles by inviting tradition bearers, top players and musical visionaries to share their music.

Click on the link below to hear part of the lecture that Chris gave this afternoon followed by some of his flute playing:

chris norman

This Friday the Teatro dei Differenti will be the scene for the Gala Concert put on by the staff and students to celebrate the opening of the school.

Other tutors include Allan MacDonald (pibroch), Sarah Hoy (fiddle), Chris Norman (flute) and Frank McConnell (stepdancing)

A wide range of piping styles is on offer as well as the school catering for the complete range of abilities from beginners to advanced.

Fiddle – Sarah Hoy.

Sarah is one of Scotland’s brightest and best young fiddlers and teachers and can offer a wide range of styles from Scottish, Irish, Shetland to Cape Breton.

Dance – Frank McConnel

Frank McConnel is arguably Scotland’s best step dancer with a huge wealth of teaching and choreographic experience. He is also a very well known and respected contemporary dancer.

He will be offering classes in some of Scotland’s oldest and most exciting dance forms.

Flute – Chris Norman

Chris Norman is a world renowned flute player and teacher and runs the hugely successful and popular teaching festival in Nova Scotia, “Boxwood”

Chris will be teaching traditional Scottish Music of the Flute and can also offer Baroque style, something he is in demand for all over Europe.

Cello – Christine Hanson

Christine Hanson who although originally Canadian has made her home in The West of Scotland and has become known as one of the best players and teachers of Scottish Cello. She will be teaching the big Scottish melodies as well as cello accompaniment to Scottish tunes.

There will also be song-sharing sessions and these will be shared by Tom Lawrie and Scott Gardener. Tom has an absolutely stunning voice and interprets songs with great passion and commitment. He will be concentrating on some of the great contemporary songs that have entered out culture in recent years like “The Immigrants Song”, “Caledonia” or “Follow the Heron Home”

Scott is generally regarded as the best Bothy Ballad singer of his generation. He will be leading his singing classes, concentrating on traditional material and Bothy Ballads.

Click on the link below to hear the Mayor of Barga, Marco Bonini welcoming the students and tutors in Palazzo Pancrazi this morning (in Italiano and English)

mayor_barga_21june2010

Click on the link below for an interview with Hamish Moore as he describes how the course will be run and his hopes for the future for this event in Barga

hamish_moore_19june2010

Keane was of course right on both counts.

He was right about there being a reason for my early departure. It was quite simple; my Dad needed me home. We had heard that he had contracted cancer but we didn’t know how severe it was. He wanted me there for his meeting with the consultant when his fate would be handed to him. It turned out that it was in fact a highly malignant cancer. He hung on for almost exactly 1 year from the time of that diagnosis. It was a harrowing and traumatic time for him and of course for myself for that matter, and I am thankful he is now spared any more suffering.

Keane was also correct when he said that it wasn’t the end of the story and here I am again writing for barganews. It’s been a while since my last article (all of Hamish’s articles can be read here) and much has happened over here in Scotland in the interim.

I have an exciting new venture in Barga; the inauguration of a Summer School of Traditional Scottish Music, Song and Dance to be held in the old town from the 20^th – 26^th June this year.

I instinctively knew that Barga was the ideal place to host such a school and I passionately believed that somehow I had to make it work. So with no funding in place but much enthusiasm and a mighty big help from Sonia Ercolini I marched forth with what many would regard as a crazy idea.

As I marched forth with my idea, Sonia marched forth into the offices of The Commune and presented the plan.

It worked.

No one really knew much about the new administration and how sympathetic they would be to such ideas but to their credit, they liked the idea and embraced it to the extent that they granted my request to host the school in the Conservatorio. This provided not only an ideal home for the school, but dormitory style accommodation for about 25 – 30 students was on offer. I am indebted to The Administration and to Sonia.

The theatre was also offered for another Grand Concert and this concert will provide an ideal culmination of everything that the school will have offered.

The cast will be more extensive and varied than the first concert and represent more fully my thinking about my culture.

Classes in Piping, Fiddle, Cello, Scots and Gaelic Song, Step Dance and Quadrilles and Flute are all on offer. World famous tradition bearers will teach these courses, from the perspective of an aural tradition.

As well as formal classes, all the students and tutors will have the opportunity to sit and eat together on a daily basis and this for me is as an important part of the school as any.

There will be much important collaboration, understanding, talk, music, song and enjoyment during these meals.  We will be taking the best of Italian Culture in its approach to eating and sharing and mixing this with authentic Scots and Gaelic culture through quite simply – community.

We will learn at the table.

What better place to live and experience the best of Italian and Scots cultures.

After all.

This is Barga.

Hamish Moore. 21st April 2010.

Back in August 2008 we published an article about Blair Douglas, one of Scotland’s foremost musicians who had just penned a composition in honour of the Scots-Italian footballer, Giovanni or Johnny Moscardini, who though born in Falkirk in 1897, took to the field a total of nine times for ‘Azzurri’ between 1921 and 1925. The tune “Il Saluto di Giovanni Moscardini”, (Johnny Moscardini’s Salute) is a reel for pipes and drums, brass band, strings, and percussion. Whilst composed in the Scottish traditional idiom, it has distinct Mediterranean influences. Il Saluto is up-tempo and exhilarating as would befit a tune named for a prolific striker such as Johnny Moscardini.

We wrote then that Blair was planning to record the reel on his next album, but relished the idea of premièring the tune in Barga itself. The idea of playing the tune in the Johnny Moscardini’s home town greatly appeals to him, particularly if it could be done in collaboration with local Barga musicians.

“I was immediately intrigued with Johnny Moscardini. Here was a young man who was born of an immigrant family in Scotland but pursued a highly successful professional football career in Italy and who gave it up to help out in a family business in Kintyre. How times have changed. It was also a revelation to read about Barga’s strong connections with Scotland through the numerous local families who came over to this country.
The tune Il Saluto di Giovanni Moscardini, is in honour of Johnny, one of Barga’s most famous sons, but it is also in recognition of the huge contribution Scots-Italians in general have made to our nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DDpZmMaFD8

The Johnny Moscardi football stadium in Barga

This morning comes the new that this summer there is a very good chance that that premiere will take place in Barga as the high spot of the concert of traditional Scottish music and dance being organised by Hamish Moore in Barga during the last week of June as part of the new Barga School of Piping, Traditional Music and Dance

Barga School of Piping, Traditional Music and Dance – Hamish Moore is delighted to announce an exciting new Summer School to be held in Barga in Tuscany from the 20th – 27th June 2010. Barga is where he spent last 2008 as musician in residence (all of Hamish’s articles written that year can be found here). Barga dates back a thousand years and is a walled hill town of astounding beauty. As well as being surrounded by natural, spectacular mountain scenery its architectural glory is a joy and its narrow streets and lanes make pedestrian transport the norm with the presence of cars somewhat of a rarity. This all adds to the incredible charm of the town.

Teaching will take place in an old Convent School, which is ideally suited to hosting classes.
As well as budget dormitory style accommodation in the Convent, Barga has many self-catering apartments, hotels and Guest Houses.
Because approximately 60% of the town’s population have relatives in the west of Scotland and also because of the strong links through John Bellany with East Lothian, Barga quite rightly and proudly boasts the title of, “The most Scottish Town in Italy”.

Co-ordinator – Hamish Moore in conjunction with B.I.G. – Dates – 20th – 27th June 2010

Full details can be found by downloading this .pdf file: BargaPipingSchool or email Hamish Moore directly on hamish@hamishmoore.com

Click on the link below to hear Hamish Moore speaking in Barga this morning:

hamish_moore_barga_5feb2010

Teaching will take place in an old Convent School, which is ideally suited to hosting classes.
As well as budget dormitory style accommodation in the Convent, Barga has many self-catering apartments, hotels and Guest Houses.
Because approximately 60% of the town’s population have relatives in the west of Scotland and also because of the strong links through John Bellany with East Lothian, Barga quite rightly and proudly boasts the title of, “The most Scottish Town in Italy”.

Co-ordinator – Hamish Moore in conjunction with B.I.G. – Dates – 20th – 27th June 2010

Tutors.

Pipes:  Allan MacDonald |Fin Moore | Tiber Falzett | Alberto Massie

A wide range of piping styles is on offer as well as the school catering for the complete range of abilities from beginners to advanced.
Competition piping
Pibroch and Pibroch Song. This is the speciality of Allan MacDonald.
Dance Piping where the students will learn the tempi and rhythms needed to play for the old hard shoe percussive step dancing and Scotch reels.

Fin is gaining a great reputation as a teacher of pipes, having completed four summer seasons teaching at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton. He has also taught at the Lowland and Border Pipers Society annual teaching weekend in Melrose and at Piper Gathering North Hero, Vermont and other schools around the world.

He has now performed at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton, the Edinburgh International Festival and the William Kennedy Piping Festival, Armagh. He has played solo and with bands including, Dannsa who are gaining great respect in Scotland and abroad for their traditional and innovating dancing, the internationally renowned Cape Breton band, Slainte Mhath, and Back of the Moon, winners at the traditional music awards 2003.

“this boy was born to play a reel and when he did so on the Scottish Small Pipes, stamping both feet to produce a step dance rhythm section…….. living precariously with his own exciting variations, he was magic” Alastair Clark, The Scotsman

Fiddle: Sarah Hoy.

Sarah is one of Scotland’s brightest and best young fiddlers and teachers and can offer a wide range of styles from Scottish, Irish, Shetland to Cape Breton.

Sarah plays with a dance band, the Trows. She has performed at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Edinburgh International Festival, and played for step dancing at Ceolas summer school on South Uist. Sarah taught and performed at Edinburgh Fiddle Festival and featured on ‘Heat The Hoose 2?, a compilation of top Scottish fiddlers at the festival.

