The sad news reached me yesterday morning, of the passing of a regular Festival performer and session attender, Tam Anderson on 2nd April 2012. "Big Tam frae Musselburgh" or "Sapper QMSI" was well-known and much liked by many throughout the festival and session network in the Lothians and beyond, but especially Musselburgh, Newtongrange (Nitten), Edinburgh Folk Club, Penicuik, and Linlithgow.
As befits a former military man, his trademark was to bellow "SING" at the top of his voice at the start of any choruses, waking any snoozing sessioners up with a jump, and stopping any talkative ones in mid-sentence: and of course, his orders had to be obeyed! He cut a striking figure – "the man in white" - on the Nora Devine stage at Linlithgow Folk Festival, and his "SING" could probably be heard all the way to Edinburgh.
His wide repertoire included "My Bonnie Moorhen", "My Bonnie Yew Tree", "Ye Jacobites" and other favourite Scottish and Irish songs. You could always rely on him for great banter and lightning-fast repartee at any session. He recently appeared at Nitten in their annual charity Lesley Hale memorial concert, and, in January, with a motley crew from Nitten Folk Club as one of "The Jolly Beggars" in Burns' cantata at Balerno Folk Club.
He also wrote poetry, winning the Nitten Poetry competition in 2010 with his harrowing account of his service in the Falklands conflict, when he survived his ship being shelled, swimming through icy cold water, and then, on crawling ashore, being shot. How poignant that he should die on the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war starting. Tam was a clinical psychologist who worked at the Edinburgh Erskine Centre, helping his fellow veterans of various conflicts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Goodbye Big Tam, RIP, there's a big hole in our hearts: get them all SINGING up there!

Link to video of The Jolly Beggars: Tam's solo at 9 mins 55 secs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxidXcDC8BY