The New Traditional Composer

Billy Jackson and his The Wellpark Suite mark the beginning of the proliferation from noted composers such as William Marshall or J.S. Skinner into a movement of new larger scale composition and experimentation from traditional musicians in Scotland. In the past 30 years over 100 new works have been produced and this continues to increase with support from schemes such as the Celtic Connections New Voices Series and the Distil Showcases and workshops.

Stuart Eydmann and myself are compiling a database of new works, their composers and performers - if any composers would like to contribute their information please get in touch.

Composers with information to contribute to the database of new compositions please email me at lori@loriwatson.co.uk with any of the following information:

Title of work
Composer
Commissioner
Performance dates/years
Instrumentation
Performers
Record/Document
Description

Thanks.

The Future of Oral Tradition?

Today i am wondering what might have been written about changes in the nature of Oral Tradition with technological advancements. In particular, the affect of commercial recording industry on traditional music (in Scotland). Other than large amounts of varied music being more accessible, the popular recording artists of the traditional music world are highly influential in shaping the listening habits, repertoire, identity/perception and performance styles of the traditional music community. It is now a primary method of transmission - key artist recording to mass musicians - is this the future of Oral Tradition?