0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is the story of a musical migration
0:00:05 > 0:00:08unfolded over many generations and many journeys...
0:00:13 > 0:00:16..of songs and tunes that left Scotland...
0:00:16 > 0:00:18# And it's heather on the moor. #
0:00:18 > 0:00:22..to become a vital part of the traditional music of Ireland.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28For over 40 years, music has taken me all over the world.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30And this series is going to take me from Scotland
0:00:30 > 0:00:32to Northern Ireland and beyond.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39I'm going to follow in the footsteps of pioneers that took their music
0:00:39 > 0:00:41to America's furthest frontiers.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45Wish me luck.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51I'll explore how it mixed and mingled with different traditions
0:00:51 > 0:00:52and new rhythms.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57THEY SING
0:00:57 > 0:01:00I'll share songs and tunes with some new friends
0:01:00 > 0:01:02and some old friends, too.
0:01:02 > 0:01:08# So if you're travelling in the north country fair... #
0:01:08 > 0:01:12And I'll explore the legacy of those wanderers and wayfarers
0:01:12 > 0:01:16who left Scotland and Ulster for a new life in a new world.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22They would leave their mark on religion, politics,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26education and on a new nation's democracy,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29but I'm here to trace and to celebrate their influence
0:01:29 > 0:01:32on what I would consider to be one of America's greatest gifts
0:01:32 > 0:01:33to the world - the music.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41CHOIR HARMONISES
0:01:44 > 0:01:47CHOIR SINGS
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Shape note singing - a uniquely American tradition.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01And this song has been at the heart of America's story
0:02:01 > 0:02:03for more than 200 years.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Born out of folk tradition,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12it became a hymn about life's journey.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16In a nation built by strangers,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18this song captured the spirit of a restless people.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23# I am a poor wayfaring stranger
0:02:23 > 0:02:28# While journeying through this world of woe
0:02:28 > 0:02:33# Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger
0:02:33 > 0:02:37# In that bright land to which I go... #
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Poor wayfaring stranger,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43he's somebody who's unknown, because he's left his family,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45he's left all of the people
0:02:45 > 0:02:49that he's known behind him and he's in a strange and foreign land.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55We're the culture of the train, we're the culture of the plane,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57we're the culture of the automobile.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Migration is fixed into our national consciousness.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06# I know dark clouds will gather over me... #
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Wayfaring Stranger is one of those songs
0:03:09 > 0:03:13about travel and longing and death.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16# Yet beautiful fields lie just before me... #
0:03:16 > 0:03:21We're all looking in the same direction and the longing you
0:03:21 > 0:03:23feel for those who have gone before
0:03:23 > 0:03:26and that deep desire to connect with them,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that's a universal feeling, that's the power of that song.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39Wayfaring Stranger certainly is a hymn about travelling through life.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Music is a journey itself and the act of music happens through time.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50It's something rooted in our past and our history,
0:03:50 > 0:03:55but it's also something translatable to anybody anywhere.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03It is part of this epic migration to the New World and all the cultures
0:04:03 > 0:04:07that came and mixed and mingled when they got there.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10If you were to look for just one song that captured up the feel
0:04:10 > 0:04:14of some of that, I think Wayfaring Stranger would be a good candidate.
0:04:14 > 0:04:21# I'm only going over home. #
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Loved by generations of singers,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Wayfaring Stranger is an American anthem.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34But like a river, every song has its source.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Its melody is thought to flow from this 17th-century Scottish ballad.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49This tale from the Scottish Borders tells of the doomed love between a
0:04:49 > 0:04:51poor plough boy and a noble lady.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55When he is ambushed by her family,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58he fights for his life on the banks of the River Yarrow.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04# He says, "There's nine o' you, but one o' me
0:05:04 > 0:05:09# It's a most unequal marrow
0:05:09 > 0:05:14# But I'll fight ye a' noo one by one
0:05:14 > 0:05:20# On the Dowie Dens o' Yarrow
0:05:20 > 0:05:26# And so she's run ower yon high, high hill
0:05:26 > 0:05:31# And doon by the den sae narrow
0:05:31 > 0:05:38# And it's there she spied her dear lover John
0:05:38 > 0:05:45# Lyin' pale and deid on Yarrow. #
0:05:45 > 0:05:46Rooted in Scotland's past,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49this melody travelled to a new world.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55Like the people who carried it with them, it was changed along the way.