“Her upbeat style is immensely likeable, and her compositions immediately caught my attention.” Cheryl Turner, Rambles

Dance:  Frank McConnel is arguably Scotland’s best step dancer with a huge wealth of teaching and choreographic experience. He is also a very well known and respected contemporary dancer. He will be offering classes in some of Scotland’s oldest and most exciting dance forms.

Scottish Step Dance | Cape Breton Square Dancing | Quadrilles |Lancers

Flute: Chris Norman is a world renowned flute player and teacher and runs the hugely successful and popular teaching festival in Nova Scotia, “Boxwood” Chris will be teaching traditional Scottish Music of the Flute and can also offer Baroque style, something he is in demand for all over Europe.

Piping Scots Culture into a Little Bit of Italy – By Jim Gilchrist (source Scotsman)

THEY say that in the Tuscan hill town of Barga, near Lucca, anyone who speaks English does so with a Glasgow accent, such has been the degree of emigration to the west of Scotland from the area.

This may be an exaggeration, but it is entirely true that on Wednesday the town will resound with the strains of Scottish traditional music.

The pealing bells of the medieval town’s duomo will mell with the strains of Scots and Italian choirs to introduce a line-up of visiting singers and players, including singer and piper Ken Campbell, pipes and fiddle duo Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy, The Cast (Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis, who found themselves unexpectedly in the limelight when the Sex and the City film featured their beautiful rendition of Auld Lang Syne), traditional singers Scott Gardiner and Loreen Merriman, fiddler and pianist Fiona Moore and the “folk choir” Sangstream.

The event, which may well become an annual event in the town’s 17th-century theatre, has been organised by Hamish Moore, the Dunkeld pipemaker and piper (and father of Fin and Fiona), who has been Barga’s musician-in-residence since the beginning of the year.

He first visited the place in May last year, having heard the Scottish painter John Bellany, who now lives there, extolling its merits on a radio show. “Barga is full of artists and musicians and creative people of all sorts,” says Moore.

Full details can be found by downloading this .pdf file: BargaPipingSchool or email Hamish Moore directly on hamish@hamishmoore.com

So, here we are on the last night. It feels strangely ghost like. The Duomo Bells have given me the time but the town is so quiet.
Marino is closed with the flu, Ricardo is on a day off, The Altana is shut for holidays and there really is no one about and it’s a bit grey and damp.
Its unusually cold though and so has September been. It sort of went from winter to summer with no spring then intense 35 degree heat for 10 – 12 weeks then back to winter. Apart from anything else, Keane’s beard is back on so its got to be winter. I wanted to stay so much at least until the end of October or even the end of November but it wasn’t to be. I am aff home to be with my Dad who is ill. Keane says there is a reason for this that we don’t know about yet – si si . Credo.

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What a year ———- so far.

Barga

And all I want to do here in this wee blogette is just go through some memories – maybe even a list – just to pin point on the eve of departure some deep feelings and thoughts – highlights / low times / breakthroughs / brick walls / frustrations / elations, si si va bene .

Alora

So – and it was on the 2nd of February that this journey really began, back in the holding area for The Rosyth Ferry, with Fiona and new Maura and Fin and Sarah and Joyce, the journey down through France, over The Alps and down in to Italy and on up into Garfagnana and Barga.
I worked hard that first two months, played my fiddle a lot in the wee Piazza Sargentone flat, met Jesse and Heidi and had some great times with them. All was new and exciting. Aristos and getting to know Marino. The Jazz club on Friday nights was something to look forward to. The walks round the town getting to know you; every street and lane, path and hiding place.

Isernia for the Spring Piping School and Scapoli to meet The Zampogna makers.

April and the birds at Latriani, the cold and the walks in and out of Barga.

The visitors starting and the pattern emerging.

Getting to know more and appreciate more and May and more visitors.

Home again in June for a spell and into Casa Rosa in the Giardino – what a delight – home – home – home – at least really like a home.

July and August were just so so mental and don’t know where they went – wall to wall west of Scotland accents especially round Alpino and Bar Onesti. Concert after festival after concert.

Now just seen in September and the personal highlight with the success of the concert which I put on in the Theatre – so meaningful to be able to express what is a real emotional communication through this wonderful and rich culture of ours. Special thanks to all the musicians who so willingly took part for no fee and special thanks to Sangstream who raised the money for all the musician’s airfares.

B0rxV_KtHbk

A’desso – devo andare a Scozia domani

I will miss the warmth of the people who are lovely and have time for the important things

I will miss the food and wine – just based on its simplicity but a raw and rare freshness of ingredients in fact so fresh that nothing can ever taste quite like it again.

I will miss the way this funny wee town operates in its streets and its piazzas – it is a walled town and it has its own life and way of operating and very special character within these walls; its own rules and own way of being.

I will miss also my Italian – some days are better than others but in general I am just loving feeling the beginnings of a new communication system in my life

I will miss the spectacular beauty of my surroundings; The Apennine Alps, The Piazzas, The wee narrow and winding streets, the roof scapes, the light, the freshness of the air, the Carrara Marble range, the heat in summer, the art and the music and the artists and musicians, the poets and the photographers.

But most of all, I will miss all my new friends – what a joy you all are.

None of this would have been possible without Keane ———-– Barga – wake up to your greatest living treasure.

I have a funny feeling I will be back. Spero e Aspettami

Grazie tutti . Grazie Mille. Hamish Moore 2nd October 2008

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The complete Hamish Moore articles recounting his year as Artist in Residence 2008 can be seen here but if you would like to listen instead of read, then pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable (the interview lasts for nearly an hour) and listen to the podcast which Hamish recorded this afternoon to wrap up the Artist in Residence 2008 project.

He went for a walk around the town and recorded his thoughts and ideas on a variety of subjects ranging from “Scottishness” – “ignoring people in the street” and “just what was the crofter wearing as he sat down to play his pipes?”

Click on the link below to hear Hamish (in English)
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At 9.20 pm the huge bells above the Duomo started to swing as three members of the Barga Bellringers strained on the thick ropes to move the many tonnes of inert ancient bronze. Within minutes the swinging movement was enough for the enormous clappers hanging inside the bells to connect with the waiting outside edges and the three silently moving objects were suddenly transformed into three powerful, singing, ringing, vibrant and interconnected notes that spread out across the  city.

For many people it made them check their watches or glance at the clock as the hour was somehow wrong but inside the  Teatro dei Differenti the timing could not have been better. The three notes filtered down through the open windows of the theatre and across the heads of the audience crammed into the darkened space. Just as the last note faded another joined it, this time from the Scottish small pipes held in the arms of the Hamish Moore, the Dunkeld pipemaker and piper who has been Barga’s musician-in-residence since the beginning of this year.

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The three note theme was then gradually picked up by other musicians who joined him on the stage and then the voices of the massed choirs of Sangstream from Scotland and L’edicola from Barga as they performed  the new tune “The Bells of Barga” specially written for the occasion by Hamish.

More on how he came to write this music can be found here)

It was the start of a triumphant evening that will be talked about for a long time to come as probably the most definitive expression of Scottish culture ever seen in this area – and all without one piece of tartan in evidence, no sign of any kilts, no ubiquitous Jimmy hats and absolutely no military drumming or marching. This was the real thing and the audience sat glued to their seats enjoying every precious minute of the three-hour long concert.

As Hamish confided just before the event, he had no doubt as to the quality of the music on offer this evening as there were world-class musicians on the stage, but he was unsure as to the reaction of the Barga audience to this kind of event. How would unaccompanied singers in Gaelic, step dancers and bagpipe players fit in with the sound of the traditional Italian mandolin players and choir of L’edicola.

He needn’t have worried. They moulded in perfectly. One side complementing the other. Music is after all an international language.

The audience were then treated to  singer and piper Ken Campbell, pipes and fiddle duo Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy, The Cast (Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis, who found themselves unexpectedly in the limelight when the Sex and the City film featured their beautiful rendition of Auld Lang Syne), traditional singers Scott Gardiner and Loreen Merriman, fiddler and pianist Fiona Moore and the “folk choir” Sangstream.

There had been articles in the Scottish press about this concert ( articles here) but so far one vital piece of information has been missing and an important piece of information it is too.

This whole concert was self funded by private contributions.  The choir Sangstream held fund raising events in Scotland to pay their own airfares and those of some of the other professional musicians taking part in the concert. Many of these playing for free or at vastly reduced rates than the sums that they would normally command. Another important contribution was the free accommodation provided in the city by for some of the musicians by a local benefactor. Last but not least was the money raised during the concert by the audience themselves who showed their appreciation with a voluntary contribution raising over 600 euros.

Hamish Moore last night voiced the opinion of many when he talked about the possibility of turning this event into an annual Scottish folk music festival.   The connections have all been made, the will is there, the proof that this kind of event can fill the theatre to capacity should all point towards a very good possibility that this indeed could happen. Barga already a hosts an opera festival, a very successful and growing Jazz Festival and so why not a Scottish folk music festival?

All it needs now is for an official sponsor to step forward.  Could it be  the Comune or maybe even privately run ?

Watch this space

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Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis singing auld lang syne with the Sangstream choir to close the concert

“It was in Aristos one cold morning in April and there were the four of us, Aristo, Marino, Keane and myself. The door was closed to the miserable cold and wet mountain air. (“fredoliiiiiinnnnnnnno” echoed round my ears as the lovely old lady sang out with a tortured painfulness in Fornaceto one morning of that extraordinarily cold and wet April) The wee gas heater was on and our bellies were full of lovely warming coffee. Quite the bunch of us when you think about it.

