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Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)

06 Mar 19 - 07:28 AM (#3980494)
Subject: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: GUEST,Bob Blair

I’m sure that many folk on Mudcat will mourn the passing of Gordeanna last night. She’ll be sadly missed both within and outwith Scotland

BB


06 Mar 19 - 10:03 AM (#3980532)
Subject: RE: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: Bonnie Shaljean

I am SO sorry to hear this. She has always been one of my heroes. I remember one time at a folk festival years ago, in the bar - which was jam-packed with every folkie in creation - with everybody drinking and chatting and clattering around making lots of jolly noise. I was sitting at a table, contributing my share of decibels with a bunch of friends, and Gordeanna was at the next one.

Somebody must have asked her for a song, because out of seemingly nowhere came this glorious, magnificent voice. She wasn't even singing particularly loudly, just to her table mates and anyone nearby who cared to listen. And within seconds the entire huge room had shut up. She had all of us spellbound. That's the power that combined quality and beauty can summon. No need for force.

Rest in peace, Gordeanna. The heavenly choir has a treat in store.


06 Mar 19 - 10:28 AM (#3980535)
Subject: RE: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: wendyg

She did indeed have a stunning voice. Sorry to hear this.

wg


06 Mar 19 - 10:29 AM (#3980536)
Subject: RE: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: Dave Hanson

We saw her at Skye Folk Music Festival many years ago, wonderful.

RIP Gordeanna

Dave H


06 Mar 19 - 11:08 AM (#3980545)
Subject: RE: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: GeoffLawes

A Wonderful Singer . Saw her several times at Whitby F.W. A great loss


06 Mar 19 - 11:12 AM (#3980547)
Subject: RE: Gordeanna McCulloch passes away
From: GeoffLawes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78N451LknqY&list=PL-dw9P1u3ouRTxiya2EDBe7X-WVnUwce8


06 Mar 19 - 12:13 PM (#3980562)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: Liberty Boy

A brilliant singer. So sorry to hear this!


06 Mar 19 - 01:02 PM (#3980570)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: GUEST,akenaton

I am so sorry to hear this sad news. Though I only met her once she made a lifelong impression on me and started me off on the folk voyage.   We corresponded on "footstompin" a few years ago and I was able to make my feelings about her singing and her lovely nature clear to her. I lost my wife last year and this news is a further blow.
Rest in peace dear friend and my sincere good wishes go to Gordeanna's husband and son....Alex.


06 Mar 19 - 04:33 PM (#3980593)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: Gavin Paterson

Here is the entire "Scotia" LP, 1971.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWsxrbsElp81lUwBTLUwIyGHFpoqejvdX


06 Mar 19 - 06:22 PM (#3980614)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: GUEST

One of Scotland's finest ever singers and a lovely person as well.
Vic Smith - posting from the Gambia so no cookie.


06 Mar 19 - 07:03 PM (#3980620)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey

Judy and I heard the sad news whilst at Edith Lewis's funeral in Livingston.
What a wonderful talent and such a lovely person.
We knew she was not in the best of health but it still came as a shock.


06 Mar 19 - 08:21 PM (#3980633)
Subject: RE: Obit 2019: Gordeanna McCulloch Mar. 5, 2019
From: Thomas Stern

sad news. she was a lovely singer, we treasure her recordings.
RIP
condolences to family and friends.
Thomas.


07 Mar 19 - 01:29 AM (#3980653)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Joe Offer

I was her at Whitby Folk Week in about 2002, and her performance was terrific. There's a nice article about her at the SCOTTISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC HALL OF FAME:
    Gordeanna McCulloch (1946 – 2019)

    Gordeanna McCulloch (was) one of Scotland’s greatest folksong and ballad singers, with a voice as strong and individual as those of Jeannie Robertson, Belle Stewart, Jimmy MacBeath, Davie Stewart, and Willie Scott, all of whom passed into legend as tradition bearers and national treasures.

    Gordeanna was born in Bellshill in 1946 and became a pupil at Rutherglen Academy in 1958 at an opportune moment. The late Norman Buchan, who went on to compile the priceless 101 Scottish Songs book in 1962, was a teacher at the academy and when Gordeanna arrived the Ballads Club he had started was really gathering momentum. Meeting on a Tuesday after school, club members enthusiastically sang everything from skiffle to the Muckle Sangs via children’s playground chants and bothy ballads, and Gordeanna’s repertoire featured all of these.

    Norman Buchan very quickly recognised her love of the big ballads especially and in 1961, at Buchan’s suggestion, Gordeanna and her fellow pupil and lifelong friend Anne Nielson appeared on a BBC programme hosted by Magnus Magnusson, to talk about and sing these songs. Gordeanna sang Johnnie o’ Braidisley in a voice that owed nothing to outside influences. Hers was a natural talent and the year after she left school she was invited to London to perform at Ewan MacColl’s Singers’ Club, the ultimate accolade in those days.

    Shortly afterwards, in 1965, Gordeanna featured on an LP of new voices from Scotland for the prestigious folk label Topic Records, with Norman Kennedy and the Exiles. She then met up with a group of librarians and musicians, including Don Martin and Erlend Voy, and together they formed The Clutha. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this event. Not only did The Clutha record albums that defined the Scottish folk scene of the time, the research her fellow group members undertook at the Mitchell Library helped to extend and enrich Gordeanna’s repertoire and develop the authority as well as the variety and tone that she brought to Scots song.

    Gordeanna released the first album under her own name, Sheath and Knife, on Topic in 1978 and added to the critical acclaim she had already attracted. The influential musician, promoter and song collector Arthur Argo delighted in the dignity and pathos in her singing and publications including The Guardian, The Times Educational Supplement and Hi Fi News acknowledged her unique voice and haunting way with a ballad.

