Iron Broo Ceilidh Band

Tag: Recordings

  • The 1st Doric Film Festival

    The 1st Doric Film Festival

    Weel, Weel!  

    I hiv tae say that yer meely moo’ed Hollywood hisna got a look in when it comes tae the Doric Film Festival. It was grand affair indeed.

    Hosted by Frieda Morrison, attended by VIPs and distinguished guests…

    For your viewing pleasure… Here are the edits of the event held at the Belmont Cinema in Aberdeen on the 2nd of July 2019.

    A celebration of our doric culture, music and song. Some great poems and scripts.

    Part 1 (schools)

    Part 2 ( Individuals & community groups )

    Here is our shortlisted entry Directed by Duncan Harley. “Awa we gaed tae Aikey”

    Awa we gaed tae Aikey.

    You can also buy our Aikey Brae song online. It costs less than a fancy bag o’ tattie crisps. Ye can find a’ the popular download links here… https://ironbroo.scot/cal-records/aikey-brae/

    The doric film festival was a great thing to see. There’s something that grabs your heart deep inside and gives it a kick. It’s intimate like a childhood memory of your mother whispering something close to your ear. It reminded me of a distant childhood memory I had forgotten about. What hit me the most was realising that in our everyday lives we never hear our own tongue portrayed on the big screen unless it’s a comedy or derogatory. If it is heard spoken in the news reports of the mainstream media it would also be sub-titled to emphasis how ignorant and uncultured us heathen doric speakers are. Nobody can understand us even when we speak English. To hear your own people speak on screen in the language that we all understand is a breakthrough. Doric is a powerful language and carries more depth and emotion than English can. We can get away with much less words. We also have words where English equivalents don’t really exist. Di yi ken fit hozzlin is? or Knap Darlich?
    The intonation and the use of cursing is an art form in doric and Scots. Swear words are adjectives, nouns and verbs.
    From a young age, in Scotland, we were taught not to speak our own words. We were often punished for using them in class, for example. Sometimes enthusiastically by overzealous teachers that felt they were a class above us. Even though they were Scots themselves. If you wanted to get on in life, “dinna spic lik at min”
    This is why it makes the Doric Film Festival something unique and groundbreaking in my eyes. It was difficult not to be moved by it. I think there is now a recognition in some places that our language is special and should be celebrated. It’s more than just part of our identity and shared history. It is the spirit of the North East of Scotland.

    We had great fun making Aikey Brae and are looking forward to the next film festival and are researching our next project for an entry.

  • Doric Film Festival

    Doric Film Festival

    Doric Film Festival Iron Broo
    Charlie, Duncan & Fred at the Doric Film Festival

    “Awa we Gaed tae Aikey”

    Our entry to the Doric Film Festival 2019


    Directed and written by Duncan Harley. An Iron Broo film. Music performed by Charlie Abel & Fred Wilkinson. Narrated & edited by Charlie Abel. Doric supervisors Alison Abel (my ma fae Turra) and Grace Banks.

    Our Doric Film Festival Entry.

    Iron Broo - From ceilidh band to the big screen
    Iron Broo – From ceilidh band to the big screen

    It’s the day after the 2nd of July 2019 and today we can release our shortlisted entry to the first-ever Doric Film Festival. The awards and presentations took place yesterday afternoon in the Belmont Cinema, Aberdeen.
    There were around 240 guests packed in to screen 1 to see the awards and the entries shown on the big screen. There were over 30 entries and there were 3 categories. Schools, individuals and community groups. We were were in the community groups section and were shortlisted to the final 4, only one of which would get the coveted Doric Oscar. The winner of our group was from Torry Community Group. I was curious to find out if any of the participants stayed on OSCAR ROAD 🙂 (that’s an aptly named street in Torry)
    Their film was an excellent piece on the history of Torry.
    Every film I saw on the day was a winner so it must have been difficult for the judges to sit through 30+ films and choose a winner. Each film had something very special about it. From the old footage of Aberdeen Harbour and old Torry, to the Fishing Boats of the Bloo Toon with Meethill Primary. There wis family poems and stories with actors, the whole thing was very moving for any doric person. It warms the heart to hear the familiar turn of the doric tongue on the big screen. Communicating sentiment with messages that the english language could never do for us. To my knowledge, It’s the first time our culture has been celebrated in a film festival. This was art.