The Bells were playing their all familiar 3 notes and they certainly penetrated the creative consciousness of Keane that morning. The idea arrived with him of playing the bells maybe on the pipes. Aristo was straight on to the idea and knew without hesitation the notes to go for – G – F# and E.

Off came the cover of the keyboard and the bells were being tracked.
I ran (metaphorically speaking) round to Piazza Angelio to gather the pipes and we were up and running. The notes of the bells fitted perfectly on my D Small Pipes.

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From that moment onwards the Bells have become engrained in my consciousness, I worked out the system of time keeping and finally realised the monumental importance of these sacred sounds to the people of this magical castle. There is no escape. Every 15 minutes, a minute before the hour, on the hour, before masses, on Feast Days, baptisms, weddings and funerals and probably a lot more. This is why if you are willing to be at maximum 14 minutes and 59 seconds late (or for that matter early) for any given event you really don’t need a to own a watch in Barga. I recently lost mine and haven’t bothered to replace it – never more than 14 minutes 59 seconds away from the time. Sounds good to me and another stage closer to going native. I suppose the next stage will be to loose my wallet and walk around with no money !

Back to the Bells. I would at every opportunity, after that morning, when the bells were playing pick up my fiddle or my pipes and play along, to get right inside them, the notes, the randomness (or not) and the changing rhythms. Keane was on to something – there was a tune emerging from the notes and sounds of these bells. The F# is a wee bit flat I thought to myself one Sunday morning as I sat in my studio playing along. Now this is quite amazing you know. The old pipe scale is not a modern even tempered one but carries ancient and uneven (weird to the modern ear) intervals which of course sounded right to the old civilisations and peoples who devised and used them. The old pipe scale indeed does have a flat 3rd note which happens to be the equivalent note to the F# of the Bells scale.

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I remember well being at a summer school in California and the Californians being perplexed by this very note when played by the grand master of the Scotch Fiddle from Cape Breton Island (Buddy MacMaster) who was teaching that summer. “But why is your 3rd note so flat” the Californians would complain. Buddy would just reply that this is the way that we play it !!! Of course its the way that they play it because the old Scotch fiddling of the 18th century and before came straight from the piping traditions (and they have been jealously guarded ever since) and as I have explained this old pipe scale has a flat 3rd. The Californians needing to put this concept in a box, name it and categorise, coined the term – “supertonic third note of the scale” WOW !

So a tune based on these three notes, over time emerged and a new part came just this week.
The Concert of Scottish Traditional Music and Song which Paolo Marrone asked me to organise in the Theatre in Barga and which will take place on the 24th September will have this new tune played to open the concert. The choir who are coming over from Scotland have learned the notes of The Bells, they have learned the new tune “The Bells of Barga” and they will sing it; and all the musicians who are taking part have learned it. It will form the focus of the concert and Paolo has agreed to have the actual bells sounding to start the concert. (article about the concert here)

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So the concert will be signed in and blessed by the bells.

But over a small glass of wine one night in Piazza Angelio, Paolo said to me, “ah but Hamish do you know where the notes came from – what the inspiration for these three notes were ? – it was a medieval lullaby, The Nina Nana”

Paulo found the music and the words for me and Mairi Campbell is as I write learning this ancient lullaby. She will sing it to close the concert.

What fortunes and riches were born from a cold April morning in “The Cultural Centre of Barga”

Hamish Moore – artist in residence Barga 2008 – all Hamish articles can be read here

Background to the Concert.

One evening in May, while walking home through Piazza Angelio, Paolo Marrone stopped me and offered me the Theatre in Barga to put on a concert of Scottish Traditional Music and Song. What an opportunity.!

With me on that occasion were two members of an art group from John Ballanie’s home town, Port Seaton who also happen to be members of The Choir, Sangstream which is directed by my good friend and musical colleague, Mairi Campbell. As well as directing the choir, Mairi performs with her husband Dave Francis and are collectively known as “The Cast“. They can now be famously heard singing the original version of Auld Lang Syne on the recently released movie, “Sex and the City”.

Also in the choir is another soloist in his own right, Scott Gardner, one of Scotland’s finest young Bothy Ballad singers.

Also, by chance visiting with me in Barga at that time was my old singer/songwriter pal, Ken Campbell.

So – we had there and then, the basis of the concert. I added a few family members who had visited me previously in Barga (articles here) and the only other addition is another friend (Laureen Merrieman) who happens to be visiting in September and has one of the most stunning voices I know.

To tie all of this together on the night, to introduce all the acts and to give us some good Scots/Italian humour and crack, I needed one or two Scots Italians for the show. I eventually found the wonderful trio of Sonia, Vanda and Adelle who will be the magnificent team of M.C’s. for the concert.

All the acts will give us a true feel for authentic Scottish Traditional Culture.

The singing is raw and given from the heart and comes from an unbroken seam of tradition. There are some contemporary influences too and we have included as much Italian/Scots cross cultural influences as we can.

The instrumental music is energetic and full of emotional energy, invoking both tragedy and joy.

The dancing is represented by the old hard shoe percussive step dancing of Scotland which was all but lost in the old country but was carried to Nova Scotia (and especially Cape Breton Island) by the enforced emigrations of the highlanders at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. This step dancing like their singing and music has been jealously guarded and tenaciously held on to by these Gaelic Speaking Highlanders.

What the concert will not represent is the quasi classical Victoriana construct which was given to Scotland and made fit for the drawing rooms of London and Edinburgh.

Attending the concert will give a true insight into the real side of Scottish Culture.

Prepare to have your emotions stirred.

Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell – The Cast. Vocals, guitar, violin and viola.

Ken Campbell. Singer Songwriter.

Hamish and Fiona Moore. Pipes, Fiddle, Piano.

Scott Gardner. Solo Bothy Ballad Singer.

Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy. Border Pipes and Fiddle.

Laureen Merrieman. Unaccompanied Traditional Singer.

Sang Stream – a dynamic and imaginative Scots Choir directed by Mairi Campbell

L’Edicola

THEY say that in the Tuscan hill town of Barga, near Lucca, anyone who speaks English does so with a Glasgow accent, such has been the degree of emigration to the west of Scotland from the area.

This may be an exaggeration, but it is entirely true that on Wednesday the town will resound with the strains of Scottish traditional music.

The pealing bells of the medieval town’s duomo will mell with the strains of Scots and Italian choirs to introduce a line-up of visiting singers and players, including singer and piper Ken Campbell, pipes and fiddle duo Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy, The Cast (Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis, who found themselves unexpectedly in the limelight when the Sex and the City film featured their beautiful rendition of Auld Lang Syne), traditional singers Scott Gardiner and Loreen Merriman, fiddler and pianist Fiona Moore and the “folk choir” Sangstream.

The event, which may well become an annual event in the town’s 17th-century theatre, has been organised by Hamish Moore, the Dunkeld pipemaker and piper (and father of Fin and Fiona), who has been Barga’s musician-in-residence since the beginning of the year.

He first visited the place in May last year, having heard the Scottish painter John Bellany, who now lives there, extolling its merits on a radio show. “Barga is full of artists and musicians and creative people of all sorts,” says Moore. “One of the local bars, Aristo’s, is the unofficial cultural centre (site here), and I got involved with music sessions there with my small pipes.”

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During such sessions, he fell in with the editor of the English- language online journal Barganews, and they came up with the idea of an artist-in-residence. Next thing he knew, Moore was summoned to the mayor’s office and officially offered the post. He has spent this year installed in a rent- and rates-free studio in Piazza Angelio, the main square of the old town.

Leaving his flourishing pipemaking business in Perthshire in the charge of his son, Fin, Moore currently makes the chanters and their reeds in Barga, dispatching them back to Dunkeld for finishing the pipes. He describes his residency as “one of the most enjoyable and privileged experiences of my life. The old town is just magical. Because the streets are too narrow for traffic, for the most part everyone walks everywhere, so there is always communication between people on the streets.”

While he reports that there is no tradition of the zampogna – the big Italian bagpipe – in the area, he was invited to the province of Iserna, where zampognas are still played, and gave workshops in the Italian Spring Piping School there.

Nothing prepared him for Barga town centre at the height of the summer season when, he says, “it’s like walking down Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday afternoon”. (articles here)

“It is estimated that 60 per cent of the population of Barga have relatives in the west of Scotland, mainly in Glasgow, Paisley, Largs and Saltcoats.” Of the three Italian women Moore has recruited to act as MCs for Wednesday’s concert, one used to run a cafe at Bearsden Cross while another comes from an Italian family in Dumfries.

Barga already hosts a jazz festival (site here), an opera festival (aticles here) and, of course, its unique Sagra del Pesce e Patate, a celebration of that decidedly non-Italian concoction that nevertheless made the livings and sometimes the fortunes of its enterprising immigrants – fish and chips. Now it seems on the way to boasting its own Scottish folk festival as well. What more could a place want?

By Jim Gilchrist (source Scotsman)

Simple cultural differences are sometimes the stuff of amusement and its almost a devil of a job to get a cup of tea in Aristos. The concept of sitting, lingering over a long hot drink doesn’t exist here in Italy, with the possible exception of a cappuccino which is taken, as a rule before high noon.

The idea of cafe on the other hand is revered and it is intense : maximum flavour; maximum quality; maximum caffeine; maximum hit; minimum quantity and minimum time to drink it, minimum cost.
“TEA” – what do you mean “Tea,” Marino would berate me with and on one occasion when I asked for a pot, I thought I may even be shown the door.

This all reminded me so much of the legendary Oxford Bar in the new town of Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful and tiny bar with a great atmosphere and one of Scotland’s best kept secrets. There’s a lovely giant snug just off the main bar, the scene of some mighty traditional music sessions in the old days.