0:05:55 > 0:06:01# I am a poor wayfaring stranger
0:06:01 > 0:06:07# Travelling through this world alone
0:06:07 > 0:06:14# There is no sickness, toil or danger
0:06:14 > 0:06:20# In that fair land to which I go
0:06:20 > 0:06:26# I'm going home to see my Mother
0:06:26 > 0:06:34# I'm going home no more to roam
0:06:34 > 0:06:40# I'm just going over Jordan
0:06:40 > 0:06:46# I'm just going over home
0:06:49 > 0:06:55# I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
0:06:55 > 0:07:01# I know my way is rough and steep
0:07:01 > 0:07:08# But golden fields lie just before me
0:07:08 > 0:07:14# Where the redeemed shall ever sleep
0:07:14 > 0:07:21# I'm going home to see my mother
0:07:21 > 0:07:28# I'm going home no more to roam
0:07:28 > 0:07:34# I'm just going over Jordan
0:07:34 > 0:07:41# I'm just going over home
0:07:41 > 0:07:47# I'm just going over home
0:07:47 > 0:08:01# I'm just going over home. #
0:08:01 > 0:08:05A new home and a brighter future was what many thousands of Scottish
0:08:05 > 0:08:07and English settlers hoped to find
0:08:07 > 0:08:09in the northern part of Ireland in the 17th century.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17The city of Londonderry was once at the heart of a plantation
0:08:17 > 0:08:19initiated by King James I,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21an ambitious scheme to colonise
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and tame Ireland's most rebellious Gaelic province.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32For huge numbers of lowland Scots, Ulster became the promised land,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34a chance to escape poverty at home.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38It was one of the largest European migrations of the period
0:08:38 > 0:08:41and it would profoundly change the character of life here.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46'Along with their families and their hopes and dreams,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50'they brought their dissenting faith and their culture.'
0:08:50 > 0:08:51They carried songs and tunes with them,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54sometimes that was the only bit of home they had to hang onto.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57And soon these songs and tunes would be reshaped
0:08:57 > 0:08:58to fit into their new surroundings.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Just like the settlers themselves,
0:09:02 > 0:09:06as they put down roots, they became the Ulster Scots,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09a hybrid people who can claim both
0:09:09 > 0:09:10'a Scottish and an Irish identity.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12'They held tight to their traditions,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16'but natives and newcomers mixed and mingled, and so did their music.'
0:09:20 > 0:09:24THEY PLAY CELTIC MUSIC
0:09:25 > 0:09:29THEY PLAY CELTIC MUSIC
0:09:30 > 0:09:33DRUMMING
0:09:35 > 0:09:39CHEERFUL CELTIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:09:43 > 0:09:46It's clear that those that settled in Ulster from Scotland would have
0:09:46 > 0:09:48brought elements of their culture with them,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50whether songs and ballads,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52bagpipe, later fiddle tunes
0:09:52 > 0:09:54or metrical psalms.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Where people settled in communities with those of similar cultural
0:09:57 > 0:10:00backgrounds, this would help to preserve their music
0:10:00 > 0:10:01in the new environment.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05At the same time, they would also come into contact with people from
0:10:05 > 0:10:07different traditions, at fairs and markets,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and tunes would start to leach across the community.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13THEY PLAY CELTIC MUSIC
0:10:17 > 0:10:21This has always been a place were different traditions have collided
0:10:21 > 0:10:22and connected too.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26For shamrock, rose and thistle all played their part
0:10:26 > 0:10:29in the creation of our unique musical heritage.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33# I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight
0:10:33 > 0:10:37# Get teenage kicks right through the night
0:10:37 > 0:10:38# All right! #
0:10:41 > 0:10:44At the closest point, there are just 12 miles between
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Scotland and Ulster.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49We've always been part of one another's story.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53We're looking at 8,000 years of comings and goings
0:10:53 > 0:10:58between Ireland and Scotland across that narrow stretch of water
0:10:58 > 0:11:01and the bringing of traditions,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04bringing of language, ideas, songs, music,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07fish, whatever it was they were trading back and forth.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It was one big cultural domain, really.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Saints and sinners, scholars and sailors, singers and musicians too.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Who knows how many songs and tunes
0:11:19 > 0:11:22came with them across the narrow sea?