    Onyhoo…


    We were fair tricket to be shortlisted into the final 4 in the Community category. The Doric festival was a great success and brought in talent from across the northeast with some fantastic short film entries from schools, individuals and community groups. We thoroughly enjoyed working on our film about Aikey Brae with real northeast doric language and music.
    When I was at school I remember being told off and even excluded from lessons for speaking doric in class, it happened a few times but now it warms my heart to see so many people celebrate oor mither tongue. A creative and descriptive language reekin o’ history and hard toil.

    Thanks Duncan Harley – Director

    The film was Duncan Harley’s concept, and I would personally like to thank him for inviting myself and Fred to join him in the creation of the film. We learned a lot of tricks in the process and are looking forward to our next project. We hope the Doric Film Festival will continue and become an annual event. It’s sair needed in oor toon.
    A big thanks to Frieda Morrison and her team for making the whole thing happen.

    Entries will be available online I believe, very shortly https://doricfilmfestival.com/
    If you are interested in Aberdeenshire history, please check out Duncan Harley’s recent book “The Little History of Aberdeenshire”
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-History-Aberdeenshire-Duncan-Harley/dp/0750989297

    Iron Broo duo play at the Doric Film Festival
    Iron Broo duo play at the Doric Film Festival

    Iron Broo ( Charlie (me) & Fred ) played at the Doric Film Festival awards ceremony. We played little ditties as the folk came up for their awards and we performed our version of the song Aikey Brae, used in our film.

    Aikey Brae – oor track(s)

    We released the music track “Aikey Brae” online. It’s on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify etc. A radio edit and the version of the full verse with the doric monologue as written by the original author G.S. Morris.
    You can download the tracks for pennies. Less than a bug o tattie crisps. Please dae as we sair need the siller.
    Here’s a CdBaby link https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/charlieabel3

    Our website https://www.ironbroo.scot
    my website https://www.charlieabel.scot
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CeilidhAberdeen/

    Aikey Brae digital download artwork
    Aikey Brae digital download artwork
    Aikey Brae panorama
    Aikey Brae panorama

    The standing stones at Aikey Brae, up above where the horse cowpin’ went on, are believed to be around 5000 years old. There are many standing stones around the area and many share similar features. Aikey Brae is one of the most nearly complete ones left. Many stones were moved and were used for building other things over the centuries.

    Aikey Brae Stone Circle information
    Aikey Brae Stone Circle information
    Aikey Brae Standing Stones
    Aikey Brae Standing Stones
    Aikey Brae Stone Circle
    Aikey Brae Stone Circle
    Aikey Brae ( sacrificial stone?)
    Aikey Brae ( sacrificial stone?)
    Aikey Brae from on top of the sacrificial stone
    Aikey Brae from on top of the sacrificial stone

  • The Dark Island

    Nostalgic Scottish Music

    Leaving Loch Maddy, North Uist. Looking back towards the Dark Island

    It’s a tune every Scottish accordion player learns and probably the most widely requested Scottish music tune I ever get. In my experience, it’s also the highest earning tune in my repertoire back when we were busking or playing in bars. Many a time I would get asked at the end of a gig in a bar to play the Dark Island. Usually by an older person, quite emotional after a few drinks and they would often hand us a tenner or a twenty afterwards with a tear in their eye. “That’s braw son…just braw”.

    It’s a tune soaked in nostalgia for lots of people.

    I recall playing on the St.Clair ferry from Aberdeen to Shetland one night, many years ago. Myself and my fiddler pal Bill Edwards were asked to play it for a guy after our show. He handed us £120. (£60 each.) For a few minutes playing, that was a lot of money for us back then and still would be today.