Now; back to the connections – in those old days and before he was dragged kicking and screaming into the second half of the 20th century, the landlord only really had beer and whisky on offer – several taps of the finest real ale on the bar and a gantry full of the best malts. I must recount a legendary story though, which has maybe almost become apocryphal. A couple of women came into the bar one night (an unusual enough sight in itself in those days) and asked for two Gin and Tonics which was a bit of a shock to the landlord – “WELL WELL” – but after much huffing and galumphing, a bottle of gin was found somewhere under the bar or possibly even in a back room. It has to be said that it wasn’t a popular choice and the pressure was rising. The big, big mistake though came later when a packet of crisps was requested – WOW – what an explosion followed –

“what do you think this is :- a flippin restaurant”

and with that they were shown the door.

Failte Gu Alba / Welcome to Scotland.

At least Marino was only joking (I think).

The Oxford Bar is of course where old Rebus (the Edinburgh detective) hangs out in Ian Rankin’s celebrated novels.

Rebus – I couldn’t believe it.

While at Babbity Bowster’s last summer, another famous traditional music bar, this time in Glasgow’s Merchant City, I spotted Rebus himself, (at least the actor who plays him) Ken Stott, an old friend from School. His brother Jo was in my class and their dad was our English teacher. His Dad, (bouncer !) having an Italian wife, spoke the language fluently. He started The Italian Society at school and through this I did Italian for one term in my sixth year. Apart from basic pronunciation and a few words of vocabulary, I don’t seem to remember learning much Italian, the incentive being very much more to do with getting to hang out, feeling very cool, in some Italian café in Edinburgh’s east end and drinking cappuccinos with the girls from Holy Cross; very exciting and enticing for us who were at an all boys school, and the girls from Holy Cross were all Scots Italians and as I remember vividly, very exotic and very beautiful.

As well as this, being friends with Ken and Jo had added bonuses. We used to be invited back to the Stott family home where Mrs Stott, who was Italian and originally from a Sicilian family fed us fantastic bowls of pasta done in oodles of olive oil and garlic at a time when the rest of Scotland knew only the spaghetti variety which came out of a Heinz tin.

All this came at a time when I had had a couple of trips out to Rome to meet my Dad. He worked then for F.A.O. and their headquarters are in Rome. I had just read Michelangelo’s biography and spent much of my time admiring with awe much of his work in Rome.

My Italian connection and love affair with this amazing country was indeed at this point well established. As well as the marvels of Rome, we made trips to The Amalphi coast, Napoli, Capri and Pompei.

Back though to the Stotts and last year I learned more of the family through Ken being featured on a television programme back here in Scotland.

Ken and Jo’s Mum’s parents were Sicilian, but they had to flee hurriedly to Milan when news came of her mum’s pregnancy.

Her Dad was a priest in the catholic church !

Following their departure from Sicily, he studied law in Milan and went on to become a successful lawyer there. This tail was recounted by Ken on a T.V. documentary which I had seen last year, the format of the programme being to take a famous celebrity, trace the origins of their family and take them back to their roots, and it was indeed amazing to see Ken out fishing with his Sicilian cousins.

I have had a couple of trips to Sicily myself about fifteen years ago. I took a Pipe Band out, over Christmas – twice ! They drank the bar dry – twice ! We ate squid for Christmas dinner – can you imagine !? We played Christmas Carols on the pipes, met The Zampogna players who played more Carols, sang songs in the back of the bus and had a snow ball fight half way up Mount Etna.

Because the gigs were inevitably at the other end of the island, we always had early starts and it was a nightmare to try and get them up and away in the early mornings. We cracked a system though: they would stay up late, drinking and then when the time was right, they would get dressed up in their uniforms : kilt, belt, spats, long hairy sporran, plaid, etc. after which they would collapse flat on their backs, on their beds, till the alarm call usually at 5.00 a.m., at which point they would sit bolt upright, grab their pipes and with a robot like gait, stagger on to the bus and instantly fall back to sleep.

I signed three lots of contracts for those trips, all official,

and was entertained to a luxury long weekend trip to somewhere beautiful (which shall remain nameless ) in north eastern Italy to do the signing.

Three Contracts required – Three Contracts Signed

one for the amount I was to be paid (x),

one for the funding body (2x)

one for the tax man (1/2x)

Benvenuto caldo a Italia.

Hamish Moore – Barga – 29th June 2008. – The ninth article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – all of his articles can be read here

We have just had two feast days here in Barga, here in Italy, and they were celebrated in style, with conviction and boundless energy.
The first was on the 25th of April, Giorno di Liberazione, when liberation from the horrors of fascism during the second world war is celebrated, and the second was on the first of May, International Worker’s Day.

Politics is a particularly complex subject in Italy and there still seems to exist the reality of extreme right or left wing views. The part Italy played in the second world war is also extremely complex and all of this bubbles away just under the surface; you just need to scratch a bit and it all surfaces with ease; in the piazzas, on the streets or in the bars.
All of this brought to mind some poetry of relevance to these two recent feast days and it is this which I would like to share with you in this blog.

Hamish Henderson, although a pacifist was willingly involved in the war and wrote some of the best poetry from that war in Italy. He fought both against and for the Italians and forged close links which eventually blossomed into important and remarkable cultural ties. It was in fact Captain Henderson who accepted the surrender of Italy on 29th April 1945.
He is arguably Scotland’s finest poet of the 20th century.
“ Freedom is never a gift from above; it invariably has to be won anew by its own exercises”

The D- Day Dodgers. ( A satirical attack on Lady Astor )

We’re the D – Day Dodgers, out in Italy -
Always on the vino, always on the spree.
8th Army scroungers and their tanks
We live in Rome – among the Yanks.
We are the D – Day Dodgers, way out in Italy.

We landed in Salerno, a holiday with pay,
The Jerries brought the bands out to greet us on the way
Showed us the sights and gave us tea.
We all sang songs – the beer was free,
To welcome D – Day Dodgers to sunny Italy.

Naples and Casino were taken in our stride,
We didn’t go to fight there – we went there for the ride.
Anzio and Sangro were just names,
We only went to look for dames -
The artful D – Day Dodgers, way out in Italy.

On the way to Florence we had a lovely time.
We ran a bus to Rimini right through the Gothic line.
Soon to Bologna we will go
And after that we’ll cross the Po.
We’ll still be D – Day Dodging, way out in Italy.

Once we heard a rumour that we were going home,
Back to dear old Blighty – never more to roam.
Then someone said: “In France you’ll fight !”
We said : no fear – we’ll just sit tight !”
( The windy D – Day Dodgers to stay in Italy).

Dear Lady Astor, you think you know a lot,
Standing on your platform and talking tommy – rot.
You, England’s sweetheart and its pride,
We think your mouth’s too bloody wide,
That’s from your D – Day Dodgers – in far off Italy.

Look around the mountains, in the mud and rain -
You’ll find scattered crosses – (there’s some which have no name).
Heartbreak and toil and suffering gone,
The boys beneath them slumber on.
Those are the D – Day Dodgers who’ll stay in Italy.

“Re cast in verse” of Corrado Govoni’s “Lament for The Son” ( One of the most moving poems of the second world war)

He was the most beautiful son on Earth,
Braver than a hero of antiquity,
Gentler than an Angel of God:
Tall and dark, his hair like a forest,
Or like that intoxicating canopy
Which spreads over the Po valley ;
And you, without pity for me, killed him
- there , in a cave of dull – red sandstone.
He was the whole treasure
Of war, of sanctuary and of crown,
Of my accepted human poverty,
Of my discounted poetry -
You, once his hiding place was discovered
(after which no angel could sleep) -
You, with your thieving hands
That were strangers to no sacrilege, you carried him away at the run
Into the darkness
To destroy him without being seen -
Before I had time to cry out :
“Stop!
Put him down
That is my son!”

He was my new sun, he was the triumph of my betrayed boyhood;
And you changed him in front of my
praying hands
Into a heap of worms and ashes.
Mutilated, hurt, blinded,
Only I know the tragic weight I am carrying,
I am the living cross of my dead son.

And that tremendous and precious weight
Of such great suffering, of such unbearable glory
Becomes daily harder and more heavy;
It breaks my skin,
It fractures every joint,
It tears my soul;
And yet I shall have to carry it
As my sole good -
As long as I have one beat
Of love in my old veins for him.
I shall carry him, sinking on my knees, if I have to,
Until the day of my own burial.
Only then will we be down there together,
A perfect and obscure cross.

And finally I would like to share Hamish’s brilliant song, “The Freedom Come-All-Ye” which he set the ¾ pipe march; “The Bloody Fields of Flanders”

Roch the wind in the clear day’s dawin
Blaws the cloods heelster-gowdie ow’r the bay,
But there’s mair nor a roch wind blawin
Through the great glen o’ the world the day.
It s a thoucht that will gar oor rottans
- A’ they rogues that gang gallus, fresh and gay -
Tak the road and seek ither loanins
For their ill ploys tae sport and play.

Nae mair will our bonnie callants
Mairch tae war when oor braggats crousely craw,
Nor wee weans frae pit-heid and clachan
Mourn the ships sailing doon the Broomielaw.
Broken faimilies in lands we’ve herriet,
Will curse Scotland the Brave nae mair, mae mair;
Black and white,ane til ither mairiet,
Mak the vile barracks o’ their maisters bare.

So come all ye at hame wi’ Freedom,
Never mind what the hoodies croak for doom,
In your hoose a’ the bairns o’ Adam
Can find breid, barley-bree and painted room.
When MacLean meets wi’ his freens in Springburn
A’ the roses and geans will turn tae bloom,
And the black boy frae yont Nyanga
Dings the fell gallows o’ the burghers doon.

( note – the black boy referred to in the last verse is Nelson Mandela)

What a powerful poem of freedom, equality and egalitarianism and what a wonderful national anthem it would make for Scotland.

These poems and much more of Hamish’s work can be found on the CD – “Hamish Henderson – Tribute Album.” CDTRAX 244
Greentrax Recordings Ltd, Edinburgh Rd. Cockenzie, East Lothian, Scotland. EH32 0XL.
website. www.greentrax.com

Hamish Moore – Barga – 26th May 2008. – The eighth article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – all of his articles can be read here

A concert this afternoon in Piazza Angelio of traditional Scottish music by Fin Moore and Sarah Moy. The couple have played recent concerts in New York, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong and now Barga. They were invited here as guests of Hamish Moore, artist in residence 2008 and it is no coincidence that both Hamish and Fin share the same surname as they are in fact – father and son.

Both are makers and accomplished players of the Scottish small pipes and border pipes

Fin Moore and Sarah Hoy started playing as an exciting duo 2 years ago, after leading sessions in Birnam, a hot-bed of Scots music in the heartlands of Perthshire. They quickly became in demand for other session work and concert performances further afield, and have since performed together all over Scotland, at festivals in England, and at festivals and schools in the USA. They recently pulled off a first place in competition at the Edinburgh and Lowlands Piping Festival.

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The pipes and fiddle together produce a pure, timeless, and perfectly balanced sound. In the hands of this pair, they can turn out music from the most heart-achingly beautiful slow air, to a set of reels that would have your granny spinning round the floor.

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Fin Moore is a piper, born & bred. He plays the Highland pipes, Border pipes and Scottish Small Pipes. For five years, he played in the Vale of Atholl Juvenile Band and is now a partner with his father, Hamish, (articles here) as very successful pipemakers.

Fin is gaining a great reputation as a teacher of pipes, having completed four summer seasons teaching at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton. He has also taught at the Lowland and Border Pipers Society annual teaching weekend in Melrose and at Piper Gathering North Hero, Vermont and other schools around the world.

He has now performed at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton, the Edinburgh International Festival and the William Kennedy Piping Festival, Armagh. He has played solo and with bands including, Dannsa who are gaining great respect in Scotland and abroad for their traditional and innovating dancing, the internationally renowned Cape Breton band, Slainte Mhath, and Back of the Moon, winners at the traditional music awards 2003.

“this boy was born to play a reel and when he did so on the Scottish Small Pipes, stamping both feet to produce a step dance rhythm section…….. living precariously with his own exciting variations, he was magic” Alastair Clark, The Scotsman

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Sarah Hoy was born into a family steeped in musical tradition. She took up the fiddle aged eight, learning from her father Derek, fiddler with classic Scots band, Jock Tamson’s Bairns, and later with Mairi Campbell, well-known fiddler, singer and step dancer.

Having been an enthusiastic learner at music events in her teens, it was natural for Sarah to turn to helping pass on the music and dancing to a new generation. She has now established her own school for young fiddlers in her area, and has taught round Scotland, in England and the USA.

Sarah plays with a dance band, the Trows, and sits in with her dad in Bella McNab’s Dance Band. She has performed at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Edinburgh International Festival, and played for step dancing at Ceolas summer school on South Uist. Sarah taught and performed at Edinburgh Fiddle Festival and featured on ‘Heat The Hoose 2′, a compilation of top Scottish fiddlers at the festival.

“Her upbeat style is immensely likeable, and her compositions immediately caught my attention.” Cheryl Turner, Rambles

I stayed longer than I would have ideally but the airfares went up during and around Easter. That bearded one, has a lot to answer for !
Actually, Easter in Scotland, apart from two days public holiday, is generally, religiously and even commercially a bit of a non event. I find it difficult to believe, but even commercially there just isn’t a hard sell even compared to the likes of Mother’s Day or Halloween. We are normally bombarded throughout the year with “must have” buys to celebrate this or that festival and these days, one seamlessly slides into the next. Not so with Easter in Scotland.
The reformation saw to that. Unlike its English counterpart, (which was really all about Henry the something needing a divorce) the Scottish reformation was altogether a different affair and was probably the most extreme in Europe.

Apart from the obvious changes in religious practices and how the church is administered, it was an act of artistic vandalism on a gigantic scale and was systematically carried out throughout the length and breadth of the land. There wasn’t an artistic or religious artifact left after it was finished and there is only one prereformation church intact in Scotland today. It was carried out as a response, I suppose, to the desperate need for change within The Catholic Church – now – what is that law in physics ? – every reaction is equal and opposite to its action. Not only did the reformation put paid to Easter as a spiritual feast but it was common place for men to be working on Christmas day up until the early 1960′s. What’s that expression concerning babies and bathwater ? Christmas is of course different now. Its the biggest spending spree of the lot. The commercial boys sorted that one.

Two weeks was too long though. It broke the rhythm of being in Barga and I became too accustomed to the wonderful face of our Nuova Scozia.

Prestwick airport: arrival area and good coffee, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese and olive oil on freshly baked bread, not to mention a railway station in the airport. We have come a long way in the last 30 years. There was even a “Welcome to Scotland” sign in amongst some lovely and tasteful images of Scotland. The welcome sign even had its Gaelic translation, “Failte Gu Alba” below the English version albeit in much smaller letters. Is this officially an act of sedition ? – I suspect so !

Is this wonderful language (which was once spoken all over Scotland) and its accompanying culture safe now ? I so hope it is. Successive governments for hundreds of years have been trying to eliminate it. Its now been officially recognised and has its place once more in our Parliament. Its been the churches though (both Catholic and Presbyterian) in The Western Isles who have traditionally been and still are the main champions of the language and what a fantastic job they have done by encouraging Gaelic to be spoken in the family home and conducting their church services and masses in Gaelic.
Scots too as a language is flourishing again. Although not publicly funded to the same extent as Gaelic there is a growing awareness of and pride in this other linguistic string to our bow and there is a great movement to preserve this rich seam of our national culture. It was common place not so long ago to be made to feel stupid for speaking it. I think these days are largely gone now.

Since May when for the first time an S.N.P. government was elected to power (albeit with only a majority of one) it has achieved much, much more for Scotland than Labour did in the previous 10 years. What is even more amazing is that the policies which have been enacted are social democratic ones which Labour are supposed to stand for. They don’t of course. Tony Blair saw to that and with some pretty bad acting skills and some slithery stealth, created a “New Labour” with more right wing policies than the Tories.
Scotland has traditionally always been a socialist country with egalitarian ideals. Cries from opponents to The Scottish National Party have always been that they are “Tartan Tories” ; but listen to this :

Since May of last year with a majority of only one, The S.N.P. have

Ended private sector involvement in The Scottish Health Service. (put there ironically enough by Labour)
Abolished prescription charges.
Saved local Accident and Emergency Units.
Backdated the N.H.S. pay award.
Abolished student fees.
Cut class sizes in schools.
Given equal rights to children of asylum seekers.
Started a pilot scheme for free school meals.
Rejected nuclear power.
Doubled the international aid budget.
Condemned the Iraqi war.
Ended ring fencing of council spending.
Abolished bridge tolls.

As well as all of these new found changes and leaving politics aside my journey home was filled with joy. We celebrated my Dad’s 89th birthday in style. I spent valuable time with family and friends and especially loved seeing the monumental changes in the new wee one, Maura. Actually she is coming to Barga soon and no doubt will, (in true Moore family tradition) be joining in one of the music sessions in Aristos. You can’t start them off too early you know.
I have been at an exceptional night of opera in The Duomo since coming back. A group of young music students from Cardiff are over doing a series of concerts : Rossini , Verdi, Vivaldi, Brahms and Mozart.
So much talent and such beautiful voices. (article here)

But hey – us musicians and singers: we’re all amateurs compared with the birds and most especially the blackies.

And it was the birds, it occurred to me after my return, that linked the trip to Scotland and my return to Barga.

The Curlews with their spine tingling cries had arrived back in the marshy ground surrounding my workshop. The name of my old farm buildings where my workshop is housed is Fungarth. This is a crude (as they all were) cartographer’s Anglicization of a beautiful Gaelic word which tells us so much about the place.
Fionngort – it means “light” (that’s the “fionn” bit and the steading is indeed south facing) peninsula of fertile land in a sea of land which is not quite so fertile ; and its these not quite so fertile bits which provide rich nesting grounds for the curlews.
Oystercatchers were not to be outdone and were joining in and a persistent wood pecker drummed on my huge ash tree. The bonny wee wrens were still hopping along the stone dykes beside me as I walked, before suddenly disappearing off back to their tree stumps and their troglodytic existence. Its hard to believe that they used to be hunted on St. Stephen’s day in Ireland – for sport .
Over the pastoral lands between Auchtermuchty (of the aforementioned Jimmy Shand fame) and Falkland (where that prereformation chapel of the Stewart dynasty still stands) we heard the beautiful sound of the Skye Larks and saw and heard the Piwits (and their name describes their call) diving and weaving their way round the newly ploughed fields. They are the ones who as a diversionary tactic feign a broken wing (and the resultant dives and falls from the sky are spectacular to watch) when anyone comes anywhere near their nest.

On the coast I saw waders and amongst them heard the plaintive call of the Red Shanks. These birds because they spend half their time on the shore and half in the sea were thought by the ancient Gaelic peoples to inhabit a place between this world and the spirit world. Their cry, (peeleeleelyooo) is dominated by the myxolidian flattened 7th of the pipe scale which represents the note of sorrow on that instrument. In fact every note on the pipes is associated with a different emotion: maybe for discussion another day with the relationships of The Launedas from Sardinia to our ancient Pictish Triple Pipe.
A group of six Swans like overladen jumbo jets took for ever to take off over the Tay and their majestic slowly beating wings brought Sibelius’s 5th resounded round my head.
The Wild Geese in their movable V formations were on the move north after overwintering in Scotland and their wondrous honking echoed round their world and mine.

Back in Barga spring had sprung and I quickly moved into my new accommodation, (Latriani) a rustic farm house just to the North east of Barga, with spectacular views overlooking the old city with its sheer cliff face forming one of four sides of this most natural of amphitheaters. It is home to thousands of birds and it was they who welcomed me, with their song resounding round this beautiful acoustic basin. The shear volume of sound is astounding at dawn. There’s even a blue tit who comes and chaps on my kitchen window pane each morning at about 8am : an unusual alarm but effective. The swallows had arrived back in Barga too. They’re not back in Scotland yet but will be soon. I’ve kept a diary note each year of when the swallows arrive and its mind-blowing as to how these tiny creatures manage to fly all that way from Africa across the Sahara and arrive back on the same date (plus or minus one) every year. How do they do it ?

But in song, its the blackbirds really who excel and they are here in abundance in Barga singing their hearts out.

Let me finish with a poem from “The Cycle of Finn” taken from Kenneth White’s book, “On the Atlantic Edge”. It says it all in such few words. (Thanks to my good pal Donald for giving me this book the day before I came back to Barga. I have loved it and am re-reading for second time)

“Your song is sweet, blackbird ,
no where in the world have I heard music sweeter than yours.
You, priest, would do well to listen, you can always go back to your prayers later.
If you knew the real story of the blackbird, priest, you’d weep tears, you might even stop for a moment thinking about your God.
It was in the blue-streamed land of Norway that Finn caught the bird you now see.
And he put it in a wood of the West, in a wood of fine trees where the Fianna loved to take their rest.
Finn loved to lie there listening to the blackbird sing or the stag roar.
He also loved the song of the grouse, the sound made by the otter as it slips into the water, and the screech of the eagle.
He delighted in the noise of the waves in the morning as they rolled over the beach of white pebbles.”

Hamish Moore – Barga – 12th April 2008. – The seventh article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – all of his articles can be read here

It was early morning when I trundled down the mountain to Gallicano to catch the 8.41 train to Lucca. We had been enjoying some lovely warm spring like days in Barga but the forecast for the day was for northern winds with snow. Everyone was wrapped up well in the lovely wee station and there was tension in the air: a deep seated,  palpable (and vocal ) concern about the cold.

It just confirmed to me how much the weather affects the feelings and consciousness of a people, something  we know only too well in Scotland.

I was on my way to Isernia, to The Italian Spring School of Scottish Piping at the invitation of the generous and inspirational Duilio Vigliotti. If this (and the wonderful hospitality, food and wine) weren't enough there was a bonus in store: a visit to the mountain village of Scapoli which is at the heart of the Zampogna tradition in Italy.

These polyphonic bagpipes are undergoing something of a renaissance at the moment.  Have a look at the images of the amazing two chantered and one droned bagpipes to see at last the reason for their name.

 
The Journey continued smoothly with a quick change in Lucca, a bit of a wait in a biting and thin wind in Florence , a cup of welcome coffee and a sandwich in Rome and very relaxed final leg to Isernia. 

The trains in Italy are truly a proper and not a pretend public service. They run on time, are clean, the cheapest in Europe and are very user friendly. They are an incentive for anyone to use them and are wonderful. What a contrast  to the Scottish situation. I would encourage someone with influence from Scot rail to take a cheap flight to Pisa and travel about a bit (Rome, Naples, Florence,Milan,Sienna) to see how its done. Nae Problem !

Isernia was amazing. I was in the company of Simon McKerrell and Margaret Houlihan along with four students of The R.S.A.M.D. who are nearing the end of their degree course in Traditional Music. There were over a dozen Italian students and I was asked to give a couple of workshops / teaching sessions (using my small pipes) in my style of playing. The weekend was packed with activities, wonderful food and wine, good tunes and company.

Mike Paterson, The Editor of Piping Today (The Official Magazine of The National Piping Centre in Glasgow) and I spent quite a bit of time together and sorted out a lot of today's problems in the piping world as well as the world in general, for that matter.

On Sunday afternoon we took a four hour hike up to the mountain village of Pesce. We had admired it the evening before as the setting sun transformed it into a warm glowing peach. Mike had been writing that afternoon for Piping Today as I had witnessed Scotland winning the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield. No such victory this last weekend in Rome against Italy as the game was literally thrown away. No need to mention names but why does he keep getting picked.

It was an arduous trek to Pesce but worth it. The old town had almost been carved into the cliff face so that from a near distance the buildings seemed only two dimensional.
The streets are so steep, narrow and winding that it makes the Via di Mezzo seem like the main highway linking Rome to Florence!  We made it back safely after the walk and after yet another beautiful meal were treated to a Sunday night of wine tasting in old Isernia where we sampled fine red Italian  wines every bit as good as the best claret from Bordeaux.

It was still cold on Monday morning and as we climbed into the mountains we witnessed clouds hugging the snow covered tops and a raw air assaulted us when we left the warmth of our cars. Scapoli is a fairly typical Italian mountain village but us the day progresses we came to understand its real significance.

The Zampogna is one of the vast family of related European bagpipes and its traditions were carried by shepherds who would, in the off season, (when the sheep were not demanding time and attention) travel and play in return for some money and hospitality. The instrument and its repertoire (much of which was associated with Christmas) remained largely stuck in a time warp until recently when, in particular, two players have been developing its repertoire and techniques.

We were treated with visits to a prominent maker's workshop and two bagpipe museums. In one of the museums we were given a  concert with one of the leading players and learned of the modern developments of the instrument from these very fine makers. As in Scotland with the revival of the bellows blown instruments, the makers have to be working hand in hand with the players in research and development.

I found the whole day profoundly interesting and will take with me happy memories and a newfound knowledge and experience.

I have long since been interested in trying Olive as a timber in the manufacture of Border Pipes or D Small Pipes and learned not only that it was possible but was one of the woods of choice for Zampogna making . I can see a couple of sets being made in Barga from Olive if I can lay my hands of enough musical instrument quality wood.

The safe and happy return to Barga saw no let up in over indulgent eating experiences and tied the Zampogna's strange name with what has become my favourite meat dish since arriving.; A trip to Eva's Restaurant for lunch and what was on the menu: my favorite : Stinko ! 

Benvento. Welcome Home.

Postscript.Zampogna derives its name from an Italian word which means "pig's legs

"Stinko is a traditional dish of boiled pig shank

Hamish Moore 20th March 2008 – The sixh article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – all of his articles can be read here

Barga Scottish connections are renowned and legendary but I have to say – it's true. (Just before I get into this I have relate a story visa a vie last weeks rant about supermarkets. It was last Wednesday – forgot it was half day in Barga so took a turn into the wee, local and as it turns out useful supermarket. The young fresh faced check out lad keen to practise and possible show off a bit with his English was having none of my pigeon Italian and as a parting shot said those dreaded words " Have  A Nice Day" : I suppose the old exception to prove the rule – or is this just a bit more globalisation !  

There's Bellany for a start and as you enter Barga there is the well known East Lothian sign of the sea bird ; I think its a gannet . Its kind of strange seeing such a familiar symbol of home here in the high hills of Tuscany. The radio Scotland interview with this fabulous artist was the catalyst which finally sealed it for me. After hearing his wonderful words describing Barga, I had to make the journey to experience this mystical and magical place. There are boat loads of Scots Italians here either visiting their family or holiday homes or working and or living in the town. I can think of five prominent local businesses owned and run by Italian/Scots. These are people who were born and brought up in Scotland (but have now returned to Barga) to Italian parents who had made the journey to Scotland to set up businesses, mainly ice cream or fish and chip shops in the west of Scotland.

Every week that passes and as the spring approaches, the arrival of new scots voices seems to increase. I have to say it is comforting in a strange way.   But: why Scotland – why Barga.   It could be serendipity. A few chose the west of Scotland to make a new life, a new home for themselves, and as we Scots took to the best ice cream and fish and chips in the world, more and more help in the form of family members and friends made their way to aid in satisfying the ever increasing demand.  Glasgow, Paisley , Largs, Saltcoats, Falkirk :- These are the place names quoted time and time again.

Last summer on my trip here I turned a corner in Barga and strolling down the street with a group of friends was a typical example of an Italian in every way – looks, style, language, everything ;bellafigura. There was just one thing which made him stand out amongst his peer group : he was proudly wearing a kilt which was predominantly blue and black in  colour. Of course we got into conversation and it turned out that his Mum and Dad, originally from Barga, have the fish and chip shop in Falkirk and he himself had designed the tartan. He's had it officially registered and is now – The official Italian tartan. (article about Michael Lemetti here)

These sort of stories are cropping up with increasing regularity.   The other explanation of – why Scotland : why Barga comes in a truly legendary form and brings to mind an old 78 rpm record which my Mum and Dad had in the house when I was a child. The old Pye radiogramme was a great source of important information to me.  Of course  – It provided entertainment value for Mum and Dad in the form of  mainly Roger's and Hammerstein musicals such as The King and I , Oklahoma , South Pacific and – well – you get the drift !! ; but it also provided me with a frame work for identity. I was born (of Scottish parents) and brought up until the age of eleven in The West Indies and as such carried and flitted quite happily between three separate identities. I was a local wee boy playing and going to school in a multi racial society with everything that that entailed. I was, when I stepped through the door of my home, a small colonial white boy and then,  when taken back to my working class family in Glasgow, as I was regularly, a Scot with cousins and grandparents, aunts and uncles (and very many of whom were of the great variety) in a truly wonderful extended family in Springburn and Bishopbriggs.

