‘DEAR GREEN SOUNDS’ UNCOVERS THE CITY’S RICH MUSICAL HISTORY

The Big Song Relay: Here's To All Our Common Wealth

I've been rather enjoying the Independence Debate lately - mostly because of the accusations being flung about that certain actions performed by MSPs or local councils are 'political.' In the words of Skunk Anansie...

So - all this stuff about the Commonwealth: is that political? Does it suggest that countries are able to go it alone without being part of a British Empire? Or does it reaffirm the unity of the British nation state.

And what about the name of the organisation behind this event: Hands Up for Trad? Does it imply a conservative agenda, or are they just big fans of Acker Bilk?

Press Release Begins...

It is part of the Big Big Sing, and they have a specially commissioned song to accompany the Queen's Baton Relay as it travels across Scotland ahead of the Commonwealth Games. 

The Big Song Relay will bring together singers from all over Scotland to form choirs, lining the route of the Queen's Baton Relay as part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural programme.

Here's to All Our Common Wealth will be passed from choir to choir along the route, uniting communities and celebrating the excitement of the day.

Here's to All Our Common Wealth was written by Phil Cunningham, Karine Polwart, Alison Burns and Findlay Napier. The song captures the idea of Scotland's distinct common wealth: its land, communities and people.

Simon Thoumire, Creative Director of Hands Up for Trad says: "We are really excited to announce this song. It is all about the Scots looking outward to the Commonwealth community and sharing our talents and culture with the world"

Svend Brown, Director of Big Big Sing says: “Big Big Sing is all about taking the world stage of the Commonwealth Games as an opportunity to inspire as many people as possible to join in singing and enjoying the benefits that brings. 'Here's to All Our Common Wealth' gives us another great tune in the Big Big Commonwealth Songbook, one that we can all share and enjoy.”

If you are in a choir and would like to take part in The Big Song Relay, please visit: and click on Big Song Relay. You can get in touch with Hands up for Trad from there.

Anyone can sing 'Here's to All Our Common Wealth': it is available to download in Scots, Gaelic and English.  Backing tracks and learning materials suitable for all abilities will be available soon.

Big Big Sing, which is set to be one of the highlights of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, aims to get thousands of people across the UK singing in celebration of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and to enjoy the social, physical and mental health benefits of singing. Big Big Sing is a nationwide project providing singers, choirs and anyone interested in trying singing with a wealth of resources, training and performance opportunities up and down the country, throughout the year.

