Sue
Gillies-Bradley |
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| Last Updated 16 July 2006 |  |
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| UK Contradance Callers... | |||
Geoff
Cubitt |
Rhodri
Davies Magic contra caller at home on both sides of the Atlantic... |
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| Ivan
Aitken Contra, English and Scottish Country Dance caller... |
Lynne
Render Contra, American and English caller and Appalachian clogger... |
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| Colin
Hume Playford and squares specialist... but knows what a contra is! |
John
Meechan Contra caller, writer, enthusiast and all-round nice guy... |
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| Henry
Morgenstein US/UK contra essayist, caller and dance camp organiser. |
Mike
Courthold Contra caller and Chippenham Festival dance organiser. |
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| Chris
Turner Contra and English caller... also edits Set and Turn Single. |
Andrew
Swaine Contra, English and e-ceilidh caller of note... |
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| Barrie
Bullimore Experienced caller of American dances, particularly contra. |
Eileen
Nightingale Caller of high energy contras and squares... |
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| UK Contradances... | |||
| London Barndance Company | Guildford Contras | ||
| Cambridge (UK) Contras | Chilworth (was Copythorne) Contras | ||
| Leeds Contras | Liverpool Contras | ||
| White Horse Contras - contras in southwest England | Alcester Contra, Greig Hall, Alcester, B49 6AD | ||
| Kegworth Kontras, Kegworth Village Hall, DE74 2FH | IVFDF - it only runs once a year - but it is great festival... | ||
| Contradance Information Resources... | |||
| A Contradancer's Primer - beginners start here... | Some Articles on, and history of, Contra Dancing... | ||
| A Contradance Gateway Page... | A Worldwide Contradance Links Page | ||
| What is Contradancing? - yet another attempt at a definition, this time from Atlanta GA... | Almost everything you need to know to enjoy a contradance - Larry Jennings' historic, extensive explanation... | ||
| Contra Dance UK - the UK Contra Dance Portal and home of the UK Contra Dance Calendar. | University of New Hampshire Library - their Special Collections contain a cornucopia of contradance information. | ||
| An Index of Contra Dances - Hugh Stewart's list of instructions for a goodly number of contradances... | Design Your Own Contradance - didn't like any of those dances? Now you're the dance compser... | ||
| The Dance Gypsy - contact details for almost everything and everyone in the contradance world...and beyond. | Kiran Wagle's contradance pages... great contradance articles, essays, debates, information, links and more... | ||
| A Guide To Getting Dance Partners - advice from e-ceilidh that may be pertinent to other social dance forms... | What's Your Element? - Richard Treitel's descriptions of individuals' dance styles... | ||
| Building A Dance Community - an article by Chris Kermiet on the formation of and the need for dance communities in the modern age... | What Is Contradance? - yet another attempt to define contradance - this time from the Traditional American Dance And Music Society of Richmond VA. | ||
| How to dance the Hambo, the Schottische and the Polka... | A Contradance Index for Callers | ||
| Contra Dance - a Yahoo! group serving as a convenient place for contra dancers to exchange information... | A Workshop for Contradance Callers - given by Bill Olson in 2002... | ||
| Contra dance sites on the web - a collection put together by Thomas Green for Leeds Contra Dance Club... | Contra Dance Articles and History - you'll find a good selection of these here... | ||
| Dare To Be Square - discussing the effect of contra dancing on old-time square dancing... | Dare to be Square - A Contra Dancer Responds - a response to the original "Dare to be Square" article... | ||
| The NEFFA Contradance Essay Collection - some essential information and opinions for you to read... | Heiner Fischle's contra and square dance pages from Germany... lots of good information and links to be explored... | ||
| Tucson Friends of Traditional Music - attempt to explain contradancing to the unititiated... | Your Introduction to Contradancing - a syllabus for a half-hour pre-dance session for newcomers to contradancing... | ||
| Cary Ravitz's Pages - he calls and writes contras, plays fiddle and his pages have some great links on contra and more... | Ecstasy at the Contra Dance - fiddler Donna Hébert's musings on the joys of playing fiddle for contradancing... | ||
| About Contradance - enough articles, essays and web sites to learn as little or as much as desired about contradancing... | Contradance Links - Will Linden's collection of contra and other country dance links... | ||
| Contradance Links - devoted to listing contra dances in the south Atlantic region of the United States along with bands, musicians, callers, and organizations based in the region... | Folk Dance Association - helping both newcomers and experienced dancers find places to take part in folk dance in the US and Canada... | ||
| What
is Contradancing? - from the Chattahoochee Country Dancers who support
traditional American dance -- New England and Southern contra dance
and square dance... |
Contradance Tips - from the Harvest Moon Folk Society. Great advice and information for those attending their first contradance... and some of us could use a refresher... | ||
| Now, What in the World is Contra Dancing?? - it's a three-hour aerobic workout in a room full of people who can quickly become your best friends... and a lot more besides... | Twirling and Connection - an article by Eric Hoffman... Connection is a large part of contra dance... connection to the music, your partner, and the other dancers... | ||
| Wikipedia's Definition of Contradance... | The Contradance Webring... | ||
| So what is Contradancing? - another introduction, this time from the Old Sod Folk Music Society of Ottawa, Canada... | Contradancing Explained - by the Folk Project from Northern New Jersey... | ||
| Some great Contra Dance Photographs - click on the pictures to see even more!!! | The Contra and Squares Photo Gallery - Doug Plummer's super photographs of contra dancers and musicians in action. | ||
| What Was That Step? - a new contradancer's guide to the most common contradance figures... | A Contradance Workshop on DVD - swings, turns, twirls and tips... | ||
| What is Contradancing? - An outline from the Dance Connection of British Columbia, Canada... | Contraculture - an introduction to Contradancing from Hamilton, Ontario... | ||
| An Outline of the History of American Contra Dance - Becky Nankivell's page on the Tucson FoTM site... | The Contradance Community of the Commonwealth - an essay on contradance and its community from Explore Dance.com... | ||
| Counting Contra Dances - From a talk given for the Mathematical Association of America January, 2003... | Contra Dances and Matrices - perhaps this explains why contra dances often attract mathematicians... | ||
| What is Contradancing? - the Callen/Petersen family's take on the elusive definition... | Can Old-Time Bands Make It on the Contra-Dance Scene? - from the Old Time Herald's archives... | ||
| Fiddling for Old Time, Contra and Couple Dances and Contra and Square Dance Playing - Vivian and Phil Williams' articles from the Voyager Recordings and Publications Articles and Information Pages... | The Contradancer's Guide to Successfully Beginning Scottish Country Dance - here's your opportunity to write a page on Wikipedia on this essential, arcane and unlikely subject :-) | ||
| National and International Associations You Could Be A Part Of... | |||
| New England Folk Festival Association - a non-profit educational and cultural organization encouraging, sponsoring and preserving high standards of performance of the folk arts and traditions in New England and elsewhere. | The Country Dance & Song Society - Cecil who? A great USA based organisation that also runs the Pinewoods music and dance summer camps. A wonderful source of contradance books, CDs and videos. | ||
| Royal Scottish Country Dance Society - the organisation that jealously guards the standards of Scottish country dancing. Luckily for Robbie they don't know he is still dancing! | Friends of American Old-Time Music and Dance - UK based organisation that runs workshops, summer camps and a festival. | ||
| The Classical Mandolin Society of America - encompasses mandolinists, mandolaists, madocellists and guitarists. | English Folk Dance and Song Society - owner of the iconic Cecil Sharp House and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. | ||
| British Bluegrass Music Association - the best way to find out what's happening in the world of UK Bluegrass. | North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance - one strong voice for folk music and dance in the USA. | ||
| The
International Council for Traditional Music - aims to further the
study, practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional
music, including folk, popular, classical and urban music, and dance
of all countries. |
Na Píobairí Uilleann (The Uilleann Pipers) - perpetuating the spirit of Irish music, in particular the playing and teaching of the uilleann pipes and the production and maintenance of the instrument itself. | ||
| Folk Alliance Australia - existing to foster and promote the folk community and the folk arts in Australia. Worryingly, there's no UK equivalent... | The International Association for the Study of Popular Music - an international organization established to promote inquiry, scholarship and analysis in the area of popular music. | ||
| The
Folk Music Society of Ireland - sadly, now continuing only as a
publishing body, and ceasing other public functions. |
The Canadian Society for Traditional Music - the EFDSS could learn a fair amount from this lot... | ||
| The Czech and Slovak Music Society - dedicated to the serious study and greater understanding of the music of the Czech and Slovak Republics. | The Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland - the oldest (by nearly 20 years) individual membership organisation associated with traditional music and song... | ||
| The Danish Folk Council - working to develop and promote folk music in Denmark and abroad... a great support and resource for Danish folk music... | The National Traditional Country Music Association - preserving many of America's traditional musical art forms with emphasis on traditional country and bluegrass music... | ||
| The World Folk Music Association - dedicated to promoting contemporary and traditional folk music... | Folk Arts England - a national development agency for Folk, Roots, Traditional and Acoustic Music in England... | ||
| The Folk Federation of Tasmania - aiming to be publicly responsible for the positive and dynamic support of folk life in Tasmania... | Folk Federation of South Australia - actively promotes and supports a wide range of folk arts, publishes a magazine, runs the S.A. Folk Centre etc... and has a massive links resource... | ||