These experiences made me acutely aware of culture and cultural differences in general but of Scottish culture in particular. Having  a father who was a piper and regularly practiced and got his pipes in order to play for The St. Andrew's Balls and Burn's Suppers in Trinidad provided the inspiration for me. It didn't take much for me, with great enthusiasm, to  take to the practice chanter ate the age of 8 with my Dad as my first teacher. That half sized chanter was made for me by Jim Pettigrew who at the time worked for R.G. Hardies in Bishopbriggs just a few yards away from my maternal grandmother's front door.  I remember well watching with awe as Jim turned the blackwood in that old workshop producing some of the best pipes and in particular pipe chanters of their day. 

As well as the old R &H ,  I heard my first piping LP in Trinidad on that old Pye. I think Dad procured it by mail order as I seem to remember it arriving in the post  – "Scottish Pipes" which included as well as some military bands, solos from Pipe Major Donald Shaw Ramsay and a few highly significant tracks from The City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band. I still refer to these Police tracks in a lecture I give on old rhythms in piping as it provides a perfect example of how strathspeys and reels were played. The pipe major of the day, Seanie MacDonald took the tempos and rhythms from his native South Uist and set these as standard for the band.  There were countless, and I have to say, priceless Jimmy Shand LP's. The man was a genius ; a master of rhythm and provided music which  is perfect to dance to. I knew his piano player when I was at university in Edinburgh and to illustrate Jimmie's dry and acerbic wit, he recounted a story of their touring days in the north of England. On these lengthy and grueling tours, the band would be accommodated in various  B&B's along the route and at breakfast one morning Jimmy asked for some honey to go on his toast. The land lady brought one of these plastic wrapped individual portions of honey – quick as a flash and with precision timing, Jimmy was heard to say " I see you keep a bee ! " They have erected a statue of him ( and not before time )&nbsp
; in his home town of Auchtermuchty.

Neil Gow of Dunkeld who gave Scotland and the world some of its finest fiddle music hasn't quite achieved that status yet. He lived in the Perthshire village of Dunkeld in the 18th century – no sign of one yet to him but I believe there is a fund raising project going on. Beatrix Potter who has only a fleeting and spurious link with Dunkeld seems to have done better with a whole garden dedicated to her and a permanent exhibition mounted in her honour. She used to spend her summer holidays in Dunkeld from The Lake District in The North of England. —————————–
There was Kenneth Mackellar and Robert Wilson LP's representing the fashion of trained and classical  tenor voices of Scottish singing.
The music hall was also present in the collection in the form of Harry Lauder and Will Fyfe. I quite liked the latter as there was an honesty about the man and I found his monologues quite amusing when I was listening a the tender age that I was—— " The Ruins O' Pompei" – repeat 3 times – I nearly married one o' them ! This was a sentimentalist song about being away at sea and the adventures of what he had seen and experienced in the far and distant lands and using the eternally popular theme of "Coming Home and there not being any place like home "
 
Thank the good Lord though for the genius of Hamish Henderson, and everyone else who has played their part however small in the folk revival and everything that has gone with that in all of its many guises and forms ;  to redress that mighty imbalance and finally  to  allow us to identify with and even be proud of ( and instead of cringing at ) our own wonderful and rich culture. I know of many people who left because of that cringe factor.
Not so now. Our young people can grow up with an air of confidence in themselves , their country and culture. We are no longer physically beaten or ridiculed at school for speaking our own languages : Gaelic and Scots. There's even a degree course in Piping and Traditional Music . Some say when this course was being established that it was an act of sedition. A degree course in Piping : something  in my young days I could not have  conceived of , even in the wildest of dreams.

There's more : much more but Will Fyfe and the Clyde is calling :-  

"Sailing up the Clyde
Sailing up the Clyde
Back to Bonnie Scotland and yer ain fireside
There's a lump comes in yer throat
And a tear ye canny hide
When yer rolling back tae Scotland    
And yer ain fireside"

 
And this is where I return (and some may say thankfully) to Barga. Here's the legend and I can find no one to confirm or deny.

A ship sets sail bound for New York , say about the turn of the 19th / 20th century , full of people from Barga and surrounding district ; there's trouble with the ship, possible engine trouble and it comes "Sailing up the Clyde " , disgorges its human cargo  who settle all along the Clyde Coast, Paisley and Glasgow.
Who knows – the things of legend fascinate – I don't think it really matters.

Barga is a magical place . There is a different order here.

I'm down in Isernia this extended weekend at The Italian Spring Scottish Piping School as a guest. The school is run by the amazing and dynamic Duilio Viglioti. I am helping  a bit with the teaching and took part in a fabulous sell out concert last night ; young lads playing Zampogna, degree students from The RSAMD course in Glasgow,course tutors, Simon McKerrell and Margaret Houlihan and wonderful professional bands which include Zampogna, oboe, bass clarinet, dance, percussion and concert harp. I had met one of The Zampogna players in 1992 while in Burgundy doing a concert tour with Dick Lee. When the concert was over we (about a hundred of us) were treated to a wonderful meal after which I made my way over to talk to a table of Scots Italians. I got chatting to one woman in particular, was loving her Glasgow accent , and when I asked where she was from her reply was – Oh – I'm not from here ; ( can you here that comforting Glasgow lilt ) – I'm here because my husband and his family are from this district . I'm actually from Tuscany – a wee town – you won't probably have heard of it —  
 
BARGA !!!!!!
 
Hamish Moore 8th March 2008 – The fifth article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – all of his articles can be read here

The fourth article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008  – I am now beginning to wonder when the door will slam – you know that old feeling:Its almost a barometer of how well things seem to be going and it brings to mind a song. The old expression : "when one door closes another will open"  was given a new twist by the celebrated Scots singer, Rod Paterson, when for one of his songs he modified things slightly to read: – " when one door closes another will slam in your face !"  I am sure many people will be able to relate to that one. Typical also of Scots humour and a sound positive attitude to life.!!   

Humour, yes, but there is also a serious side as to why in Scotland we can be so down on ourselves; social history, religion, politics to name but a few. Maybe a few comments coming on future blogs but in the mean time lets focus on the positive. Things are  going extremely well. It's working. This adventure thus far is working. Doors and  Windows – metaphors for opportunities and it was certainly opportunistic when my laptop here wouldn't boot up last week and I got to spend some precious time with Keane. We jumped in his wee Panda and headed off down the mountain to Mologna and Gallicano to see the computer doctor.

One of the beautiful things about life here compared with home is,  that instead of getting in your car, fighting for a space to park it and then propelling yourself and a massive trolley round as many impersonal supermarket aisles as possible in the least amount of time and then to cap it all being told to "have a nice day", that shopping here is a social event and is one of the means by which information is transmitted round the town.

For a start the bread, because it contains no preservatives has to be made and bought on a regular and probably daily basis and many of the vegetables although not labelled as such I am sure will be organically grown and definitely all  locally produced.

What I saw in the centre of Mologna that day was so so sad. This lovely old Tuscan village was built round a central piece of land (rather like Spittalfield, or Yetholm or Dirleton etc at home) This central focus was renowned for its fantastic fertility and because it is naturally irrigated by underground springs was considered to be one of the best bits of horticultural land in the area. Here however is a slamming door  - pouring thousands of tons of concrete into this land to build a supermarket. Words fail me. Fight on the people of Partick in your resistance to the proposed new Tescos ( apparently the biggest in Scotland or Europe or the Planet – what does it matter )  After all, Portobello managed to stop their one happening.

I do remember saying that it may take years to spot every architectural gem in this old town and it was on the way back from Mologna that day that I spied a beautiful semi circular window. Keane explained that the house belonged to people from Pisa and then went on to quote an old saying : "Meglio un morto in casa che un Pisano all'uscio." – " I would rather have death in my house than a man from Pisa at my door "  What awful deed would it have taken for such a saying to enter a tradition but it is fascinating and lovely (although  maybe not for Pisa people) to know how these bits of language stick. Its (even by Rod Paterson's slamming doors standards) pretty black and bleak though. I have been working at my Italian  in an ad hoc sort of way and as well as learning new vocabulary every day, am picking up fascinating grammatical quirks. I love this stuff about language. Did you know, ( I said to one or two in Aristos the other day, and showing off slightly my new found knowledge), the only Italian noun which is feminine but has the masculine ending. (In Italian,all feminine nouns end in "a" while masculine ones end in "o")   —————   Mano is the answer : feminine noun/masculine ending. 

It must be some sort of concept of a male/female thing in the deep psyche of the way of thinking of a hand – you know – ambidextrous maybe !!!! And then the knees and the ears – masculine in the singular but feminine in the pleural – what a fascinating and funny discourse as to the possible reasons why this may have developed. Italian grammar I complained – so many irregular verbs – its such a difficult language especially compared to the simple verbs of English. "Ah – you have to find the sleeping dictionary technique" retorted Keane. Oh yes I said : I well remember when trying to pass my Latin exams at school taping translations of all the Letters of Pliney on my first enormous reel to reel tape machine and playing them over in my sleep. I assumed that this was what he was meaning by the sleeping dictionary ? Oh no : Oh no !!! - what you have do to is find an Italian woman to sleep with ( or should that be – with whom to sleep ) and you will be amazed at how much Italian you will know by the morning – That's the Sleeping Dictionary explained Keane !