A choir, yesterday

Sing-along-a-Glasgow

To be honest, this isn't my thing at all: but I quite like UNESCO City of Music and Stephen Deazley doesn't usually do rubbish. So read on, if you like to sing along...  Press release begins Britain is a nation of great singers and choirs and, in 2014, Big Big Sing - a UK-wide celebration of singing - will work with partners across the country to inspire thousands more people to start singing for fun, enjoyment of music and for their wellbeing.   An initiative of Glasgow UNESCO City of Music, Big Big Sing is set to be one of the highlights of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme. It is funded by the Big Lottery Fund in conjunction with Spirit of 2012 Trust, Glasgow 2014, Creative Scotland, and Glasgow UNESCO City of Music. Today’s announcement reveals the first details of its UK-wide programme to promote singing in the run up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the first in a series of Big Big Sing Days, the launch of the Big Big Commonwealth Songbook, and a Schools’ Songwriting Competition.   A series of Big Big Sing Days will be held across the country between February and July, welcoming participants of all ages and abilities to discover the joy of singing in some of the UK’s top music venues – no previous experience is required, singers can simply go along and enjoy a fun filled day packed with singing, workshops and a huge variety of music from across the Commonwealth.   Events kick off with Big Big Sing Days in Scotland’s largest cities before spreading across the UK.   The first venues to host Big Big Sing Days will be:   Dundee Caird Hall                              Saturday 1st February Glasgow Royal Concert Hall             Sunday 9th February Edinburgh Usher Hall                         Sunday 16th February Aberdeen Music Hall                          Saturday 8th March   Big Big Sing is also in discussion with partners in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales about Big Big Sing Days between February and June which will be announced via the website and social media as they are confirmed.    The musical backbone of the programme is the Big Big Commonwealth Songbook, which opens with a newly commissioned work from Scotland - Corrina Hewat’s ‘One Song’ - and a traditional Samoan song, L’au Lupe.  A further nine songs from around the Commonwealth will be added to the Songbook over the coming months in the run-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in July.    Available at www.bigbigsing.org, the Songbook includes online learning resources for each song enabling choirs and individuals to download, listen to, learn and sing the songs in celebration of the Games.  Big Big Sing is working to promote the songs to choirs throughout the Commonwealth, and they will be heard at singing events including the Big Big BIG Sing in Glasgow on 27 July 2014. This will bring together thousands of singers and some very special guests at a to-be-confirmed secret location in Glasgow for a spectacular and fun mass singing performance.   Big Big Commonwealth Songbook curator and arranger Stephen Deazley said:   “The Big Big Commonwealth Songbook is a celebration of global traditions, cultures and musical genres, embracing folk and roots music alongside songs by contemporary artists - it has been a great treat to delve into the rich choral traditions that the Commonwealth has to offer. We want to find simple and engaging ways for everyone to open themselves up to new languages, melodies and choral traditions and to make it as easy as possible for singers of all abilities to have a go themselves.   All over the country people are reconnecting with singing as a way of bringing communities together. The Big Big Commonwealth Songbook is an invitation for people to start exploring some amazing music from around the world - we hope it inspires you on a fun life-long adventure with song.”    Schools have also been invited to celebrate the Commonwealth Games by writing their own songs for 2014 in the Schools’ Songwriting Competition. Big Big Sing invites pupils to write a song inspired by the Commonwealth Games, either individually or as a class.  The prize on offer for the winning song includes having a video of the song made and the chance to perform the song in front of thousands as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.  One winning entry will be picked from each of the two categories (Primary School and Secondary School) by an expert judging panel.  Full details on how to enter can be found at www.bigbigsing.org/start-singing/song-competition.   Big Big Sing is proud to be working with distinguished partners in the choral and wider musical world and in the voluntary arts to make this project possible. Confirmed partners include Voluntary Arts, who are encouraging singing groups across the UK to organise pop-up sings for Voluntary Arts Week 2014 (9 – 18 May, www.voluntaryartsweek.org);UK Choir of the Year with whom Big Big Sing will work to inspire community singers at all levels of experience; and Love Music Productions, whose Love Music Community Choir offers a model for excellence in Community Choirs.   The sound of choirs is so uplifting that it is easy to forget that singing is also great physical and mental exercise. Extensive academic research by such bodies as the Sidney De Haan Centre (Canterbury Christ Church University) has revealed benefits to all, from soothing babies to offering a key to lost memories for dementia sufferers. Joining a choir improves your social life, your breathing, your brainpower and even your posture. Therefore, Big Big Sing is encouraging the whole nation to make singing its New Year Resolution and enjoy the social, physical and mental health benefits in 2014.   Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and Spirit of 2012 Trustee, Sir Harry Burns said:   “Singing in a choir - indeed, any singing - is one of the simplest, most inclusive and readily available ways to improve social, mental and physical health. Socially it enables people of all ages and from all walks of life to come together, develop friendships and engenders positivity whilst, physically, it promotes good breathing, an active lifestyle and relieves stress.  Big Big Sing is a fantastic project which offers anyone looking for a fun way to improve their health and wellbeing this year with a great opportunity to get involved and start singing.”   Choir member Alison Jenkins of Glasgow choir, Merchant Voices said:   “The joy of singing is something I have enjoyed since I was in primary school. To be part of an organisation that allows you to grow week by week and create a musical event that gives such pleasure to the person taking part and hopefully to those listening is awesome. The friendships grow gradually and are a huge part of my weekly rehearsals.  I just love all aspects of singing!”    Director of Big Big Sing, Svend Brown said:    “We firmly believe two things: one is that anyone can sing and the other is that the world is divided into those people who sing and those who do not… yet! Britain is truly blessed in having many amazing organisations and individuals that are passionate and committed about singing – and we want to take the opportunity of the Commonwealth Games year to work with them to champion and boost their work. Everything we do over the coming months we do with the hope that after 2014 many more people will sing regularly than did before, and we want to make it as attractive and easy a thing to do as possible.”   Independent Director on the Glasgow 2014 Board and Chair of the Ceremonies, Culture and Queen’s Baton Relay Committee, Eileen Gallagher said:   “Big Big Sing is already an important part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, allowing people wherever they are across Scotland to get involved in the Games experience. As it grows and spreads more and more people will get the chance to become part of a choir and improve their health whilst being part of the wonderful performances being staged as part of this exciting project.”     BIG BIG SING – HOW TO GET INVOLVED   The Big Big Sing’s online singing portal – www.bigbigsing.org – provides a wealth of materials and information for those wishing to take up singing, including a searchable network of choirs, a guide on how to set up your own choir, and details on all Big Big Sing events. Further information will be added during the project, including more songs for the Big Big Commonwealth Songbook and details of specific opportunities and events.   For further details, visit www.bigbigsing.org and keep up-to-date with Big Big Sing onFacebook and Twitter.   -