| International Bluegrass Music Association - Working together for a greater appreciation for our music, and the success of the worldwide bluegrass community. | The Finnish Folk Music Association - in a country of 5 million people there's more music than you can shake a stick at... only problem is that the English part of the site isn't fully up... | ||
| Web Listings of What's On, Where In the UK for Dance, Music and Song... | |||
| Contra Corner Mailing List - UK-based contradance information and announcements. | The UK Contra Dance Calendar - an online dance calendar listing upcoming UK contradances. | ||
| Set and Turn Single - the Independent Magazine for UK Folk Dancers with a web-based Dance Calendar. | Webfeet - UK Contradances, Ceilidhs, Playford and other Folk Dance Events on the Web. | ||
| e-ceilidh - UK mailing list with a tight focus on English Ceilidh. | All Ceilidh - a wider church than e-ceilidh. | ||
| English Folk Clubs on the Web - Martin Nail's essential listing. | Filofolk - A folk music club and event listing for West Yorkshire and the Region. | ||
| The Scottish Folk Directory - what's happening north of the border... makes Robbie go all misty-eyed, but so does whisky! | Mike's Community - which lists the upcoming ceilidhs in Edinburgh... and it's a long list! | ||
| Mr Red's Mid West - online guide to folk song, music and dance events in Gloucestershire and adjacent counties. Has a goodly number of links to other online UK regional listings. | Folk Around Bristol - an umbrella organisation dedicated to encouraging, developing and co-ordinating folk activity in the greater Bristol area... | ||
| EFDSS Online Diary - mostly regional folk dance club events from around the country... | UK Local Folk Music Magazines and Diaries - another of Martin Nail's essential resources. | ||
| Flaxey Green - folk clubs, sessions, ceilidhs, musicians and other folk music related information for South Devon... | The Folk Mag - the online guide to folk song, dance and roots music events in the West Midland counties... | ||
| The UK Folk Map - allows club, session,festival and venues to mark their location on a map of the UK and Eire... | Solent Waves - the newsletter of the Folk Assoc. of South Hants, with listings of events in and around the area | ||
| Traditional folk song and music in the Leicester area... | The Events Page on Folkinfo.org ... | ||
| The South Riding Folk Arts Network - online guide to folk music, song and dance events in the South Riding of Yorkshire... | Real Music UK - listing site for local live music, festivals, tuition, recording studios,concert venues, performers, club venues, instruments, fan sites, music services, download sites, etc... | ||
| Folk London - the listings magazine for folk clubs and events in London and the south-east of England... | efn magazine - a guide to web sites relating to folk and roots music, song and dance in and around Essex and East London.. | ||
| Some Paper and Electronic Magazines You Could Be Reading... | |||
| Dirty
Linen - bi-monthly American folk and world music magazine, with
online version of most recent and back issues. Includes gig guide, interviews,
reviews, news, and features. |
Sing Out! - preserving and supporting the cultural diversity and heritage of traditional and contemporary folk music, and encouraging making folk music as a part of our everyday lives. | ||
| The Living Tradition - a full colour, bi-monthly folk and traditional music magazine, whose main aims are to highlight the rich heritage of traditional music in the British Isles and further afield, and to bring that rich heritage to a wider audience. Also operates an online CD shop. | Musical Traditions - an online magazine for traditional music from throughout the world. An essential site to explore... | ||
| Taplas - the only means of keeping in touch with Wales' vibrant folk and traditional music, dance and song community. | |||
| Folkworld - an online music magazine, home of European folk music... and Europe includes the UK! | Mandozine - seeking a cure for Mandolin Acquisition Syndrome... they've not cured Robbie yet... | ||
| Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine - a bi-monthly magazine that is all about celebrating fingerstyle guitar music and the people who make it. Has a companion CD of each issue's instructional material. | Acoustic Guitar Magazine - a monthly magazine dedicated to the acoustic guitar and the music made on it. A stablemate of Strings Magazine - a monthly magazine for violinists, violists, cellists and double bass players. | ||
| Fiddle
On Magazine - a publication aimed specifically at the UK fiddle
player. Small enough to fit into a fiddle case, it is packed with informative
articles and features. |
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine - a bi-monthly periodical dedicated to presenting all aspects of the art of flatpicking the acoustic guitar. Comes with a CD of each issue's instructional material. | ||
| The Old-Time Herald - is dedicated to American old-time music, highlighting string band traditions of the Southeast. Archive has some feature articles and recordings. | Fiddler Magazine - providing an informative, educational, and entertaining resource for fiddlers, accompanists, and appreciative listeners. | ||
| fRoots - local music from out there. The Southern Rag that became Folk Roots and now covers a very wide range. | UK Local Folk Music Magazines and Diaries - another of Martin Nail's essential resources. | ||
| Tradmusic.com - a developing online music magazine featuring a Scottish, Irish and World music CD shop, artists directory, gig guide and traditional music resource. | Folk and Roots - A guide to the folk and acoustic music scene, with information about UK folk gigs, folk concerts, folk festivals and hundreds of links. | ||
| Tradition Magazine - A quarterly magazine featuring British Traditions, Customs, Music, Song and Dance History, Folklore, Myth, Legend, Traditional Ways of Life, CD reviews and more. | Mudcat Cafe - an on-line magazine dedicated to blues and folk music... also hosts the Digital Tradition Folk Song Database. | ||
| The Journal of Music in Ireland - bi-monthly, publishing writings by Ireland’s most respected composers and musicians working in the fields of traditional, classical and jazz music. | Irish Music Magazine - the definitive voice of Irish music worldwide... That's what they claim to be, you'll have to read the magazine and make up your own mind... | ||
| Banjo Newsletter - a monthly 48-page magazine covering all aspects of the 5-string banjo... | Penguin Eggs - Canada's folk, roots and world music magazine... | ||
| Sound on Sound - the world's premier music recording technology magazine. The site also houses their archive of articles (January 1994 onwards) charting the impact of technology on music production and recording processes... | Frets Magazine - Frets Magazine ceased publication in mid 1989, a little over ten years after its birth, leaving a distinct void in the acoustic interest magazine world. However, it has resurfaced recently as a quarterly publication... | ||
| Trad & Now - Australia's national monthly folk magazine promoting, preserving and supporting the cultural diversity and heritage of all traditional and contemporary folk music and related performance arts... | Mugwumps Online - a respected journal for collectors and dealers of vintage, mostly fretted and stringed, musical instruments -- banjos, guitars, mandolins, etc... | ||
| Some Places We Shop... | |||
| Contracopia - almost every contradance CD and video you could wish for on one website. | Great Meadow Music - a record label specialising in contradance CDs and videos. | ||
| CD Baby - a little web CD store with the best new independent music. | The Country Dance & Song Society - a great source of Contra Books and Recordings that gives discounts to members. | ||
| The Music Room - specialising in all traditional music needs, instruments and books. Vintage concertinas are found here... | Hobgoblin - Robbie has been buying instruments and books here since his Silly Wizard days... which explains their growth! | ||
| Elderly Instruments - books, instruments, CDs, videos and accessories. Dangerous territory for credit cards! | The Anglo-American Dance Shop - mail order dance CDs, books and other goodies from Belgium. No chocolate though... | ||
Folktrax -an online resource centre for those interested in traditional musics and cultures. Peter Kennedy's life's work! |
Boetzkes Snaarinstrumenten - Harrie sells vintage mandolins, and it only takes Robbie a few hours to drive to him... | ||
| Ealing Strings - a favourite violin seller and repairer. | Roni Music - home of The Amazing Slow Downer - essential! | ||
| Music Scotland.com - on-line sales of Scottish music on CD, DVD & video plus Irish, Roots, World, Folk and Celtic music titles... | Music In Scotland - a music site and on-line shop dedicated to promoting music and musicians with a Celtic connection to a world-wide audience. | ||
| eFolk Music - possibly the finest folk music resource and point of purchase on the web. Loads of information, digital downloads and CDs from the widest range of folk musicians you've ever come across. Absolutely essential!! | Taigh na Teud - leading publishers of Scottish, Irish, Celtic and Gaelic music books for fiddle, harp, pipes and many other traditional instruments, along with a fine selection of traditional song books and CDs... | ||
| Custy's Traditional Music Shop - retailing an extensive range of traditional Irish music CDs, books and videos with emphasis on independently-produced recordings of quality local music... | Andy's Front Hall - the place to buy the classic hammer dulcimer recordings by Bill Spence and Fennig's All-Star String Band... | ||
| Voyager
Recordings and Publications - Old time fiddle and traditional acoustic
music from the Pacific Northwest and beyond... |
Mid-Continent Music - bluegrass, roots and acoustic music - they sell music they like and hunt down interesting items that others don't bother with... | ||
| Djangobooks.com - a site dedicated to the musical legacy of the great Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). | |||
| The Makers Who Have Built Some of Our Instruments... | |||
| Oakwood Instruments - maker of (amongst other instruments) Mike's mandolin and Robbie's hammer dulcimer... | Atkin Guitars - Alister Atkin is one of the finest young luthiers in the UK and is currently building a custom J-45 for Robbie... | ||
| Heiner Dreizehnter Guitarrenbau - leading German maker of acoustic instruments who made Robbie's bouzouki... | Alan Arnold Guitars - a very fine UK luthier who built Robbie a "parlour" resonator guitar to match his Regal tenor resonator. | ||
| Gurian Guitars - unfortunately no longer building guitars, this top US luthier made some of Robbie's favourite guitars... | Tim Phillips - UK maker of extraordinary violins... and Holly's octave fiddle is certainly extraordinary! | ||
| Skyinbow - based in Robbie's Shetland home village of Vidlin, Kenny made Holly's 5-string electric violin. | Bill Puplett - who maintains Robbie's guitars and mandolins. He's a bit older nowadays than he looks in these photographs! | ||
| Stefan Sobell - who made Robbie's 5-course cittern | Mike Vanden - who made one of Robbie's mandolins... | ||
| Kathy Wingert - who made a guitar like this for Robbie... | Lloyd Loar - the man who developed the original designs for a couple of Robbie's mandolins... | ||
| A Few of Our Friends You Might Like To Visit... | |||
