eddi reader, willie stewart, and the search for haggis

A song about friendship, written by Robert Burns and sung by one of Scotland's besst, Eddi Reader, seems a fine way to start off a new year, especially a year in which we celebrate Homecoming Scotland. It's the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth, What other poet do you know who has statues made to him in Vermont, Ontario, Glasgow, and Canberra, just to name a few places? If all you know of him is that you've just sung Auld Lang Syne at the new year, a song that's sung round the world every year is only part of his legacy. Check out the song in this clip as your next place to learn about the poet's range.

Reader says one of her thoughts in doing Burns music (she's a Scot, as of course, he was, and she's done his work with orchestras and as well as in more informal settings) is to do it the way someone might might have sung the songs in a pub in the 18th century, and you just happened upon it. She seems to have that nailed in this clip from the Cambridge Folk Festival.

We'll hear more from Reader here along the music road as the year unfolds, and from other Scots musicians as well. On this clip, notice (how could you not? he's the fiddle player) the work of John McCusker. He's a Glasgow native, as is Reader. Both have family from Ireland, too.



you may also want to see
hunt for the elusive haggis through webcams of Loch Ness, the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Glasgow's George Square, and other places, prizes on offer if you see one before Burns day

Music Road: Homecoming Scotland

Dual: Julie Fowlis & Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh