 |
Alasdair White | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1983 (age 40–41) Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland |
| Genres | Scottish folk music |
| Instrument(s) | fiddle (main instrument), whistle, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, Highland and Small pipes |
Alasdair White is a Scottish folk musician born in 1983 on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In 2001, when he was only 18 years old, he joined Battlefield Band as a virtuoso fiddle player. [1] [2]
White is a Scottish Gaelic speaker, and originates from Tong on the Isle of Lewis one of Scotland's Outer Hebrides islands, a geographical area where the Gaelic language and culture are of great importance to its native inhabitants; it is this, combined with general Scottish culture that influences White's playing style.
White's chief instrument is the fiddle, which he generally plays in West-Highland and North-West styles; these styles being heavily derived from a culture with a rich piping tradition. He also plays the whistle, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, Highland and Small pipes, 'and probably anything else he can lay his hands on!'
White's musical career started while still at school playing with the Face the West, releasing their first CD, Edge of Reason, while still at school. The band continued on when White left to join Battlefield Band and have just released their second album. White appeared with Face the West at the Hebridean Celtic Festival in July 2009 for a Face the West and Friends gig on the main stage.
White joined Battlefield Band in September 2001 and appeared for the first time on a Battlefield Band album on Time and Tide (2002). Since then, he appeared on all Battlefield Band subsequent (studio) albums: Out for the Night (2004), The Road of Tears (2006), Dookin' (2007), Zama Zama... Try Your Luck (2009), Line-up (2011), Room Enough For All (2013) and their latest album to date Beg & Borrow (2015).
Aside from Battlefield Band, White released a solo album in 2006 entitled An Clár Geal (The White Album). This album features thirteen tracks, traditional Scottish arrangements as well as White's own work. On this album, White worked with musicians Ewen McPherson (Banjo/Guitar/Mandolin/Tromb), Aaron Jones (10-string bouzouki/Bass), Iain Copeland (Percussion), Russel Hunter (Piano), Alison Kinnaird (Scottish Harp) and fellow Battlefield Band member Mike Katz (Highland Pipes/Scottish Small Pipes in keys C and A). In early 2008, An Clàr Geal won in The 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Traditional World Album. [3]
White is currently touring the US with the talented Scottish group Dàimh, temporarily replacing their regular fiddler, Gabe McVarish who has started a micro-brewery in Scotland and cannot currently tour outside the country.
A cèilidh or céilí is a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a home or a larger concert at a social hall or other community gathering place.
Battlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
The Tannahill Weavers are a band which performs traditional Scottish music. Releasing their first album in 1976, they became notable for being one of the first popular bands to incorporate the sound of the Great Highland Bagpipe in an ensemble setting, and in doing so helped to change the sound of Scottish traditional music. In 2011 the band were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Old Blind Dogs is a Scottish musical group which plays traditional Scottish folk music and Celtic music, with influences from rock, reggae, jazz, blues, and Middle Eastern music rhythms.
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey. Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling players guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures. There is also a strong link to the playing of traditional Scottish bagpipes which is better known throughout the world.
Heartsongs: Live from Home is a live album by Dolly Parton, released on September 27, 1994. Recorded at a concert at Parton's theme park Dollywood, the album featured a mix of Parton originals and traditional folk songs. "To Daddy" was one of Parton's compositions that she had never previously released; Emmylou Harris, who recorded the song in 1978, took her recording of the song to the U.S. country singles top three). The campy "PMS Blues" went on to become a concert favorite, and received a fair amount of airplay as an album track. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh sang Irish vocals on "Barbara Allen".
Home Is Where the Van Is, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1980 on the Temple Records label. The album, the band's U.S. debut, "continued the Scottish group's affinity for blending modern instrumentation into the country's folk tradition." Several songs from the album notably featured band member Ged Foley on the Northumbrian smallpipes.
Bring Yer Wellies is the sixth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on July 25, 2006. "Wellies" is a nickname for Wellington boots, which feature prominently in the lyrics of "Kelly's Wellies" and on the album cover.
The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media and public attention. Nominations are made by the public and in 2019 over 100,000 public votes were expected across 18 categories.
Scartaglen was a Kansas City based Celtic music group, that first formed in the summer of 1982, and produced three albums before disbanding in the spring of 1994. The group was composed of co-founder Roger Landes, Connie Dover, co-founder Michael Dugger, Kirk Lynch. Earlier line-ups included co-founder David Agee, Kathy Agee, Matthew Kirby, Frank Martin, Dave Brown (bodhran), Keith Van Winkle (fiddle) and Rebecca Pringle (fiddle). Not all of the musicians were in the band at the same time, but all contributed from about 1982 until the band dissolved more than twelve years later. Original tunes were contributed by Landes, Lynch, Dover, Kirby, and Dugger.
Lori Watson is a fiddle player and folk singer who performs traditional and contemporary folk music. She is the first doctor of Artistic Research in Scottish Music.
Irish traditional music is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
Wae's me for Prince Charlie is Battlefield Band's second (studio) album on the Escalibur label. It was first released on LP in 1978 as Volume II - Wae's me for Prince Charlie.
Matachin is the second album by Bellowhead, released on 22 September 2008. Its title refers, to 'An old dance with swords, masks and bucklers; a sword dance' that may have influenced the Cotswold Morris dance. It has been described as "...a magnificently murky and rum-sodden collection of 11 traditional and original songs from the 11 piece band who defy easy categorisation".
Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band, founded in 1984 by Donald Shaw and led by Karen Matheson, and which performs traditional Gaelic and contemporary songs in English. The group adapts traditional Gaelic music and traditional lyrics with modern production techniques and instruments such as electric guitar and bass guitar, though rarely synthesizers or drum machines. Capercaillie demonstrate "astonishing musical dexterity" and feature "the peerless voice of co-founder Karen Matheson. Universally recognised as one of the finest Gaelic singers alive today".
Cabbage is the eighth album by Celtic band Gaelic Storm. It was released on August 3, 2010, and reached #73 on the Billboard 200 on August 21, 2010.
Hedonism is the third album by Bellowhead, released on 4 October 2010. It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios and was produced by John Leckie. The band also developed a new ale named after the album. Some of the band members took part in the brewing process.
Skipinnish is a traditional Scottish band from the Gàidhealtachd, singing primarily in English. Both the band and brand Skipinnish was created by Angus MacPhail and Andrew Stevenson in 1999 who were both studying at the time at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow.
Room Enough For All is the thirty-first album by Battlefield Band and their twenty-third studio album, released on the Temple Records label by mid-March 2013 in the USA & Canada in CD and in early April 2013 worldwide in CD & Digital Download formats.
Beg & Borrow is the thirty-second album by Battlefield Band and their twenty-fourth studio album, released on the Temple Records label as a digital download on 21 August 2015 and on CD in the UK on 18 September 2015 and in the United States on 16 October 2015.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
