The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Kirrie musicians given Scots Trad hall of fame recognition.
SINGING: Pair help to promote Scottish traditional music
An Angus town famed for promoting traditional Scottish music has had two of its singers inducted into the national hall of fame.
The honour has gone to Kirriemuir singer and musician Christine Kydd and bothy ballad supremo Joe Aitken.
The pair have been announced as inductees of this year’s Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Christine brought theatre voice skills to traditional singing in Scotland after studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama and then teaching at Guildford School of Acting.
She went on to kickstart six community choirs in Scotland, including Angus Folk, which grew out of her Singing For Fun workshops for Angus College.
She is currently running a new inclusive choir at Kirrie Connections.
With many projects under way and a new album, Christine is in for a busy future.
She has also been nominated for two awards in this year’s MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
The first is for Scots Singer of the Year for an artist singing in Scots, and the second is in conjunction with Ewan Mcvicar for Community Project of the Year.
This is decided by public vote with votes closing on Friday. To vote visit www.scotstradmusicawards.com
Joe Aitken, 74, is one of the great upholders of Scotland’s bothy ballad tradition and a singer of Scots song.
The winner of many singing competitions for his authentic narrative style, he has won for a record six times the much-coveted porridge bowl, spoon and Donald Ferguson Memorial Trophy — competed for annually by singing competition winners at Elgin.
Born into the bothy ballad tradition, it was not until the early 1980s that Joe began to take singing more seriously.
In 1982, the Kinross Folk Festival moved to Kirriemuir and Joe was encouraged to enter.
For Joe, who worked on the land, the bothy ballads are a social and political history of farms and farming and the big ballads, or muckle sangs, a treasure trove of stories he gets great pleasure from sharing.
As well as singing in competitions, Joe has performed at festivals and was honoured to appear in the opening concert at Celtic Connections in 2016, marking the 50th anniversary of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland.
He is widely admired among his contemporaries and hugely respected by the many younger singers he has influenced.
Christine said: “It is quite an accolade, I am absolutely delighted to have had my work recognised in this way. It was a complete surprise.”
Joe said: “I am fair chuffed, I never expected to land in such exalted company.”
I am fair chuffed, I never expected to land in such exalted company. JOE AITKEN