The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #173636   Message #4210963
Posted By: Johnny J
04-Nov-24 - 12:24 PM
Thread Name: Irish but Not Scottish Sessions. Why?
Subject: RE: Irish but Not Scottish Sessions. Why?
As I said, even "Here in Scotland", there weren't too many Scottish sessions in pubs.

Even in the likes Sandy Bells and other "folkie" establishments, it was mainly songs and what tune sessions there were tended to be mostly Irish.

A lot of this changed from the late seventies onwards with lots of Scottish groups coming to the fore.. e.g. JTB and Silly Wizard in Edinburgh + Hom Bru who moved there, The Battlefield Band, Ossian, The Tannies...later the likes of Ceolbeg and so on.

So, we had Scottish Sessions emerging in places like The Fiddlers Arms, Sandy Bells, West End and so on. Even then, there was lots of Irish music dominating overall.

Some festivals such as Keith, Newcastleton featured a lot of Scottish music too but I remember when Irish tunes were even very common up in Keith and Newcastleton was always a good mixture of Scottish, Northumbrian, and Irish.

I also think Scots Music Courses and the like also helped to encourage the spread of Scottish music too but that was more from the 90s onwards.