    I visited Benbecula last year on a camping trip and used the photos I took during the week to make a video using the track from my album. (A Celtic voice)

    The dark island is one of the first tunes I practised when I picked up the accordion.

    I remember my dad trying to play it, it was one of the 3 tunes he could still remember from playing when he was a teenager.

    The Dark island Video

    Here’s my latest YouTube video of the Dark Island with photos from Benbecula, Eriskay, Berneray, North and South Uist and below is one of my previous videos of the same tune done live, one with Sandy Mathers on fiddle, recorded in front of my pizza oven.

    It’s funny how a tune can creep up on you. I didn’t realise I played it so much.

    The Dark Island – A Celtic Voice
    Sandy Mathers & Charlie Abel

    The forecasting stone outside a shop near Berneray is indicative of the type of weather you can expect around the Dark Island. You won’t see many trees either

    The Forecasting stone
  • The Left-Handed Fiddler

    The Left-Handed Fiddler

    The Left-Handed Fiddler is a well-known traditional Scottish tune written by James Scott Skinner, who is an iconic Scottish fiddle player from Banchory. (1843-1927) Skinner rose to fame during his time and left a vast legacy of music with his own compositions and collections that are still played widely to this day. Skinner gave himself the nickname “The Strathspey King”. He was quite a character and there’s a good article on him here for further reading. https://www.folkworld.de/25/e/skinner.html

    Skinner’s Tune – for George Taylor.

    My neighbour David Cumming had heard that Skinner wrote a tune for a relative of his. It was called “The Left-handed Fiddler”. Because he was not familiar with the tune I learnt it for him and recorded another YouTube video. I was pleased Dave liked it and he sent it to his relatives around the world.

    The Left-Handed Fiddler

    The next day, a relative of his asked if his name was ever mentioned in music scores, “George Taylor”. So I had a quick Google and discovered quite a few things.

    George Taylor was a left-handed fiddler who also had a son called George who was also a left-handed fiddler. The author of the tune, Skinner had a father who was also a left-handed fiddler due to an accident that meant he had to relearn and play left handed. There are some who thought that Skinner wrote this tune for his father, but that has been dismissed by reliable sources on the internet who agree it was for George Taylor.

    J. Murdoch Henderson’s tune – George I. Taylor.

    The next morning I then also discovered that there is another tune written for George Taylor, though I’m not clear if it is for the same person, It may be that the father is George Taylor of the tune “Left-Handed Fiddler” and George I. Taylor is the son. In either case, it’s quite exciting in my mind to find this extra gem of musical history.

    George I. Taylor – Strathspey

    The tune “George I. Taylor” was written by J. Murdoch Henderson, from New Deer (1902-1970) and moved into Aberdeen to teach Maths. He loved to play fiddle but had some difficulties in playing as he injured both wrists in a childhood accident. He collected and wrote many tunes and published them. One of Henderson’s books I am aware of is called “The Flowers of Scottish Melodies”. It’s out of print now and I don’t seem to be able to source a copy. It’s the sort of book that will be lying someone’s house, hidden in a piano stool or in a second-hand shop. George I. Taylor is in this book.

    The same time I discovered this tune I become aware that there is an online trend I was not aware of, it was #playastrathspeyday. Well, George I. Taylor is a strathspey. David, of course, wants to hear the tune so I drop what I am doing and learn the tune and upload it to the net. The morning after the official play a strathspey day, but, better late than never. 🙂

    If you like the videos remember to visit the rest of my website and the clips pages.

    You can also subscribe to my YouTube Channel and Facebook Pages. Look for Charlie Abel or Iron Broo.

  • Original tune for Ronnie Watt’s 9th Dan

     

    I wrote and recorded this tune for Ronnie Watt to mark his 9th Dan Karate belt. Ronnie is an inspiration to many people. His karate teaching has had a very positive impact on many peoples lives.

    You can download the sheet music for free here…

    https://charlieabel.scot/piece/ronnie-watts-9th-dan-accordion-sheet-music-scottish/