0:11:22 > 0:11:24And nothing was as easy carried as a ballad -
0:11:24 > 0:11:28folk songs in English and Scots that were as adaptable as the people that
0:11:28 > 0:11:30carried them from one country to another.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36GUITAR PLAYS
0:11:36 > 0:11:39One song that travelled from Scotland to Ulster and on to America
0:11:39 > 0:11:42tells of a charmer whose music steals the heart of a lady.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Known as The Raggle Taggle Gypsy in Ireland,
0:11:47 > 0:11:53by 1750 he had made it to America and changed his name.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57# Black Jack David come around through the woods
0:11:57 > 0:12:00# Singing so loud and merry
0:12:00 > 0:12:03# His voice kept a-ringing through the green, green trees
0:12:03 > 0:12:06# He spied a fair-haired maiden... #
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Rockabilly star Warren Smith,
0:12:09 > 0:12:14the Carter family, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, too,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18were just a few of the singers that gypsy beguiled...
0:12:18 > 0:12:21# How old are you, my pretty little miss
0:12:21 > 0:12:24# How old are you, my honey? #
0:12:24 > 0:12:27..but his story began in Scotland.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31# I'll be 16 come Sunday
0:12:31 > 0:12:35# Be 16 come Sunday. #
0:12:35 > 0:12:38It goes all the way back to a 17th-century scandal
0:12:38 > 0:12:40when the wife of an Ayrshire lord
0:12:40 > 0:12:48ran away with the king of the gypsies - Johnny Faa.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01# Three gypsies cam' tae oor ha door An' O but they sang bonnie
0:13:01 > 0:13:06# And they sang sae sweet and sae complete
0:13:06 > 0:13:11# That they stole the heart o' a lady
0:13:13 > 0:13:16# And she cam trippin' doon the stair
0:13:16 > 0:13:19# Her maidens twa before her, O
0:13:19 > 0:13:23# But when they saw her weel-faured face
0:13:23 > 0:13:27# And they cast their spells a' aboot her
0:13:30 > 0:13:33# And she's kicked aff her high-heeled shoe
0:13:33 > 0:13:36# Made of Spanish leather, O
0:13:36 > 0:13:40# And while she's with young Johnny Faa... #
0:13:40 > 0:13:43UNCLEAR LYRICS
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Archie, that's one of the most enduring songs
0:13:56 > 0:13:58in the tradition, isn't it?
0:13:58 > 0:13:59The Three Gypsies.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Yeah, there are so many sub themes in it
0:14:01 > 0:14:05that I think it's attractive both to male and female singers.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Karine, one of the things I love about this song is the fact that the
0:14:07 > 0:14:10woman appears to get away with it scot-free.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Yeah, she's quite a feisty character in that verse and in the verses that
0:14:14 > 0:14:16are similar to Archie's one.
0:14:16 > 0:14:17And it must've been really
0:14:17 > 0:14:18appealing, you know,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20you think late 1600s, 1700s,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22you're a woman, you don't have very many choices,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25you're not going any place, you're stuck.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27And the whole mystique of a song like that,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30the idea that you could up and escape and be free and, you know,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33and fall in love and go and do whatever you wanted.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35In every version, they either
0:14:35 > 0:14:36whistle or sing -
0:14:36 > 0:14:38or do both, in fact.
0:14:38 > 0:14:39And that's the glamourie,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42that's the thing that supposedly enchants the woman.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45You know about that, Phil, don't you?
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Oh, I'm casting my spell from the minute I get up in the morning.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52The song itself is a bit of a traveller, isn't it?