| Airdance - Rodney Miller, David Surette, Mary Cay Brass, Stuart Kenney, Marko Packard and Sam Zucchini. Friends and influences all in one band... | Nightingale - Jeremiah McLane, Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy - master musicians that we have had great times learning from. | ||
| Fiddlin' Around - a great UK contradance band almost all of whom have played in a band with Robbie at some point in their past... but they seem to be getting over the experience, and all of them are hoping for a full recovery | Swallowtail - a New England-based contradance band who have been playing together for 20 years. Beware the bombarde! | ||
| The Groovemongers - contradance music with rhythm, flair, and drive. | KGB - fiddle tunes infiltrated by foreign agents. The Chippenham Connection... | ||
| Chaski - our favourite Austin TX band who play Latin American music...and there's also a family connection... | Wild Asparagus - taking an original approach to the traditional dance music of the folk heritage. | ||
| Stömp -e-ceilidh rockers with whom Robbie last wielded his banjo. | English Contra Dance Band - great band, great name, great music, great people! | ||
| Kelly's Eye - good friends and a great UK-based contra and barndance band with a real old-timey flavour to their music... | ConTradition and Skylark - two UK bands led by fiddler Dave Brown, the only contra fiddler (so far) to busk in Red Square. | ||
| Bruce Molsky - old-time fiddle, banjo, guitar and voice... Peerless! | Dana and Susan Robinson - songs and tunes you need to hear... | ||
| Archie Fisher - Robbie's kindred spirit. They share passions for fine whisky, good guitars, mandolins and horses. | Johnny Cunningham (1957-2003) - gone, but not forgotten ... there are too many good times that need remembering... | ||
| Andy M Stewart - ranks amongst the finest interpreters of Scottish songs, a wonderful songwriter and a good friend. | Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham - holders of doctorates and MBEs ... and they can play a bit too ... but mind the jokes! | ||
| Dick Gaughan - Scots singer and guitarist whose personal viewpoints underly and inform all his performances. | Pete Morton - a unique and involving singer-songwriter and a stunning interpreter of traditional songs. | ||
| The Cornell Hurd Band - country music's worst nightmare... | Blazin' Fiddles - said to be doing for Scottish fiddle music what Trainspotting did for the Scottish film industry... Mindblowing! | ||
| Kathy Anderson - contradance caller, piano player and old-time banjoist... | Gina Le Faux - if you need a tune, a song, a fiddle or a bow then Gina's your woman! | ||
| Cis Hinkle - contra caller supreme, and a great dancer to have as a partner... | Rick Mohr - a leading US contra caller and musician, he's also very good at morris, rapper and longsword - and programming! | ||
| Frigg - a superb Finnish/Norwegian band with a five fiddle front line... they combine elements of their respective folk traditions with touches of Appalachian and country music. | The Rambling Rovers - a collection of fans of Silly Wizard and other Celtic music... threads often include orphic themes... barbies, cheese of the region and breats... | ||
| Harbourtown Records - and Robbie's record company where you'll find a Silly Wizard history, great music from the label's artists and (one of these days) a Cruise Control CD. | Folkworks - runs folk music concerts and festivals (primarily in the North of England), summer schools and a year-round programme of classes and courses. | ||
| Ryburn 3 Step - an independent folk development project which organises a range of regular activities and special events located in the Ryburn Valley, West Yorkshire, England. | Tom Doughty - slide guitarist and singer. A bluesman with a unique and very personal style, and one of the nicest guys on this planet. Robbie's Ivan Guernsey dobro came from Tom... | ||
| Neil Adam and Judy Turner - now an Australian festival favourite as a duo with Judy, Neil began his playing career as Silly Wizard's first bassist... then he got a guitar... | Bert Jansch - together with Davey Graham and John Renbourn he defined British fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing in the 1960's and beyond... | ||
| Pierre Bensusan - brilliant French DADGAD guitarist and gastronome. The first person Robbie ever saw play a Gurian guitar... and look what that experience led to! | Doc Watson - Robbie's all-time guitar and banjo hero and inspiration... the man who defined, for all time, the art of playing fiddle tunes on the guitar... | ||
| Liz Carroll - “…when thinking of Celtic fiddle virtuosos, the names that first come to mind ... Johnny Cunningham, Kevin Burke, Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Aly Bain ... but one name that should be included in that rarefied group is an American - Liz Carroll.” .... and she's one of Holly's heroines .... | Ian Bairnson - one of Robbie's friends from his schooldays who went on to greater things playing guitar with Pilot, the Alan Parsons' Project and a myriad other recording sessions. Now happily living (and playing) in Spain, Ian is probably the most under-rated electric guitar player in the world... | ||
| Bill Watkins - before there was Silly Wizard there was Bill, Gordon and Robbie, a flat in Broughton Street, Edinburgh and enough stories for a book or two... then Bill wrote one... | Dougie MacLean - probably the most famous and successful of the hale clamjamfrey that made up Puddock's Well and Silly Wizard... | ||
