 Na h-Eilthirich
Na h-Eilthirich were Ann Michie, Seumas Campbell, Kenna Campbell and Ian Young. They were active from 1974 to 1979. Ann, Seumas and Kenna were siblings, native gaelic speakers and all mod gold medallists from the Campbell family of Grepe in Skye. Kenna in later years taught Gaelic singing on the Traditional singing course at the conservatoire in Glasgow. She is the mother of Mary Ann Kennedy the well-known gaelic broadcaster and clarsach player. Ian Young was the guitar player in the group and as a gaelic learner added his voice in the choruses.
Na h-Eilthirich represented BBC Scotland at the Lorient festival Inter- Celtique in Brittany August 1975 and at the Killarney festival in May 1976. They were regularly on BBC TV Gaelic programmes in the 1970s such as Se ur Beatha produced by Fred Macaulay head of Gaelic broadcasting at that time. They recorded one LP in Glasgow in 1975 Na h-eilthirich (GaelFonn GLC 4401)
Natural Acoustic Band
This Glasgow-based group were Krysia Kocjan (vocals),
Tom Hoy (guitar, vocals), Richard Coakley (double bass,
clarinet) and Robin Thyne (banjo, guitar, wind instruments, vocals).
They described themselves as "folk/jazz" They released two
albums in the early 1970s after which Krysia went solo, and Tom and Robin
went to the band Magna Carta. Krysia died of lung cancer in 2007. Her husband Rob wrote about her here.
Nova Scotia
This Glasgow-based group existed in 1972; apart from that, I know nothing
about them.
Newcomers The only thing I know about this group was that they
were involved in SNP Folk, an LP of folk songs published by the
Midlothian Constituency of the Scottish National Party. No date on the
record or sleeve, but I'd guess it was released in about 1966/7.
Fraser Nimmo
This Dundonian singer was on television and radio fairly often in the
early 1970s. He was originally inspired by seeing The Inn Folk
in 1968, and was encouraged by them to keep playing, and by '69 and '70
he was becoming a regular at the Edinburgh Festival. Fraser sings and
plays guitar, banjo and harmonica, and occasionally sang in a duet with
Johnny Ballad (Watt Nicoll's nephew), and also with Craig Gilbert. He moved to London, where
he performed full-time for 30 years, the highlight of which was
opening for Fairport Convention on their 35-date 30th anniversary tour.
On that he had the pleasure of working with Ralph McTell, another
boyhood hero. He has recently returned to Scotland and will be gigging
based from his new Perthshire home. Fraser has a website: frasernimmo.co.uk.
|