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Yes, songs and music migrate with people
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and this one hopscotched across to Ulster
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and ended up in Appalachia, Appalachia probably because that's
0:15:00 > 0:15:03where a lot of the Scottish and Irish immigrants went
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and was transmitted there.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08And then came back into the mainstream of American folk music.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Yeah, I think it's really important to remember that at the time
0:15:11 > 0:15:12the song was, you know, first came to life,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16people weren't learning it from books, they were learning it
0:15:16 > 0:15:18one-to-one and passing it that way and it mutated as
0:15:18 > 0:15:20it went, cos it moved slowly.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24When it transfers to America, of course, they didn't have earls.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26They probably had gypsies, they must have had.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30And Woody Guthrie starts his version by...
0:15:30 > 0:15:35# Late last night the boss came home, askin' for his lady
0:15:38 > 0:15:43# And the only answer he received, "She's gone with the Gypsy Davey."
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# "Gone with the Gypsy Dave."
0:15:46 > 0:15:49When it reaches America and the religious climate at the time
0:15:49 > 0:15:52is quite restrictive, it changes from the woman's point of view
0:15:52 > 0:15:55as well, so that it's not a happy ending at all.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58She ends her life in poverty, she's abandoned by the gypsy.
0:15:58 > 0:15:59He takes off with someone else,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04so it becomes much more of a moral parable and a warning to women,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07not to even think about it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Can you give us a wee bit of that version?
0:16:09 > 0:16:10Yeah, I'll give you the wee end bit.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12So she's already run away at this point
0:16:12 > 0:16:14and her husband is trying to win her back,
0:16:14 > 0:16:15but she's not having any of it.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Sounds like a plan to me.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27- OK?- Yeah.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31# Come home, come home with me, my dear
0:16:31 > 0:16:35# Come home and be my lover
0:16:35 > 0:16:40# I'll furnish you with a room so neat
0:16:40 > 0:16:44# With silken bed and covers
0:16:44 > 0:16:48# I won't go home with you, dear sir
0:16:48 > 0:16:52# Nor will I be your lover
0:16:52 > 0:16:57# I do not care for your room so neat
0:16:57 > 0:17:00# For your silken bed and your covers
0:17:00 > 0:17:04# Oh, I will leave my house and land
0:17:04 > 0:17:08# And I will leave my baby
0:17:08 > 0:17:13# I'm a-goin' to roam the world around
0:17:13 > 0:17:17# And be a gypsy's lady
0:17:33 > 0:17:39# Oh, soon this lady changed her mind
0:17:39 > 0:17:44# Her clothes grew old and faded
0:17:44 > 0:17:52# Her hose and shoe fell off her feet and left them bare and naked.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57# Just what befell this lady then
0:17:57 > 0:18:00# I think it worth relating
0:18:00 > 0:18:06# Her gypsy found another lass
0:18:06 > 0:18:12# And left her heart a-breaking. #
0:18:13 > 0:18:16In all the many versions of this song,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19it's music that gives the wanderer his seductive power.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28CELTIC FOLK SONG PLAYS
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Folk songs like these never belonged to just one social class.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36They were composed by all sorts of people.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44We know of one 16th century nobleman,
0:18:44 > 0:18:46a songwriter who liked to wander the streets
0:18:46 > 0:18:48disguised as a humble musician.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52SONG CONTINUES
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Like the gypsy, he was a charmer too
0:19:00 > 0:19:02who fathered several illegitimate children.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08He called himself the Goodman of Ballengeich.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11But his poor clothes concealed his true identity.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Built on a great crag of volcanic rock,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Stirling Castle is one of the splendid palaces
0:19:20 > 0:19:21of the Stuart kings.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27And here is that notorious songwriter,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29the Goodman of Ballengeich himself.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33He was in fact King James V of Scotland.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46The Stuarts loved their music and King James was no different.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49By all accounts, he wasn't much of a singer,
0:19:49 > 0:19:50but he was a fine lute player
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and he brought in the latest instruments from Europe,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56along with musicians to play them.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03He was a Renaissance man.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05He was a man that saw Scotland as a real part of
