Singers Gathered!

Last weekend we welcomed a great group of singers to Linlithgow where they were able to take part in workshops from Sandra Kerr, Barbara Dymock and Aileen Carr, followed by a performance platform for attending singing groups that wanted to show what they have been working on. In the evening, Sandra and Barbara were joined by Natalie Chalmers (TMSA Young Traditional Musician of Merit) and Chris Marra for a cracking concert.

Our next big event is Northern Streams 2013 - click on the button to the right to see details on the dedicated website.

In the meantime, our next monthly singing session takes place dwnstairs at the Royal Oak, Infirmary Street, 8-11pm on Tuesday 12 March - see you there!

Singers Gathering 2013 - this weekend!

A great day of workshops, Muckle Sing and concert at Queen Margaret Hall and Low Port Centre, Linlithgow. The Muckle Sing will be taken by Sandra Kerr, who is tutor at the Newcastle University Trad Music degree course (and of Bagpuss fame), as well as running community choirs including the massively popular Festival Choir at Sidmouth Folk Week for many years. We also have Barbara Dymock and Aileen Carr as tutors. They all will be joined by Chris Marra and Natalie Chalmers (as the TMSA Young Singer of Merit) for an evening concert. Tickets are available for just the daytime events or buy an all inclusive ticket to get the best deal for a great day and evening!

On the Sunday morning we have a special workshop for players of English concertina from Sandra Kerr. Pre-booking is essential. Details of this and all other information about the Singers Gathering 2013 in a pdf is available through this link http://www.tmsa.org.uk/documents/SingersGathering2013flyerfinal.pdf. If you have any problems let us know on eltmsa@yahoo.co.uk or tel: 0795 191 8366.

Get cosy with singing!

Who cares about snow, sleet and wind when you can get cosy in our monthly singing session? Next one is snug downstairs in the Royal Oak, Tuesday 12 February, 8 -11pm. (And to help you plan ahead they happen every second Tuesday in the month except in August).

A Guid New Year!

Start off the New Year with a song or two at our regular session on Tuesday 8 January, 8 -11pm downstairs at the Royal Oak!

Then you can join us at our Singers Gathering 9 February 2013. A day of workshops, Muckle Sing and concert at Queen Margaret Hall and Low Port Centre, Linlithgow. The Muckle Sing will be taken by Sandra Kerr, who is tutor at the Newcastle University Trad Music degree course, as well as running community choirs including the massively popular Festival Choir at Sidmouth Folk Week for many years. (She may not thank me for this but you might also remember her in Bagpuss!). We also have Barbara Dymock and Aileen Carr as tutors. They all will be joined by Chris Marra and Natalie Chalmers (as the TMSA Young Singer of Merit) for an evening concert. Tickets are available for just the daytime events or buy an all inclusive ticket to get the best deal for a great day and evening!

On the Sunday morning we have a special workshop for players of English concertina from  Sandra Kerr. Pre-booking is essential. Details of this and all other information about the Singers Gathering 2013 in a pdf is available through this link http://www.voluntaryarts.org/2012/12/21/singers-gathering-2013/ . If you have any problems let us know on eltmsa@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Dates for the Diary

After the Branch AGM and Carrying Stream Session on Tuesday 13 November, we are looking forward to our next events.

Next session is Tuesday 11 December - feel free to bring your Christmas and/or Yuletide songs! And we start the New Year off on Tuesday 8 January!

The Singers Gathering 9 February 2013 - One day of workshops, Muckle Sing and concert at Queen Margaret Hall and Low Port Centre, Linlithgow. The Muckle Sing will be taken by Sandra Kerr, who is tutor at the Newcastle University Trad Music degree course, as well as running community choirs including the massively popular Festival Choir at Sidmouth Folk Week for many years. (She may not thank me for this but you might also remember her in Bagpuss!)

We  have Barbara Dymock and Chris Marra lined up and Natalie Chalmers from Aberdeenshire in the Young Trad Singer slot. There is one extra item on the Sunday morning (Feb 10th): for players of English concertina, Sandra Kerr will do a workshop: to be held in a private house in Ecclesmachan (near Broxburn/Uphall). There will be a separate charge for this, and it's not suitable for complete beginners. If interested in this, please let us know on eltmsa@yahoo.co.uk NOW so we can assess potential numbers. Booking information will be available very soon.

Then it's Northern Streams 26-27 April 2013. More details as we confirm our guests but we can tell you that for those who saw them this year, Karin Ericsson Back and Maria Misgeld are definitely returning with the third member (Eva Rune) of their trio, Irmelin. Other acts will be announced as they are finalised.

And in case you have not yet seen information about the Edinburgh Norwegian Christmas Tree Ceremony later this week - here are the details:

The Lighting Ceremony, Thursday 29 November, 5.15pm, The Mound, Edinburgh

The Hordaland County Council gift a lovely Christmas Tree to the City of Edinburgh for every Christmas and the lighting up of the tree is the usual cue for the rest of Edinburgh's Christmas lights to be turned on.

Afterwards is the:

Traditional Advent Concert, Thursday 29 November, 7.00pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street/Royal Mile

Featuring folk singer Reidun Horvel, Pianist Geir Botnen, Hakon Hogemo on Hardanger fiddle and Roots Choir with the Edinburgh University Chamber Choir. Entrance is free.

