2005 Obit: Citty Finlayson

Subject: citty finlayson
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 09 Sep 25 - 11:16 AM

This is an unusual obituary, because Citty died 20 years ago last month. She was influential enough in the traditional music world to have a prestigious award dedicated to her memory.
Hoever, I can find very little on mudcat about her, and I suspect that many singers who have competed for her trophy have little idea of who she was or what she did.

I met her at St Andrews 'Star' folk club about 1966/7 when with the Marsden Rattlers band. She invited us to play next day upstairs at the Woollen Mill shop cafe - she had a job there & amid the lively session we found she was just 15 years old!   
   She became a good friend, a firm defender of womens' rights and also once TUC Woman of the Year for her political activities.
   Citty was also in at the start of the iconic Blairgowrie TMSA festivals 1966-70 and a fixture at many festivals all over Britain, Ireland & Europe. Her zany outfits were a feature of many of these- a cloth parrot on her shoulder o giant sunglasses!

   She became convener and later a director of the TMSA and was indeed a driving force in the movement. When she moved from Newport on Tay to Auchtermuchty she decided to rope in the usual suspects to set up a festival in Jimmy Shand's home town, and it ran successfully for several years, featuring the real singers like Jock Duncan & sheila Stewart.

   Citty struggled with cancer from 1989 until her passing in 2005.
I never heard her sing, but she truly loved the music.
   I have great memories of this lovely woman and I hope a few other older folk might have some thoughts about her life & times- really the younger generation of traditional singers and musicians should be made aware of her huge contribution to the tradition.





I never heard her sing but she

Subject: RE: Obit: Citty Finlayson
From: Johnny J
Date: 09 Sep 25 - 11:48 AM

I knew Citty for many years through various festivals and so on.

To be honest, I never actually heard her sing either. At least, not seriously. Of course, there were situations when she would join in choruses and the like. Perhaps, some other members here might confirm if she sang more often in certain circumstances e.g. at local folk clubs and so on?

As Jim says, she was heavily involved in organising and particularly prominent in the so called "lunatic fringe" side of various festivals.

The "Aqua ceilidh" concept was very much Citty's brain child and, as I recall, the first one happened at Keith. There were others and, of course, The Stonehaven one is still going strong.

She also wrote and compiled gig/session/radio broadcast events for "The Broadsheet" during Jack Foley's period.

When I first met Citty, circa 1980, I had been going to festivals already for a few years but I didn't really know the crowd and wasn't "part of the scene".

For better or worse, Citty helped to change all that for me and was very helpful in introducing me to everyone, making me feel part of it all.

Back then, I didn't play or sing either but just enjoyed the music.