0:20:05 > 0:20:08that great European cultural movement.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Just imagine - in the early 16th century,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13these halls would've been just buzzing with music.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Now, there's a gig for you.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25But this wasn't the only music at court.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29The Chapel Royal echoed to some of the finest church music in Europe,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31also commissioned by the Stuart kings.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33CHORAL CHANTING
0:20:43 > 0:20:45These angelic harmonies were designed
0:20:45 > 0:20:46to lift your thoughts to heaven.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49But sophisticated religious music like this
0:20:49 > 0:20:51was very much the preserve of the church.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55The Catholic Mass was sung in Latin by an elite group of canons
0:20:55 > 0:20:58and choirboys, whilst the congregation sat as spectators.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08There would soon be no place for this beautiful music.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13When religious conflict in Europe created a new religious movement,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16passionate reformers renounced the Pope's authority
0:21:16 > 0:21:18and Scotland became a Protestant country.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic Church was condemned.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Its rituals, arts and its ornate music
0:21:26 > 0:21:30were seen as a barrier between man and God that had to be cast aside.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Scotland's reformers were determined -
0:21:38 > 0:21:41the Lord's people would now sing for themselves.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50# I to the hills will lift my eyes
0:21:50 > 0:21:57# From whence doth come my aid
0:21:57 > 0:22:04# My safety cometh from the Lord
0:22:04 > 0:22:10# Who heaven and earth have made... #
0:22:12 > 0:22:14It was a musical revolution,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16sacred music sung by the congregation
0:22:16 > 0:22:19in words that everybody could understand.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24# Slumber that he keeps... #
0:22:24 > 0:22:27French theologian John Calvin, whose teachings became
0:22:27 > 0:22:30the cornerstone of Scottish Presbyterianism,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33believed that worship should be based solely on the Bible.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38He found what he needed to sing God's praise in the old Testament...
0:22:38 > 0:22:46# The Lord thee keeps, the Lord thy shade
0:22:46 > 0:22:47# On thy right hand doth stay... #
0:22:47 > 0:22:50..in the psalms, said to have been given
0:22:50 > 0:22:52to King David by the holy spirit.
0:22:52 > 0:23:00# The moon by night thee shall not smite
0:23:00 > 0:23:05# Nor yet the sun by day. #
0:23:07 > 0:23:12For Calvin, this book was an anatomy of all parts of the soul.
0:23:12 > 0:23:13It's a psalter, or a praise book,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16with the psalms of David set out in simple rhyme and metre.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Like the songs from oral tradition,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22the psalms expressed a range of human emotion.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Joy, sadness, love and hope -
0:23:25 > 0:23:27here was something that ordinary people could relate to.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32These are really poems that were meant to be sung,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35either in church or family worship,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37and each one had its own tune.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39HE HUMS THE TUNE
0:23:42 > 0:23:45These tunes were easy to remember.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47They all shared the same strict metre,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50something which people found instantly accessible.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54It was a rhythm borrowed from their own ballad tradition.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Calvin was fed up of all the ornateness in the medieval church.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05He wants to make it as easy as possible,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08make it in a language that people will understand
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and give them a tune that's fairly simple.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12I'm sure some people must have missed the old Latin choir,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15but do you think there was a sense of excitement and energy
0:24:15 > 0:24:18- about this new form of worship? - Oh, without a doubt.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21I mean, this is... It's really hard to convey
0:24:21 > 0:24:24the excitement that must have been there,
0:24:24 > 0:24:29because for the first time the congregation's being asked to sing.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It's in their own speech, it's in Scots or it's in English,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36it's not Latin. You understand what you're singing about
0:24:36 > 0:24:40and there is no greater joy, surely, then being part of
0:24:40 > 0:24:42the congregation of all believers.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45The people come to the foreground for the first time
0:24:45 > 0:24:48in Scottish history at the Reformation
0:24:48 > 0:24:51and nothing proves it better than the singing of the psalms.
