12.1% I' i
This wee bochle in a tartan toorie comes in the room carrying a couple oi screwtaps. it was a benefit atGlasgow School OiArtin the early 705. we had just met up with another bunch ot pals playing. iiddles. whistles. squeeze boxes. like ourselves. They were callingthemselvesthe Battletield Band. and we were having a session. The Tartan Toorie had a big grin on. jigging round the instruments. banging the bottlestogether. ‘Neh. you keep that up. you guys is really good‘. Ourtwo bands. about tive players and singers in each. played to warm applause. Matt McGinn strolled onstage with no instrument but his voice and a pint otgargle. and had the place in silence. uproarand in tears. Some 01 his songs are very moving. but some are in a class at their own. they
Stephen Conroy
~ tolk movement. and none
are so hilariously awtul. Matt McGinn‘s musical tile was one long benetitlor some cause orother. The upheavals in Scots working class tile in the 70s.the sit-ins and strikes. Linnwood. UCS. Scottish Daily News. all received support trom activists in the
more active than he.
Leaving approved school in his early teens hetought his way out 01 shift work by way otnight school and Ruskin College. Oxtord to become a teacherbackin his native Glasgow. but gradually the outpouring 01 songs and stories. acting and pertormance took over until he becametulltime Matt McGinn.
In his own selt deprecating words. ‘mytirst proper paying engagement was with Pete Seegerand Bob Dylan in the Carnegie Hall. New York. I gottwo hundred dollars against 1 Dylan's sixty torthe night. I started at the top. trom then on it had to be down allthe way.“ 1
Robbie Coltrane will be acting as narrator/link man I and reading some stories I trom the Glasgow Libraries'
book McGinn 01 The Calton. at the Maytest celebration on the 121h. tilmed bySTV , tor broadcast on the 20th. l Big Robbie remembers ! discovering him while at ; Glasgow Art School. ‘Those 3 songs like Wee Red Yo Yo. He was an extraordinary character. a good Left Man. 5 a genuine tolk singer and a l tremendouslytunnyman.
‘ldidn'thaveanythingto ‘ dowiththelolkthing otthe - time.whatBil|yConnolly 1 calls “tourbigjumpers i singing about deid sailors.". Matt was about real tolk. l aboutwhat was really going i on'. (Norman Chalmers)
lolanthe's ..»;’ Strephon:
_ . {f- D'Oyly Carte
THE LIST
GUEST lIST
THE D’OYLY CARTE COMPANY
lt anything is to be synonomous with Gilbert and Sullivan it mustsurely be O'Oyly Carte. the name otthe tamin who tirstput two oi the mosttamous English collaborators on the stage. Hit by pressures. mainly to do with dwindling audiences. notmuch has been heard at the O'Oyly Carte company since to all intents and purposes it tolded in 1982. but this will be changed with the launch at the New O'Oyly Carte Opera Company who come to the King's in Edinburgh with 'Iolanthe' and ‘Yeomen ot the Guard' as part ottheir iirst British tour. It's a tradition which goes back over a hundred years and
one which in that time has
attracted millions 01 G & S tans all overthe world. not only in English speaking countries including America. Canada and Australia. but even, incredible as it may seem.
L in Japan.The newswhich
' they'll all no doubtwelcome has been made possible by
' a bequest at £1 milliontrom
the late Dame Bridget
D'Oyly Carte. business 3 sponsorship and their ever
taithlul supporters. Friends 01 0'0ny Carte. ‘Loudly let the trumpets bray‘ goesthe
line sung by members ot the
House at Lords in
‘lolanthe‘. And who can blame the company tor doing iust that as they start oft on their new tuture. (Carol Main).
lolanthe is on Mon 16. Tue
17 and Wed 18 and Yeomen
' ot the Guard on Thurs 19. Fri
20 and Sat 21. All atthe King‘s Theatre. Leven
- Street. Edinburgh at
7.30pm with 2.30pm matinées on Wed 18 and Sat 21. See Classical listings.
HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA
An exceptional traditional tlute player. and regular world traveller in the Boys Ot The Lough. Cathal McConnell some years ago presented me with a cassette ot Nariprasad Chaurasia. saying that he had heard the linestllute playerin the world. Now. the Indian bamboo ilute and the 19th century classical wooden ilute still played in Ireland are essentially the same instrument. The Indian instrument is keyless. and in Irish music the lingered keys usually ignored in the modal nature at the melodies. or as with Hariprasad. achieved by a combination ol cunning crosstingering otthe six holes and tremendously subtle skill with the embouchure. in the blowing. This bends and glides the notes into one another giving the rolling beauty 01 the Irish airs and the sensuous. or is it spritual intensity. oi the long classical improvisations 01 India. The sitar is a relatively young instrument in the subcontinent. It is the transparent call at the ilute which echoes back in time. Lord Krishna is otten represented playing on one. and while listening to Nariprasad the awareness that one is hearing an instrument otten disappears. such is the absorption in the endless stream 01 creativeness .
Accompanied bytabla player Anindo Chaterjee. he is being brought to Glasgow (19th) and Edinburgh (20th) by Plattorm. who are promoting not onlylazz in its detlnable sense, butthe best at contemporary. creative and improvised music trom round the world. (Norman Chalmers)
Hariprasad Chaurasia
TONY wrison
It may rankle nationalists to see Scottish Television's reports on Mayiesthosted by a most prominent Mancunian- is Glaswegian talent so scarce?- especially as the presenter in question treely admits that his only previous visit to the country in 38 years has been a briel linktilmed in a Motherwell Job Centre. Tony Wilson. however. is so excited by his short tour at duty hosting the three 25-minute programmes that any doubts concerning an Englishman's place on a Scottish Arts programme are swept away in his enthusiasm tor what is. he explains. a historic piece 01 co-operation.
‘The lTV companies.‘ says Wilson. ‘torthe Iast30 years have done nothing but bicker. Suddenly little chinks appear in the armour. So. tor example. when Through The Night happened. various companies were saying. God. there's so little money in the early hours otthe morning. we‘ll have to group together. When we (Granada) do our show. The Other Side 01 Midnight, it goes out on Scottish and Central as well. So it begins with this concept 01 IN companies working togethertor a change.’
Bightly. Scottish Television's Maytest coverage has been expanded trom last year's ten-minute chunks. hosted by comedy duo Victor and Barry. and it was lelt thata twenty-tive minute arts programme was best hosted by an established arts presenter. ‘And otcourse.’ continues Wilson. ‘STV is run by an old boss otmine. Gus McDonald.
‘Granada loaned me. and l‘m quite happy to be loaned because I believe in this getting together at the companies. lthink it'sa nice idea. and then you get the tactthat it's tree. lsaid to Victor and Barry. ldon't know what you cost. lbet you didn't cost much, but you certainly cost a damn sight more than me. ’cause they get me tor nothing.“
In addition to his high protile as a TV presenter. Wilson has distinguished himsell in Manchester as the head at Factory Records. the company
which became almostas lamous as the Joy Division records they released in their early days. and which today is still the home at New Order. the country's most successtul independent group. Factory is trequently held up as a model lorindependent record labels. where contracts are more by gentleman's agreement than complicated documents. and as much money as possible is ploughed back into Manchester. through ventures like the successtul and prestigious Hacienda club. Naturally. the garrulous Wilson. even attertwo days in Scotland is guickto see parallels between Glasgow and his native city.
‘l'm knocked out bythe place. The reason lwanted to go so desparately is not because it's somewherel haven‘tbeen. but I’d been told and l was very much aware trom what I'd heard that Glasgow like Manchester and Newcastle was one 01 the three boom towns. Perhaps even more than Manchesterand Newcastle. but nevertheless it shared with those two cities the idea at being a vibranthappening town. which London can't understand. London can‘t understand thatthere‘s somewhere more exciting than London. and that it's supposed to be depressed and unemployed. but in tact it's wild and there’sthings happening and it’s groovy and interesting. I can't wait to go back. and i haven't even hitthe clubs yet.‘ (Mab)
Maytest ’88. presented by Tony Wilson and Susie McGuire is broadcast by Scottish on Fri 13 and Fri 20 at10.35pm.
Tony Wilson