Red Note Schedule

I love me some Red Note Ensemble. Since they are constantly coming up with premières, theatrical concerts, or revivals of contemporary classics, it's not surprising that I get mildly excited when their latest press release arrives in my inbox. 

I can forgive them being based in Edinburgh, even forgive them for touring work outside of the central belt. When RNE come to town, the only thing that doesn't surprise me is the quality.

Their first gig on this tour is one, sadly, not aimed at me. Who says contemporary classical can't be for all of the family?

PRESS RELEASE BEGINS.


Saturday 28 September 2.30pm: Noisy Nights Jnr @ UNESCO Family Day, City Halls, Glasgow 
Following on from the success of their informal Noisy Nights new music series, Scotland’s Red Note Contemporary Music Ensemble perform new music about Creatures and Fairy Tales written by students from King’s Park Secondary School. Come and hear the first works by tomorrow’s composers … and maybe get the chance to write some of your own.
Ticket Price: Free
Venue Candleriggs, Glasgow.

Monday 30 September 8pm: Noisy Nights at Traverse

Monday 9 December 8pm: Noisy Nights at TraverseNoisy Nights is fun, free and your chance to listen to (and compose for) the musicians of Red Note. Noisy Nights is a place to meet music-lovers, curious minds, musicians, composers and artists in an informal space and hear some of the best examples of brand new music. All sorts of music are welcomed here - as are all sorts of listeners. And, with the established 10 Minute Composer’s Challenge, the audience also get the chance to write their own pieces to be played by the ensemble after the interval. Students from King’s Park Secondary School will have their compositions performed from the UNESCO Family Day. If you’re a composer, visitto find out the instrumental line-up each time, and how to submit your scores.
Ticket: Price Free
Location Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh,

Wednesday 23 October 6pm: Sound Festival - Framed Against The SkyOver the past few months Red Note Ensemble, Irish composer Brian Irvine and Scottish poet Billy Letford have been touring Aberdeen-Shire & City introducing people to new music and holding workshops in schools and open workshops during events. Participants have been helping Brian and Billy create a new piece of music which is being premièred tonight with their involvement alongside Red Note Ensemble.
Ticket Price: £8 / £6 / £3
Location Woodend Barn Banchory