| Mike Whellans - now living back in the Scottish Borders again and working as Scotland's only (as far as we know) one-man blues band. Be sure to see him if you get the chance... | Roger Wilson - singer, fiddler, guitarist, songwriter and folk musician. Another massively under-rated performer whose talents have yet to be properly recognised... | ||
| David Kaynor - fiddler, banjoist, guitarist, caller, dancer, Swedish music enthusiast and all round good guy... | Furness Tradition - promoting the social and working traditions of the UK's Furness region... | ||
| Pete Smith and John Buckley - two contemporary fingerstyle guitarists playing a unique mix of jazz, blues, folk, ragtime, swing, baroque, calypso, bluegrass and original instrumentals. Robbie is still in therapy after their last visit to his flat... | Andrew Cronshaw - zither-player and multi-instrumentalist, currently particularly connected with the traditional music of Finland and other Finno-Ugrian countries. Robbie and Andrew were friends and contemporaries at Edinburgh University... | ||
| Joseph Pimentel - a leading US caller and dance composer combining cool dances, clear teaching, youthful perspective, and respect for tradition. | Derroll Adams (1925-2000) - a wonderful man and a great banjo player and songwriter. There's a site devoted to him being built here... he's sadly missed by all who knew him... | ||
| Clive Carroll - a musician and acoustic guitarist of rare talent... | Simon Mayer - another great talent... mandolinist, humourist and multi-instrumentalist... | ||
| Birnam CD - owned and run by Martin Hadden, ex-Silly Wizard bassist and the place to go for all your CD and DVD replication and duplication requirements... | David Bromberg - perhaps the most brilliantly eclectic musician on the face of the planet, and now also an expert on American violins. His website is a great place to wander into... | ||
| John Hartford (1937-2001) - stellar old-time fiddler and banjo player who had the good sense to write a hit pop song when he was young and devoted his life to the music he loved... This "unofficial" site contains lots of old-time audio and video clips - essential!!! John's "official" site can be found here... and not forgetting "Hartford Radio" on the decidedly wonderful bluegrassbox.com... | Alan Jabbour and Ken Perlman - old-time fiddle and banjo masters... together they are nothing short of extraordinary! | ||
| Changeling - "the power of ten in a package of two" - a fiddle and guitar duo, Deborah and Karl - celtic contra magic! | |||
| Diane Silver - contra and square dance caller, Appalachian clogger, environmental educationalist and closet fiddler... | |||
| Veteran - one of the UK's leading CD labels specialising in traditional folk music from England and Ireland... | |||
| Some Favourite Places to Learn With and From Other Musicians and Dancers... | |||
| Yorkshire Dales Workshops - a small, 'not for profit' organisation, working to promote awareness, appreciation and participation in folk arts in the community. Their residential weekend instrumental workshops are wonderful... | Pinewoods Camps - dedicated to supporting country dance, folk dance, folk music, and early music programs by providing an accessible and beautiful setting which enhances the programs offered by the user groups. | ||
| London Uilleann Pipers' Club - a 21-year journey for Robbie... but it seems a lot longer to his neighbours... | Study for a four year Folk and Traditional Music BMus degree at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. | ||
| Blazin' in Beauly - aiming to be "much more than a fiddle school", the annual October week in Beauly immerses students in the music of the Highlands and Islands. | Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camps - a place in New York state where you can enjoy total immersion in music, dancing or both. | ||
| The Scottish Fiddle Festival - an annual Edinburgh November weekend of fiddle workshops, concerts, talks and recitals. | Alasdair Fraser fiddle schools on the Isle of Skye and northern California - personally, we'd prefer the warmer one... | ||
| Kerry Fletcher - UK Appalachian clogging teacher and percussive dance guru... | Pete Cooper - if you're in London and in need of a fiddle lesson or two... | ||
| Folkworks - runs (primarily in the North of England), summer schools and a year-round programme of classes and courses. | Sore Fingers Week - located in England's Cotswold Hills, this is Europe's leading bluegrass and old-time summer camp. | ||
| Hands On Music - instrumental weekend workshops with leading tutors in a relaxed setting in Witney, UK. We wouldn't miss them! | RSAMD - the only honours degree in the world in Scottish traditional music, offering a broad based training to talented traditional musicians. | ||
| Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp - Set in the beautiful Colorado Rockies outside of Denver, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp is staffed with world class musicians... not only fiddlers! | |||
| Some of Our Favourite Places to Hang Out on the Web... | |||
| The Session - the exchange of tunes is what keeps traditional Irish music alive. This website is one way of passing on jigs, reels and other dance tunes. | rmmga - a web community where you'll find acoustic guitar enthusiasts chatting about their obsession. Their annual UK meeting in Buxton is a permanent fixture in Robbie's diary. | ||
| Mandolin Cafe - where the mandolinists go to hang out... | Canals - where you'll often find Mike and his boat. | ||
| Fiddle Links - 300 or so great starting weblinks for fiddlers... | Where Banjoists Roam - you have been warned! | ||
| Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier - collection of traditional fiddle tunes collected from Henry Reed of Glen Lyn, VA. | The BBC's Folk and Acoustic Music Links - a veritable cornucopia of links to on-line resources, artists, organisations, record stores and music shops. This page on its own can keep you surfing for hours. | ||