    All through her career Gordeanna has radiated her love of singing, and in groups including the Gallus Molls or Palaver and in her work with the Eurydice Choir, whose singing in George Square on the occasion of Nelson Mandela’s acceptance of the Freedom of Glasgow remains a personal highlight, she enjoyed and passed on the thrill of harmony singing. She has further shared this thrill and her experience in ballad singing through workshops at TMSA events and at Celtic Connections and, most recently, through the formation of The Glasgow Ballad Workshop.

    A particular joy to Gordeanna – and her students – came when she was able to take up a teaching position at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, delivering Scots song to first and second study singers. Her input was invaluable – ranging from repertoire, musical critique, performance advice and programme balance to suggestions of source singers to study – as she shared a heritage that is as valuable to her as the air she breathes.

    Gordeanna passed away in March 2019.


07 Mar 19 - 07:32 AM (#3980715)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Waddon Pete

I was sorry to hear of Gordeanna's passing. A fine singer. I have added her name to the "In Memoriam" thread. My condolences to all those who know and love her.

RIP

Peter


07 Mar 19 - 08:57 AM (#3980732)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge

In my opinion, Gordeanna was a great singer, who absorbed what the older source singers had to offer, and it showed in her magnificent singing style.

She was one of the best among the many excellent Scots women singers & stood comparison with anyone I can think of. If your interest is in traditional singing , listen to her, and learn.


07 Mar 19 - 11:08 AM (#3980765)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: GUEST,akenaton

Well said JB.....Gordeanna was emotionally attached to traditional music and could transmit her feelings to everyone who heard her.
I would go further and nominate Gordeanna and Norman Kennedy as the two best singers of Scots song that I ever heard.


07 Mar 19 - 11:24 AM (#3980771)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Tattie Bogle

So sorry to hear the news (also while at Edith's funeral in Livingston on Tuesday). Have enjoyed so much hearing her sing on a number of occasions, as well as attending a number of workshops which she tutored. The Glasgow Ballad Workshop, which she and Anne Neilson set up together, is a part of her legacy. My condolences to her family.


07 Mar 19 - 11:47 AM (#3980775)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)

What a sad loss of a fabulous singer. Condolences to her friends and family.

Mick


12 Mar 19 - 04:07 AM (#3981591)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: GUEST,Andymac

Gordeanna was a fabulous generous person as well as a magnificent singer. Of many memories, I particularly recall one late night (wee sma hours) in the Southfield Hotel at the Girvan festival when I (a complete novice at the time) plucked up the courage to start a song.
To my amazement as I opened my mouth to sing, the exact same song (at the exact same time) came from Gordeanna across the room! Laughing at the coincidence, I mentioned it to her much later and she insisted that had she realised I was about to sing it, she would have shut up.
I, on the other hand, simply sat there in awe, feeling privileged to be in the company of one of the finest singers I have ever heard.
RIP Gordeanna and thanks for everything.


Andy


12 Mar 19 - 07:08 AM (#3981616)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Tattie Bogle

Copied over from Facebook, as this is tomorrow:

"Gordeanna's partner Jim MacKay asked to pass on these details about Gordeanna. “My beautiful lady Gordeanna McCulloch is at peace now and I would like it very much if you could join us at Daldowie crematorium G717RU on Wednesday 13th at 10am to celebrate her life ,Afterwards everyone is welcome to join us at sweepers lounge bar G727EB and raise a glass ( or a wee cup of tea ) to her and have a bleather . Thanks folks. PLEASE SHARE"


03 Apr 19 - 11:36 AM (#3985677)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: GUEST,Celtic Music Radio

Gordon Hotchkiss writes:

Tonight, Wednesday 3rd April 2019 I will be remembering and celebrating the life of Gordeanna McCulloch.

Throughout her life Gordeanna was one of the great singers in the so called 'Folk Song Revival'. Her voice had a quality that set her apart and her understanding and delivery of traditional songs was second to none. She sang with the Clutha group for many years who were leading lights in performing and researching traditional Scottish Folk Song.

Later, amongst other ventures she was also a leading light in the harmony group Palaver and an inspiration behind the all female singing ensemble Eurydice Choir. She also taught Scottish Song in the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama’s Scottish music course.

I'm delighted to be joined tonight by friends and fellow musicians Anne Neilson, Erlend Voy and Callum Allen who will give us an insight into her life and involvement in promoting and preserving her beloved music.

So, I hope you can join me tonight at 7pm on 'HotchPotch' on Celtic Music Radio - 95FM around Glasgow and online at www.celticmusicradio.net.
The programme is also repeated tomorrow Thursday 4th April 2019 at 12 noon and will be available on catch up for 30 days on the web site www.celticmusicradio.net


31 May 19 - 03:35 PM (#3994710)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Vic Smith

Well written obituary to Gordeanna by Pete Heywood in the June/July issue of The Living Tradition which dropped through the letterbox earlier today.


The Living Tradition: http://www.livingtradition.co.uk/node/2457


28 Jun 19 - 01:49 PM (#3998236)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: GUEST

I am the son of Callum Allan of The Clutha. For the past year we’ve been working on making a live album from a recording of a show at Harvard University, 1981. It features Gordeanna performing when she was at her very best. It’s out on the 22nd July 2019. Here’s an audio trailer I made a few months back. I’ll pop back with more details when available.
https://youtu.be/87dKERXceAY


28 Jun 19 - 03:48 PM (#3998260)
Subject: RE: Obit: Gordeanna McCulloch (1946-2019)
From: Reinhard

Thread creep: Greentrax also has announced a new CD "The Harvard Tapes". This one's by Dick Gaughan, recorded in 1982, and to be released on August 1, 2019. It is a charity release to support the recovering Dick Gaughan.