Wednesday 23 October 8pm: Sound Festival - Go Compose! New pieces created by participants of the Go Compose! composition course. Young composers aged 13-18 who are still at school have work with professional composer Brian Irvine and musicians from Red Note Ensemble to create original pieces performed at Go Compose!
Ticket Price £5 (free to ticket holders of Framed Against The Sky)
Location Woodend Barn Banchory AB31 5QA


Monday 7 November - Saturday 9 November 7.30pm: Enough Already (Lachez Tout) Tramway, Glasgow (World Première)LOD|muziektheater / Red Note Ensemble / François Sarhan
Enough Already (Lachez Tout) is a music-theatre performance created by French composer-artist François Sarhan for actor, musicians, live sound effect artists, stop-frame animation and film. It is a funny secular parable in which meanings and relations between people, objects and events become increasingly absurd.
Ticket Price: £12/8 Early bird offer book by 28 October
Venue Tramway 1, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow, G41 2PE



Monday 11 November 8pm: Torsten Lauschmann - Inconsistent Whisper & Matter in the Wrong 

Glasgow-based German artist Torsten Lauschmann explores the limits and possibilities of technology in an experimental performance-installation at Woodend Barn with Red Note Ensemble and local musicians. Taking inspiration from a variety of phenomena, from talking drums and Morse code to the game of Chinese Whispers, this absorbing work looks at the problems and the beauty of misinterpretations, misinformation and misunderstanding. Torsten will also present the results of his open visual lab residency at the Barn with Charlie Hammond. This work will use projections and objects, static and animated to explore play, failure and mistakes as creative potential.
Ticket Price: £12, £10 (conc), £7
Location Woodend Barn Banchory AB31 5QA



Tuesday 12 - Wednesday 13 Nov: (Enough Already) Lachez Tout performanceLOD|muziektheater / Red Note Ensemble / François Sarhan
Enough Already (Lachez Tout) is a music-theatre performance created by French composer-artist François Sarhan for actor, musicians, live sound effect artists, stop-frame animation and film. It is a funny secular parable in which meanings and relations between people, objects and events become increasingly absurd.
Ticket Price: £12/£8
Venue Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL

Which one will you pick?

So - I am in a foul mood. My belated enthusiasm for football has me on an emotional roller-coaster, and the comprehensive defeat by Peterborough of Watford has me in a very bad temper. It makes a nice change from the anger that I feel about my personal failures, I suppose. At least when the Hornets get drubbed, I don't blame myself.

However loud I shout, the team won't hear me in the south of England. Instead, I'll find something else to complain about...

One of the things that has preoccupied me as a critic is the idea of the curator as an artist: manipulate, Arika, Svend Brown with Minimal. Simon Reynolds suggests that this is a very contemporary response to art: in the mood of the internet, it becomes collation rather than creation that is the focus of artistry.

And I have been positive about this development. Taste, determination, the ability to see connections between disparate artists: the curator does need a skill set that could probably be taught in an art school. But let me add another quality, something from the stock of the comedian: timing. It would be wonderful if the audience weren't forced to pick between events.

For fans of music outside of the mainstream, here's the choice for next week: first up we have Outskirts. It might be a little old school - having a band at the top of the bill and all- but it is at Platform, meaning that there's a chance for a swim if anyone turns up early and it features two artists - Xana Marwick and Greig Sinclair - who get into the music/live art cross over action.

Second choice: Freedom is a constant struggle, from Arika, at Tramway. I have quite a bit to say about that, and look out for updates in the coming days...  however, this ought to appeal to anyone who likes chat as much as music: Arika are all about the dialectic.

Third choice is at The City Halls. A special mention must go out to UNESCO, city of music. They have a lovely website that tells you all about the events in Glasgow without mentioning their own weekend of Man and Machine. Being disconsolate that Watford only managed to pull back two goals towards the end of the match, I am just going to cut and paste the press release...