I suspect that Keane's sleeping dictionary would be no more effective than my version. What I am sure of however is that it would be a lot more enjoyable ! This all led neatly to kilts – no pleural of Kilt Keane informed me. 1 kilt , 5 kilt 230 kilt. Rubbish I retorted: not in common usage. It must be some old  military thing that was invented, a bit like lots of supposed Scottish culture – nothing but myths !! (please see editor's note at foot of this article)

She explained the Italian concept of Bella Figura, (literally translated it simply means beautiful figure) but its much much more than that. I am not sure that I completely grasped this in one sitting but here are a few words and phrases which may help : a way of behaving, demeanour, deportment, good manners, a code of conduct, the proper way to go about things and maybe surrounding yourself with good energy. I am not sure if I have covered it or whether its been truly, " lost in translation ". I would be delighted to receive comments if I am slightly off the beam.

All of this and more is the wonderful wealth of experiences in Barga. Those of you who know me well will have long heard me ranting about how wonderful it must have been to experience some of the great periods of creativity in history and to sit in that cauldron and on a daily basis rubbing shoulders with and being inspired by and in turn inspiring  like minded people : Florence in 15th century, Greenwich Village in the early  60's, Edinburgh as part of The Enlightenment in the 18th century etc etc. How wonderful, I have said so many times, would it be to create albeit artificially a modern day 15th century Florence.

But, here it is in Barga – a living breathing example. It has attracted all these creative like minded people and for that the town has an energy which I can't say I have experienced anywhere else. No slamming or even closing of doors here – they are all open and welcoming – Benvenuto a Hamish they are saying..

The weather is now even warm enough for all the windows to now be flung  wide open and for that wonderful pure, fresh mountain air to drift into the houses and enliven and enrich the souls of the people.

Hamish Moore 2nd February 2008 – All of his weekly articles can be seen here

Rod Paterson – Songs from the Bottom Draw

Editor's note: I had just read an article in the Independent newspaper which stated;

The kilt was first seen in the 16th century, as a long piece of cloth wrapped around the torso and waist. The version we see today, patterned with tartans said to represent specific clans, did not emerge until the 1800s. In recent years, other Celtic nations such as Ireland and Wales have adopted versions of the kilt.

The name comes from the Scandinavian word kilt, meaning to tuck clothes up around the body. A typical adult Scottish kilt uses about eight yards of tartan wool and the hem sits just below the knee. It is usually teamed with a belt, a jacket, a sporran and a sgian dubh, a small knife worn in the top of the sock. Folklore maintains that a true Scotsman should wear nothing under his kilt.

Traditionalists insist that the plural of kilt is also kilt, rather than kilts.

The third article from Hamish Moore – acknowledged as the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008  – Twas on the Monday morning and I had put in a good three hour shift at the lathe and was just thinking about stopping for some lunch when an astonishment of scarlet clad beings came streaming across and completely filling  Piazza Angelio. I peered out of my door in amazement ; it was almost as if a flock of human scarlet ibis were coming in to roost from the North East coast of Venezuela to the Caroni swamp in Trinidad in The West Indies. But these were of the genus and species, homo and sapiens  respectively ——–  but  there was  tartan in amongst it too  -  and lots of it. The males of the species wore woollen garments coming as far as their knees while the females had the benefit of total leg cover on this bright but sharply cold alpine type  morning. 

I now had to piece this together and quickly I did – the scarlet was unmistakable ( I remember the blazers and the rugby shirts ) – The formality of the blazers had been replaced by 21st century fleeces and quite a few schools of the public variety in Scotland now encourage the wearing of kilts -   Loretto : a very expensive "private/public" school situated in The Lang Toon of Musellburgh just to the east of Edinburgh and heading for the East Lothian coast.
 
It made me think of the Bellany man again and how I came to come to be here in the first place.  I never did work out why these expensive and exclusive boarding schools are called "public".  What I knew of a public school as a child was of a free education and school open to all.
The public school name and concept originated in England and was enthusiastically adopted and embraced north of the border throughout the length and breadth of Scotland but probably  nowhere  more  than in the environs of Auld Reekie, Scotland's capital. How did an exclusive, expensive and private establishment become to be known as public ? Language is a funny   –(and)–      peculiar ——     thing indeed.
I had to find out what they were up to in Barga – a school trip – yes – but I was in for a treat – a school choir as it turned out of extraordinary talent out doing a Tuscan concert tour .
If I had only known that they had just given a performance in The Theatre in Barga !!!.  However . I poked my head out the door, got chatting , offered a tour of the studio and an explanation of the pipes, a bit of their history and the revival and gave them a bit of a performance in the form a of a few tunes.
 They returned the compliment with an astonishing arrangement and performance of "The Piper of Dundee".
Absolutely wonderful and it thrilled me for it's beauty and inventiveness – and to hear this magical wall of sound resounding round my wee studio – my own public ( or should it be private ) performance.
 
There was no more work on the agenda for me that morning so I quickly packed up and headed out in the searingly beautiful sunshine for my daily walk. I thought to look for a slightly different route that Monday and followed a lovely path down a steep hill to the north of Barga. It looked a fairly public path : at least I didn't see any  "private property keep out signs" .  I mourn the fact that these signs have sprung up in recent years in Scotland. In the past somehow we didn't need them and everyone just seemed to respect all . We do now have an official Right to Roam Policy in the Countryside but somehow in the old days it didn't seem necessary.
What I did see however on the way down my lovely wee path just under the precipitous north wall of the old city was a view of an amazing juxtaposition of two plants ; two of the basic building blocks of these woodwinds which I make. On the left a good example of a box tree ( Boxus boxus ) and across the path and just a meter away, a fine stand of of the cane which grows wild (and some would say as a weed) all over the Mediterranean : Arondo donax. From these two building  blocks ( plus a few others ! ) we take these raw elements and turn them into musical instruments which give pleasure to the player and listener alike.
We are probably one of a  few remaining  pipe makers in the world who continue to use cane (as opposed to synthetic materials) for the making of drone reeds.  To achieve this and to make reeds of the highest quality the cane has to be carefully selected.  We make an annual trip to Cogolin near St. Tropez in the south of France to buy from a cane producer who is one of the finest in Europe.   Sr. Rigotti and his family grow cane , store it in just the right circumstances , cure it and produce a raw material for the world that is as good as it comes. Not only that, but they run a small family run factory producing, with this cane , fine reeds for clarinets and saxophones and slips of cane for reed makers for oboes and bassoons. Sr. Rigotti certainly changed my life when he allowed me to come and pick the cream of his crop and showed me a pile of drone cane which not only will see me out but  had my name on it too. They're  lovely people and all of this goes to restore a faith in human nature. !
 

The other plant I referred to on the walk that day was boxwood and it can be seen extensively all over Barga and surrounding district ; but mostly as hedges. The Victorians in Scotland were also very keen on it as a hedging plant, but, if  allowed to grow to its full potential, will mature into a fine tree. We use it extensively in our pipe making and for me it produces a tonal quality that is probably second to none of all the woods at our disposal. It was my good friend and colleague, Rod Cameron who taught me about Box. Rod is  one of the finest makers of baroque (or for that matter) any wooden flutes in the world and he has given me so much guidance and teaching in my professional career.  Boxwood however for all its qualities has the most awful propensity for bending and many a chanter or flute can end up looking more like a banana than a musical instrument. Rod however told me other wise. Through his careful explanations he taught me that the wood could be micro waved and therefore stress relieved and achieve 95% of its bending while in its raw state. It can then be  returned (if you could excuse my pun ) to centre and bend no more. It was used in the 18th century all over Europe in flute making and in Scotland for pipe making along with many other indigenous timbers such as laburnum, yew and the fruit woods. The end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries saw the introduction of ebony from Mozambique and by the early part of the 20th century, African Blackwood from Tanzania had become the standard timber of choice for pipes of all varieties.
 
So here in Barga are my building blocks. Boxwood and cane.
 
I remember so well one hot June day sitting outside, in the afternoon sunshine in Eyemouth ( a beautiful fishing village on the east coast of Berwickshire in Scotland ) in 1994 with my good friends Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell and over a glass of chilled Muscadet we played some  tunes , sang some songs and had some lovely conversations. There was warmth in the air and warmth between us. The pipes I was playing  on that occasion and the ones I have with me here in Barga are  my beloved boxwood small pipes in the key of D.
 Having played the Loretto choir a tune on these pipes last Monday morning, I sent out a challenge  ——— " anyone with perfect pitch then – what's the key ?. The choirmaster responded instantly  —— "D" . What a gift ! "Perfectomondo" – the makyup word my daughter coined as a sort of quasi Italian expression of near perfectness.
I wonder if I can introduce it into the Barga vocabulary , even as a sort expression of the near perfectness of their old city (the smallest in Italy) But this is for another day – another diary – another blog and reminiscence.
 
Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell took an innocent wee phrase that afternoon in Eyemouth. I was sitting after a tune admiring the raw materials of those pipes. I mentioned the boxwood, the hemp, the gold and the leather – the building blocks of the instrument  and out of that they took with them that night and ran  and made a song -  for me -

" The Piper and the Maker "

The drones are turned from boxwood and the chanter's bound with gold
Finest beeswax hemp and leather
Here I'll give you them to hold -  Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell

The instrument in Eyemouth that afternoon was the initial inspiration but I know the groove we dug ourselves in Pitlochry on another Sunday afternoon on our way to The Eistedford in Wales joined  the ends together – it     "Made the Circle Whole"
 
Taking these building blocks, making these instruments, presenting them to the players and hearing what they put into them – their personality , their tuning and their music – makes complete that old Celtic Concept     -     " To Whole Circle "
 
See  The Cast  -The Colours of Lichen – Greentrax Recordings.
         Hamish Moore – The Piper and the Maker   – Greentrax Recordings  -  CDTRAX265

Hamish Moore – 26th February 2008 -  All of his weekly articles can be seen here

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