0:24:57 > 0:25:04# As far as east is distant from
0:25:04 > 0:25:09# The west, so far hath he... #
0:25:09 > 0:25:12In Ulster, too, the metrical psalms and the familiar tunes
0:25:12 > 0:25:15that went with them became a unifying force.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20# Thus removed
0:25:20 > 0:25:28# That they no more will be. #
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Many of the Lowland Scots who first settled here
0:25:32 > 0:25:36had no great interest in religion at all, but over time,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41the Presbyterian Church became a focal point for these Ulster Scots.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Singing the metrical psalms together became a part of who they were,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and it also put music and communal singing at the heart of life.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54I was brought up singing the psalms and one of the lovely things
0:25:54 > 0:25:58is actually that even though Pete and I grew up in different families,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01we grew up singing the same songs.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04So that when we now have our own children,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07it's really lovely to sing the same things to my children
0:26:07 > 0:26:09as my mum and dad sang with me.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21In life there are things which you struggle with,
0:26:21 > 0:26:23battles that you have to fight,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and that's when I guess I turn more to the psalms for comfort,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29for encouragement, for strength.
0:26:29 > 0:26:36# As like the flower of the field... #
0:26:36 > 0:26:38I think singing with emotion is important.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42There are times when you're holding back tears,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44there are times when there are tears,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and yet we are able to keep singing through it.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57These are the words that have been given to us to sing,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and we are offering it to God, emotions and all.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03# Oh my God
0:27:03 > 0:27:05# Oh my God
0:27:05 > 0:27:07# I trust in you
0:27:07 > 0:27:09# I trust in you
0:27:09 > 0:27:11# Let me not be ashamed
0:27:11 > 0:27:16# Let not my enemies triumph over me. #
0:27:25 > 0:27:28These little books that date from the 18th and 19th centuries
0:27:28 > 0:27:32are the work of many hands, men and women, old and young,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35each page as individual as the person who crafted it.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41# Ah, fah, me, lah, so
0:27:41 > 0:27:43# Fah, so, lah. #
0:27:43 > 0:27:46These books are copies of psalms,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and they could have been used for singing practice
0:27:49 > 0:27:51at singing schools.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54And they are rather beautiful, some of them.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56That's obviously taken a lot of care,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00a lot of attention, and for a people who are not
0:28:00 > 0:28:02normally associated with,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06maybe even suspicious of a lot of visual work,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09there's an awful lot of effort and art has gone into that.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12- It is rather nice. - You can really see the personality,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15or the hand of the person that created them.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17It goes beyond the music.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19It goes just beyond the psalms -
0:28:19 > 0:28:24this is part of the warp and weft of their community.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28But there is also an attempt to try and maybe have fun with it as well,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32or to maybe not use sacred words all the time in it,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35and there are examples of people making up doggerel verse
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and popular verse to try and learn these tunes, you know,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41silly little rhymes which were often based on individuals
0:28:41 > 0:28:45or particular points in the local geography.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Have you any examples of that?
0:28:47 > 0:28:51Funnily enough, there's one with an ill-tempered teacher.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55When Satan in the days of old, the herd of swine destroy,
0:28:55 > 0:28:58He left one surly boar behind, McKinley, you're the boy.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02It's interesting about the juxtaposition between
0:29:02 > 0:29:05what you might call the sacred and the secular.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08I think there have always been two kind of parallel and sometimes
0:29:08 > 0:29:11competing strands within Ulster-Scots,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13particularly Presbyterianism.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17There is a strand that can be bawdy and slightly scabrous,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and then there's a rather more puritanical strand.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23The psalms talk about the community of people
0:29:23 > 0:29:26and they're associated with the Old Testament and God's people,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29and there is a very strong sense in which Presbyterians
0:29:29 > 0:29:31see themselves in that context.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34So singing these psalms of God's people in the Old Testament
0:29:34 > 0:29:37is actually a very important part of their communal identity.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42I think it would be a mistake to picture these people as spending
0:29:42 > 0:29:44all their lives singing psalms,
0:29:44 > 0:29:49with those kind of dour Presbyterian faces that are thought appropriate
0:29:49 > 0:29:51for the worship of God.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53They weren't much more rounded than that,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55but there was a lot of stuff going on outside,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58both musically and socially,
0:29:58 > 0:30:03that mightn't just easily sit with singing psalms.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07# When going to church last Sunday
0:30:07 > 0:30:11# My love, she passed me by
0:30:11 > 0:30:15# And I knew her mind was altered
0:30:15 > 0:30:20# By the rolling of her eye
0:30:20 > 0:30:24# I knew her mind was altered
0:30:24 > 0:30:28# To a land of a high degree
0:30:28 > 0:30:32# Oh, Molly, lovely Molly
0:30:32 > 0:30:36# Your looks, they have wounded me. #
0:30:37 > 0:30:41Passion, tragedy, love.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45# All in the merry month of May... #
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Whether the kirk approved or not, people sang about these things too.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52# When green leaves, they was springing
0:30:54 > 0:31:00# This young man on his death-bed lay
0:31:00 > 0:31:04# For the love of Barbara Allen. #
0:31:08 > 0:31:09Along with metrical psalms,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12the Scots also brought a great ballad tradition to Ulster.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Folk songs in English and Scots that could be bawdy, comic, tragic,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18satirical and political.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Songs that helped them remember where they came from,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24and make sense of where they were.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26What were ballads about?