| Musician Jokes - they're all here... | |||
| Concertina.net - the home of concertinas on the net. You'll often find Robbie wandering around here... | Honking Duck - here you can listen to hundreds of recordings of old time music 78's from the original sources. Essential! | ||
| Smithsonian Folkways - all the Folkways recordings available to buy on-line in one of America's premier museums. | UK Autoharps - one of these days we'll play ours in public... | ||
| The Village Music Project - a project to study the music of English Social Musicians from the 17th century onwards from their manuscripts. Tune manuscripts are available online. | The Irish Traditional Tune Index - an online tunography from Alan Ng. Contains a comprehensive list of other tune indexes on the web. | ||
| The British Library National Sound Archive - here you could lose yourself forever... but at the very least do check out the Traditional Music in England Project... | John Chamber's abc Tune Finder - the place we start looking if we want some dots... | ||
| Folk Images - a huge resource of photographs of British folk musicians and singers. Photographs were taken mainly in the northwest of the UK so there is a slight regional bias. | The Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads - unparalleled holdings of over 30,000 ballads in several major collections and makes available online the digitised copies of the sheets and ballads. | ||
| The Concertina Connection - Netherlands based and aiming to reintroduce the concertina to classical music... after all, Charles Wheatstone designed the concertina for the concert stage. Wish them luck! | Ceolas - the information service for celtic music on the internet. An independent, voluntary organisation, dedicated to promoting celtic music by supplying information on all aspects of the genre through the internet. The tune list is here... | ||
| The Fiddlers' Companion - Andrew Kuntz's descriptive index of North American and British Isles dance music for the fiddle and other instruments. A fantastic resource containing hundreds of cross-referenced tunes in abc format. | All Tabs - a source of free 5-string banjo tablature, guitar tablature, mandolin tablature, fiddle tablature, bass tablature, tenor (4-string) banjo tablature, and dulcimer tablature. MIDI files are provided for all tunes... 3149 and growing... | ||
| Dancilla.com - 1547 dance videos of folk dances and folk dancing from around the world to explore... try this hambo... | Google Earth - zoomable aerial views of our planet... right down to your rooftop. Absolutely fascinating... | ||
| The Concertina Library - a digital online reference library for all concertinas, plus links to other concertina websites. | Fiddle Forum - if you play fiddle (or violin, viola or 'cello for that matter) this is an fabulous resource... | ||
| Fiddle
Fork - aiming to allow fiddlers to exchange their knowledge of fiddling
with other fiddlers worldwide... |
Some More Links to Tunes on the Web - from the great Rhode Island Music site maintained by Matt McConeghy... | ||
| The Capo Museum - if you play guitar and use a capo then this is the place for you... the wierd and the wonderful... | The Resonator Guitar and Planet Dobro websites - where Dobro players hang out. Loads of slide resources there... | ||
| The Contemplator's Folk Music Site - folk and traditional music and popular songs of England, Scotland and Ireland, with lyrics, midi, tune information and history. | Folksy Links - the twee name of this Italian site hides a ton of links to folk musicians, singers, bands agents and organisations worldwide... and it is being kept updated... | ||
| Nigel Gatherer's Traditional Music Pages - mainly Scottish music for the mandolin and whistle... | Grey Larsen - music and instruction for the Irish flute and whistle... | ||
| Smithsonian Institute for Folklife and Cultural Heritage - a research and educational unit of the Smithsonian Institution promoting the understanding and continuity of diverse, contemporary grassroots cultures in the United States and around the world. | Roots of American Fiddle Music - dedicated to providing interesting historical information, recordings and rare photos of early fiddlers, string bands and other oldtime performers from the 1920's... and superb links... essential! | ||
| Pete
Loud's Collection - of primarily Northumbrian & Tyneside tunes,
plus popular Irish, Scottish, & Morris session tunes. |
The home of research into British and Irish Folk Plays - a place of study of mumming plays and the like... | ||
| Hetzler's Fakebook - a learning resource for beginning through intermediate fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and dulcimer players, consisting of 497 traditional American Old Time and Celtic fiddle tunes in MIDI format. | Folkinfo.org - a growing collection of traditional folk songs which are available in a variety of formats (abc, png, pdf and MIDI) for viewing, printing and listening. Also contains links to Gracenote Database to find CD's containing a listed song... | ||
| Mandolin.org.uk - providing resources for mandolinists... | Banjo Sessions - a very useful part of the Mel Bay empire... | ||
| Mandolin Sessions - possibly Robbie's favourite part of the Mel Bay empire... | Wendy Anthony's mandolin pages - with perhaps the most awesome set of mandolin and music related links on the web... | ||
| The Mandolin Archive - an attempt to document and adte every Gibson mandolin in existence from day one to the present... over 3000 instruments listed and rising... | A Collection of Collections of Mostly Celtic Tunes - here you can find a tune in abc format and get the dots displyed on screen to print or save... a massive and wondrous resource... | ||
| A Fiddle Tune Source Database - Dave Brinkman's list of fiddle tunes and their printed and recorded sources. Uses resources available in the USA, and is no less valuable for that... | Gracenotes - home of the database of almost 5m albums used by iTunes to load track names... so if you want to find all the recordings of a tune, song or artist... search here... | ||
| Mandolin.org.uk - providing resources for mandolin players... a forum, events listings, makers, teachers, books etc... | The Bluegrass Blog - Bluegrass news and information at the speed of…well, bluegrass! | ||
| The Virtual Gramophone - growing multimedia website devoted to the early days of Canadian recorded sound... | Cylinders on the Web - a compilation of 2- and 4-minute cylinder records from about 1898 to 1926... fascinating... | ||
| Cylinder Digitisation and Preservation Project - a digital collection of over 5,000 cylinder recordings held by the Department of Special Collections, University of California... | Thomas Edison's Attic - the audio curator at Edison National Historic Site rummages through the archives of the legendary Edison Laboratory of West Orange, New Jersey... | ||
| Juneberry 78s - a website dedicated to early American Roots music recorded on 78rpm records. The Roots Music Listening Room has Irish, Cape Breton, Calypso, Gospel ... everything! | The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library - the official website for the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society... | ||
| The Reel Book - an on-line collection of 1739 transcriptions of Irish traditional music performances from the 1920's to 1992.. | My mvy.com - all your favourtie musical styles, customised to your taste, all in one place... another new face of radio... | ||
| Cranford Publications - specialising in Celtic fiddle music from Cape Breton, Ireland and Scotland and producing tune books and related recordings... and a lot of great abc tunes also... | The Goodle Folk Song Lyrics Directory - a varied collection of links to folk song lyrics. Well worth exploring as there are some gems in there, esp. the Breton and Australian links... | ||
| The
Music of James Scott Skinner - a learning and research resource
suitable for anyone with an interest in Skinner, Scottish dance, Scottish
fiddle music, Scottish traditional music and its history, and the North
East of Scotland. |
Irish Fiddle.com - written by a fiddle player for other fiddle players and those who love the music. It's built upon the goodwill of the artists and the record companies who allow their sounds to be shared... | ||
| Some of Our Favourite Video and Audio Webcasts... | |||
| A Prairie Home Companion - Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon and great acoustic music from world-class musicians... pure magic... check out the searchable archives... | Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour - Michael Jonathan's weekly web videocast show archive...a collection of musical gems from Michael and guests that need to be seen... | ||
| .Pandora - an offshoot of the Music Genome Project, its aim is to help you discover more music that you've never heard that you might like. Start with one artist and travel from there... | The Farne Archive - home of Northumbrian music online. Here you can access 4,000 songs, tunes, sound recordings and photographs from across North East England.. | ||
| Hober Thinking Radio - presenting a cornucopia of unvarnished music from around the world! Essential audio... | WUMB Folk Radio - from Boston MA... serving as a resource for the cultivation, promotion and preservation of folk music. | ||
| Folk Alley - featuring a distinctive blend of the best of singer/songwriter, Celtic, acoustic, Americana, traditional, and world sounds. | BBC Radio 2 Folk and Country Shows... all the 32 weekly shows are here... Mike Harding, Bob Harris, Travelling Folk, Celtic Connections etc., etc., etc. (Opens in new window) | ||
| RTÉ - home of Ireland's folk and traditional radio shows and archives... The Late Session and Céilí House. | Folk Internet Radio and Webcasts - the Ballad Tree's page of links... this'll keep you busy for a while... | ||
| Radio Britfolk - a mix of the the best of the songs, tunes and stories, ancient and modern, from the British Isles | All Things Acoustic - Alabama Public Radio serving up "music from the edge of technology". Online archive of past shows. | ||
| TV Folk - around 400 live video perfomances by primarily Scandinavian folk music performers... wonderful music and essential viewing... especially if you like hambos, polskas etc! | Kennedy Centre: Millenium Stage - has broadcast live video of musical performanceson the web every night for several years. Trawl its archives of stellar performances to expand your musical horizons. Search by genre, date or artist... | ||
| Nordic Roots - a programme from Link TV which broadcasts programs that engage, educate and activate viewers to become involved in the world... | Back to the Sugar Camp - a weekly Canadiana radio program with Steve Fruitman broadcast from Toronto... the most recent program is available on the Internet... | ||
The
Planet - all the way from Perth, Australia... searching out good,
heartfelt, inspiring music from around the world. Its last four shows
are available in the online archive. |
Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif - the only weekly folk-oriented radio program from Montreal... streamed in real time and archived on the Internet... | ||