There are also events in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Kirkwall - for details check out:

http://www.norway.org.uk/News_and_events/culture/Christmas-Events/Norwegian-Christmas-Trees-in-the-UK1/

New season of sessions off to a 'craic'ing' start

We restarted the singing sessions last night with a cracker session - many old and new faces - and some visitors to Scotland enjoying a great number of songs. Themes ranged the obligatory lost loves, death through to the trams in Edinburgh plus a spot of Scottish Stepdancing to puirt a beul. 

Next session is on Tuesday 9 October - hope to see you there!

Summer singing sessions details

Summer is here (though maybe the weather isn't always understanding this point!). We have a singing session on Tuesday 10 July in our usual venue - downstairs at the Royal Oak, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT. Drop in from 8pm until about 11pm (though sometimes it does go on later).

We take a wee break in August for the Festival - check out http://royal-oak-folk.com/ for what is happening during the month instead.

And then we restart on Tuesday 11 September again with our singing sessions!

Our next session is....

Great session last Tuesday - some new and well kent faces as well as visitors to Edinburgh who appreciated getting the lowdown on where else they could hear some trad music and song. Next session for your diary is Tuesday 12 June, 8pm onwards, downstairs at The Royal Oak, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh. Maybe see you there?

No rest for the music!

Now we are starting to recover from our fabby Northern Streams weekend - thanks to all those who came, performed, volunteered and had a good time! But we are always looking forward to our next music and song event which is our regular singing session on Tuesday 8 May, 8pm at the Royal Oak, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT. It's free and all levels of ability are welcome to join us in song or come along and listen. See you there!

Northern Streams 2012 starts Friday (13-15 April)!

Northern Streams, in its ninth year is featuring:

• FUNI - Bára Grímsdóttir and Chris Foster, singers and multi-instrumentalists from Iceland
• Singer, Kim André Rysstad and hardanger fiddler, Lajla Buer Storli from Norway
• Jens Ulvsand, bouzouki player from Sweden and singer Jullie Hjetland from Denmark
• Daniel Reid (formerly Carlsson) on saxophone from Sweden and fiddler, Emma Reid - originally from Britain, who now lives in Sweden
• Rannveig Djønne, accordionist and singer/ fiddler/guitarist, Annlaug Borsheim from Norway
• Singers, Karin Ericsson Back and Maria Misgeld from Sweden

We have concerts, workhops for adults and children, and a Sunday afternoon singaround taking place at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile (Saturday) and The Pleasance Complex (Friday and Sunday). Why not buy a weekend ticket for the best value of 3 concerts and 4 workshops (only £39/£29 available through the Ceilidh Culture Box Office).

We hope to see you at some point over the weekend! You can buy tickets from the Ceilidh Culture (Usher Hall) Box Office and The Scottish Storytelling Centre.

Further details are on our website www.northernstreams.org including videos of the performers - click on the logo to the right of this post.

First concert - Songs of Ice and Fire is 7.30pm tomorrow (Friday night) at the Pleasance, 7.30pm. If you need to call us it's 0795 191 8366 / 0786 661 1954.

Plus check out the details of the ‘bonus concert’ on Sunday evening at www.northernstreams.org - please note this is not covered by our weekend ticket deal.

Open Singers Session plus Northern Streams next week!

Our regular monthly Open Singers' Session: is next on Tuesday 10 April, 8.00pm. FREE!
Downstairs lounge, The Royal Oak, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT. All welcome.

Also click on the Northern Streams Logo to the right to go to wonderful new website for the event including the full programme, links to videos of performers, booking details and more. Its our ninth year of bringing the best Nordic and British music in one place - why not join us?

Memories of Mining Tonight!

We still have some tickets left for tonight's performance at The Pleasance Cabaret Bar (8pm start) featuring the talents of Ragged Glory, Scott Murray, Jim Bainbridge and Mick West.

Last week's concert in Glasgow was a cracker and both the songs and the stories behind them were fascinating. This is your chance in the east to get a taste of the mining industry and how it shaped aspects of Scottish life both now and then.

The concert has been featured on the STV Edinburgh site - click through to read the whole article:
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/news/arts-culture/31428-stories-through-song-at-the-ceilidh-culture-festival/

See you tonight!

March 'Memories of Mining' Concerts

Tickets are now available for our joint concerts with TMSA Glasgow Branch drawing on the experiences of mining in Scotland over the years.

For more details, including performers (such as Ragged Glory pictured to the right) click below:

http://www.tmsa.org.uk/documents/MemoriesofMiningConcertLeaflet.pdf

Our Ceilidh Culture Event Tickets now on sale!

Edinburgh's Ceilidh Culture was launched today with bagpipes, singing and a cake to celebrate ten years of highlighting traditional arts in the capital.

The Branch has three events you can take part in / buy tickets for...
'Memories of Mining' concert: Friday 23 March
Our Open Singers Session: Tuesday 10 April
Northern Streams 2012 Festival: 13-15 April

Details through the links on this page plus at www.ceilidhculture.co.uk

Remember our recent Muckle Sing event sold out so get your tickets quickly for our next set of events (except the session which is free of course!)

The Muckle Sing Sold Out!

Just to let you know that all tickets for The Muckle Sing on 18 February are sold out. We are creating a waiting list - for contact details to get on the list, see the leaflet in the post below. Just to say thanks to tescos in Linlithgow with their assistance with the refreshments!

Our Singers Session on Tuesday 14 February, 8-11pm at the Royal Oak, Infirmary Street is still open (and free) for those who want to come along!