Robots and Space

Fri 19 April, 7:30pm

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium
The amazing M&M robot orchestra from Gent fills the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall auditorium with its magical offering of musicality and machinery. Musicians interact with the machines – part techno magic, part steampunk fantasy – to create a moving and theatrical performance.

Andrea Sartori (from Bologna) makes music characterized by fine grooves, evocative moods, humid reverbs and hypnotic synth patterns. The grand finale is Volkwerk Folleto, again form Bologna: audio visual fantasists with a lyrical edge.

Please note there is nudity at this performance.





Man High and OdeusSat 20 April, 7pm
City Halls, Recital Room/Old Fruitmarket

Man High brings together live and electronic music with spectacular live manipulation of visuals to pay tribute to a pioneer of the space age, Joe Kittinger. In 1960, Kittinger set the record for the longest skydive, from a height greater than 31 kilometres. He recently hit the headlines again for helping Felix Baumgartner break this skydiving record.

A club night of outstanding sound and vision from across Europe and a rare gathering of digital artists, innovators, visionaries and mavericks. Odeus, a digital ‘orchestra’ from Seville fill the Recital Room with ravishing cinematic soundscapes using the latest technology.

Part of Man and Machines: UNESCO Music Days in Glasgow.



I take one weekend off and miss three things that would have excited, intrigued and fascinated me. I guess there are three workshops on being a curator. The "what" you put on is sorted, and the "where" (all the venues are worth a visit on their own, let alone when packed with happenings). It's just the "when" that needs some work - a date without competing events is a good idea: all three of these events will be of interest to similar audiences...

SILENT ECHOES - FINNIESTON CRANE – GLASGOW

Ever since Cryptic's Sonica festival, I have been trying to work out what the difference between sound art and music might be. The easy definition - music has got a tune, and recognisable notes - was broken by the serialists before I was born, and electronic musicians might think they are "doing art," but it is really the application of new instruments to traditional structures. However, letting Bill Fontana turn the  Finnieston Crane into a musical instrument has got to be sound art. I am unlikely to mistake that for a jazz jam or baroque concerto.

Fontana has done this sort of thing before: he wired up the Golden Gate Bridge once. His technique reminds me of classic Glaswegian noise artist Kylie Minoise: he attaches super-sensitive microphones to tap into the deep sounds the architecture makes, which are not audible to the human ear. Kylie sticks them to his body and bounces off the walls. Hopefully, the crane won't get injured as often as Kylie does.

Inevitably, Svend Brown is behind this commission. Brown, who curated the minimal festivals, has spent the last three years turning Glasgow's City Halls into a happening hipster hang-out through his adventurous programme. In his capacity as Director of Glasgow UNESCO City of Music, he has brought Fontana to the west coast. 

It does fit in with UNESCO's vision. "One thing Glasgow UNESCO City of Music does is to draw attention internationally to the fantastic home to arts and creativity that Glasgow is," says Brown.  "By linking top class international work like Bill’s to iconic aspects of our landscape we take the name of Glasgow far and wide, we give the world a great piece of art – and we get to see the city through a stranger’s eyes."

Apart from the quibble that, technically, we'll be hearing the crane through a stranger's ears, Brown's master-plan is clear. It's one thing to have cool gigs in the classic venues. This time, sound is bursting out all over the city - the Finnieston funk-metal is going to relayed to Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. There's a sweet cross-over here between the worlds of music and visual art. This is something that Glasgow has always been up for: viz. the number of artists who moonlight in bands.

Fontana does seem to get this, too. “I’m incredibly excited to be staging my latest installation in Glasgow – it’s a wonderful city with an international reputation for its vibrant music scene and rich industrial heritage," he says.  "The Finnieston Crane is an emblem of the city’s engineering past, and I hope this project will uncover sounds that will fascinate and surprise the people of Glasgow and beyond, as well as tap into the history of this iconic structure.”

Silent Echoes will run 18 April - 3rd May