0:31:26 > 0:31:27They were about everything,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29they were about all human experience.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33Love, loss, human dramas, passions.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37People would sing about things that happened in their communities,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40things that had happened in their communities before living memory.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46The printed ballad first appeared in Ireland as early as 1626.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52From the 17th century onwards,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54thousands of songs were printed and sold all over the country.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57But in Ulster, to cater to local taste,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59printers favoured Scottish and English material.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02Printed in the year 1814.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05Sadly, very few have survived.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09These are a precious remnant from the early 19th century,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12an echo of a once-vibrant trade in popular music.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17There's a hole in the ballot -
0:32:17 > 0:32:19an old Ulster expression to cover the moment
0:32:19 > 0:32:21where you can't for the life of you
0:32:21 > 0:32:23remember what you're supposed to say next.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25That's an occurrence I'm well familiar with.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28The ballot of course was the ballad sheet,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30the piece of paper that the song was printed on.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33And if you were to pick it up, fold it up, stick it in your pocket,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35the chances are that you might weaken the paper
0:32:35 > 0:32:37and maybe lose a line and a bit of the song,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39thus making a hole in the ballot.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Found hidden in a linen chest in 1922,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47this rarely-seen collection was gathered by a single family,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51the Clelands, Presbyterian farmers from County Down.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53They wouldn't have been wealthy,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56but someone thought these songs worth buying and keeping safe.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00It was most likely the person who controlled the family purse strings
0:33:00 > 0:33:04or brought their goods to market. But whoever it was that bought them,
0:33:04 > 0:33:05there was at least one singer in that house,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08and it was a singer with a very impressive repertoire.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Within this family and their community,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14music, sacred and secular, was part of life.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19# Oh, the hens are in the byre and the cows are on the grass
0:33:19 > 0:33:22# And a man without a woman is no better than an ass
0:33:22 > 0:33:24# The water likes the ducks and the ducks like the drake
0:33:24 > 0:33:28# Oh, Judy Flanagan, I'd die for your sake... #
0:33:28 > 0:33:31The pop music of the day, songs and ballads always attracted
0:33:31 > 0:33:33the wrath of the Presbyterian church.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37As far back as 1718,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41dire warnings were issued to Belfast printers responsible for what
0:33:41 > 0:33:44church records described as obscene ballads.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52100 years later, despite the best efforts of the Godly,
0:33:52 > 0:33:54the ballad trade was still going strong.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58The Belfast Newsletter complained that crowds who had gathered
0:33:58 > 0:33:59to listen to the ballad singers
0:33:59 > 0:34:02were blocking up both ends of Bridge Street, just behind me here.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06These wandering singers were distributors,
0:34:06 > 0:34:07sales people and performers.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09They would pick up their song sheets from the printers,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11then they would walk the streets, singing,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13with their song sheets draped over their arm,
0:34:13 > 0:34:15ready to pass on to the next customer.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19At street corners, at fairs or markets,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22wherever people came together, the ballad singer was there.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26A wanderer with a song to sell.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31# Black is the colour
