Auld Lang Syne and The Cast
The quintessential song for New Year's
Note: We will soon visit Glenfinnan, Skye, and other parts of the Highlands, but the holidays have intervened! Last week, we took a look at Scottish Christmas music, and we can’t forget Auld Lang Syne, Robert Burns’s most famous song, as we approach New Year’s! Soon, we will also take a look at the new discoveries to be included in John Purser’s 3d and final edition of book tracing the 3000-year-old history of Scotland’s music.
Today is the last day for the holiday discount on a paid subscription. It lasts a year and is much appreciated as support for this publication!
[from Scottish Life magazine, winter 2009-2010, with a few updates]
It’s anybody’s guess whether Robert Burns, at the ripe age of 250, would enjoy the hit movie Sex and the City. But he certainly might enjoy his own song, “Auld Lang Syne.” Sung by a Scottish duo called The Cast, the song lends emotional power to a crucial moment in the film.
The Cast is husband and wife team Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell. “We were touched to think that this old song, so firmly rooted in a Scottish tradition of folk music and folk poetry, could add a dimension to a movie with such a contemporary feel,” says Dave, though he notes that the movie’s themes, friendship and forgiveness, “are as old as the hills.”
The Cast’s recording of “Auld Lang Syne” was the first track on their first album, The Winnowing, released in 1995 by Culburnie Records. It came to the attention of film actress Sarah Jessica Parker about four years later, when the duo performed in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center’s televised tribute to Scottish actor Sean Connery.
It is no surprise that their performance was memorable; Mairi’s voice is warm and intimate, and Dave’s fingerpicking accompaniment on guitar is thoughtful and uncluttered. The beautiful melody they use for “Auld Lang Syne” is the original one that Burns selected, which is different from the usual one we know, but is occasionally heard in renditions of the song by traditional singers such as Rod Paterson or Jean Redpath.
The Cast’s first two albums came out in fairly quick succession in the mid-1990s. Both The Winnowing and The Colour of Lichen contain several Burns and other traditional Scottish songs, sung with enjoyable simplicity, relaxed timing, and interesting arrangements. Mairi and Dave sing, Mairi plays fiddle and viola, and Dave plays guitar. We hear “Ye Banks and Braes” in a fairly traditional performance, and “Green Grow the Rashes” with a Latin feel. “Flowers of the Forest” and “Broom o’ the Cowdenknowes” are among the traditional songs, while fiddle music from Scotland and Cape Breton, and several original songs, fill out the program.
The duo’s first original song speaks of Mairi’s wonder at observing all ages stepdance to Scottish music in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. After discovering this strong Scottish-Cape Breton connection in the late 1980s, Mairi was among those who helped reintroduce stepdancing from Cape Breton back into Scotland, where it had originated.
Mairi and Dave have devoted themselves quite seriously to songwriting. In January 2010, Mairi released a new album of original songs written in collaboration with Dave, and performed by Mairi with a new band. Meanwhile, this husband and wife band continued its performing schedule as The Cast.
The Cast’s most recent album, Greengold, contains an award-winning song. “Smile or Cry” rose above some 400 entries to join the ranks of the winners in the biannual Burnsong competition. Around the same time, Mairi was voted “Scots Singer of the Year” at the Scots Traditional Music Awards.
Beyond performing, both Mairi and Dave are very involved in community activities. Few musicians, especially traditional musicians, spend all their time performing. Playing trad music is not about having it as the “day job” (though they say you can end up with a million dollars by playing traditional music — if you start with two million!). In fact, Dave has a particular interest in researching the way traditional arts are intertwined with community. He points out that the modern traditional artist is not just about playing music but about being engaged in his or her culture, expanding cultural memory, strengthening the “fabric of community life” and helping give the community a voice.
Perhaps The Cast’s most important community involvement is that they are raising two daughters. After their second album came out, Mairi and Dave took about ten years off from recording projects to focus on their family. Their Greengold album was released by Greentrax Recordings in 2007. A testament to their family efforts is that both their girls are passionate about traditional music, playing fiddle and harp.
Community work is a strong part of their lives. Dave served for three years as director of the Edinburgh Folk Festival (now no longer happening, though another venue for folk events, called Ceilidh Culture, has become successful as a springtime event in Edinburgh). He produced a report on traditional music in Scotland for the Scottish Arts Council, and has served as part-time music officer for the Edinburgh City Council.
For 10 years, starting in 2006, David served as artistic director for Ceol Mor, a band project sponsored by the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. Ceol Mor brought together some 30 top young musicians from across Scotland, sometimes including a few players from Canada and the U.S. as well, to learn about selecting and arranging music, develop original pieces, and work with experienced composers and arrangers in the field.
Dave Francis is also codirector, with Simon Thoumire, of Distil, a project to help professional traditional musicians develop their creative skills both on their own and in collaboration with top musicians from other genres of music. Begun in Scotland in 2002, this project has since been extended into England and Wales.
Mairi’s community work includes directing Sangstream, a community chorus of about 50 members, which is affiliated with Edinburgh’s Scots Music Group (SMG). SMG is an adult learning project with some 500 participants exploring various aspects of traditional music, song and dance.
Mairi also teaches fiddle. She studied classical viola at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, but her visit to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and learning tunes from Dave Francis opened her eyes to the traditions of Scottish music. In a sense, she returned to the experiences of her childhood, when she summered on the island of Lismore. On this small western island near Oban and Mull, Mairi’s family had a cottage, near where her great-great grandmother had a croft. She remembers going to the Lismore ceilidhs in a tiny hall packed with people, Gaelic songs, accordion music and ceilidh dancing.
Now, six weekends a year, Mairi Campbell returns to Lismore to take fiddle students on a retreat, where they can improve their playing while enjoying the beautiful surroundings.
Both Mairi and Dave play for ceilidh dancing as well, which is very popular throughout Scotland. They are part of a dance band called Bella McNab’s, a fiddle-based band, with bass, piano, and Dave as guitarist and dance caller. What could be more about community than gathering people to celebrate a wedding or just to celebrate each other by getting up and dancing together in high spirits?
This blend of music and community spirit intrigues Dave in his research into the role of traditional arts in the community. It is also clearly lends warmth and emotional strength to The Cast’s now famous performance of “Auld Lang Syne,” experienced by millions of viewers of Sex and the City round the world.
Update
Mairi Campbell has won Scots Trad awards as an instrumentalist, singer, and teacher, and in 2019 was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. In 2016, she created and performed a solo musical theater show called “Pulse,” an autobiographical portrayal of her family’s croft on the island of Lismore and how she returned there after journeys through traditional music and dance via Cape Breton, Mexico, and Scotland.
Another solo show followed in 2018, called “Auld Lang Syne,” about the song and her relationship with it.
David Francis is director of TRACS (TRaditional Arts and Culture Scotland), a government funded entity which brings together three collaborative forums in Scottish arts: the Traditional Music Forum, the Scottish Storytelling Forum and the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, to showcase, develop and improve Scotland’s rich cultural heritage. He helped found the European Folk Network in 2016, involving representatives from 20 countries, and served as its chair. David is also a storyteller, guitarist, songwriter, and ceilidh dance caller.