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robinia Scotland in June, Keith vs. Killin (5) RE: Scotland in June, Keith vs. Killin 28 Apr 02


The TMSA (Traditional Music and Song Association) festival in Keith (small brewery town northwest of Aberdeen) has been going strong for over 25 years and draws a lot of good traditional singers who come year after year. I went in '98 and '99 -- enthralled not just with the festival but with The Plough (rhymes with "shoe"), a "singing pub" where if you started a good song, festival-time or no, folks listened and joined in (BTW, it was much better when we weren't led by a thumping guitar, an instrument whose appearance seemed almost invariably to kill good singing... ) And it wasn't just the singing; it was the stories and bawdy jokes too, all told in the broad "Doric" that posed something of a challenge; at first I didn't even know when someone was offering me a drink! Anyway, the Keith festival is such an institution with traditional singers that, in '99 at least, I couldn't even find it on web-posted calendars (they didn't want the publicity, I'm told). The festival at Killin, a beautiful spot at the southern end of Loch Tay (to the west) is better publicized and gets busloads of tourists. In previous years -- when the Keith festival was held a week earlier -- on the Monday morning "orange juice ceilidh" at the Plough (which could go on till well past noon!) you'd hear people telling each other "see you at Killin." But this year BOTH festivals are scheduled for June 14, 15, 16 (and a good friend is going to be at Killin). So I'm torn......


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