0:34:31 > 0:34:34# Of my true love's hair
0:34:36 > 0:34:40# Her lips are like
0:34:40 > 0:34:42# Some roses fair... #
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Often viewed as no better than beggars and thieves,
0:34:45 > 0:34:46history has largely forgotten them.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But these itinerant singers were unlikely guardians
0:34:52 > 0:34:54of our shared musical culture.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03We know about one Scottish singer who worked the Donegal market town
0:35:03 > 0:35:05of Letterkenny at the end of the 18th century.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11She was known as a beauty and a fine singer,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14and her life played out like one of the tragic love songs
0:35:14 > 0:35:16she sang so well.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20She was another respectable lady who fell for a gypsy's charms.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23By the time she got to Letterkenny she had already done time
0:35:23 > 0:35:25as a thief and as a prostitute.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27But the songs she sang and shared
0:35:27 > 0:35:30would become part of Scotland and Ulster song traditions.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Her name was Jean Glover.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42# Coming through the Craigs of Kyle
0:35:42 > 0:35:46# Among the bonnie blooming heather
0:35:46 > 0:35:50# There I met a bonnie wee lassie
0:35:50 > 0:35:55# Keeping all her yowes together
0:35:55 > 0:35:59# O'er the moor, among the heather
0:35:59 > 0:36:03# O'er the moor among the heather
0:36:03 > 0:36:07# There I met a bonnie wee lassie
0:36:07 > 0:36:12# Keeping all her yowes together. #
0:36:12 > 0:36:14That's lovely, such a bonnie song.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Jean Glover was born in Kilmarnock in Ayrshire,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and she was an itinerant and travelling performer,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23travelled with a sleight of hand blaggard, apparently.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25- Met a few of them!- Yes!
0:36:25 > 0:36:27She's somebody that seems to have performed in a number
0:36:27 > 0:36:32of different locations and could very much hold an audience,
0:36:32 > 0:36:37but she ended her life in Donegal, actually, in Letterkenny,
0:36:37 > 0:36:42because one of the accounts we have talks about someone, a soldier,
0:36:42 > 0:36:46in fact, hearing Jean sing a song in Letterkenny
0:36:46 > 0:36:47and she dies soon after.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02The song Jean Glover sang in Letterkenny is still alive and well.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12It found a new rhythm and a new flavour in Ulster,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15where it's been handed down through three centuries
0:37:15 > 0:37:17from one great singer to another.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22# As I roved out of a bright May morning
0:37:22 > 0:37:26# Calm and clear was the weather
0:37:27 > 0:37:29# I chanced to roam some miles from home
0:37:29 > 0:37:32# Among the beautiful blooming heather
0:37:32 > 0:37:35# And it's heather on the moor, over the heather
0:37:35 > 0:37:38# Over the moor and among the heather
0:37:38 > 0:37:41# And I chanced to roam some miles from home
0:37:41 > 0:37:44# Among the beautiful blooming heather
0:37:44 > 0:37:46# And it's heather on the moor... #
0:37:46 > 0:37:48Heather On The Moor is a perfect pop song.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56It's just six little verses, each advances the story a little bit,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58and the chorus comes again and again and again,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00and you're driven mad by the time the song's over
0:38:00 > 0:38:02and you can't stop singing it, you know?
0:38:02 > 0:38:04# And it's heather on the moor
0:38:07 > 0:38:10# Where are you going to, my pretty fair maid?
0:38:10 > 0:38:15# By hill or dale, come tell me whether
0:38:15 > 0:38:18# Right modestly she answered me
0:38:18 > 0:38:21# To the feeding of my lambs together... #
0:38:21 > 0:38:23When you were growing up in Ulster,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25were you aware of the connection
0:38:25 > 0:38:27between Scotland and Ireland, musically?
0:38:27 > 0:38:32Of course you were. I mean, it's largely the one thing.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36There just happens to be a sea in the middle of it, you know?
0:38:37 > 0:38:39You heard Scottish music all the time.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Those songs to me were my songs as much as Scottish songs, you know,
0:38:44 > 0:38:46they were the songs that I grew up with.
0:38:51 > 0:38:56It's been there so long as an instinctive way of communicating.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Before anything, I am sure people were singing
0:38:59 > 0:39:02about what was happening.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05# Well, we both shook hands and down we sat
0:39:05 > 0:39:08# For it being the finest day in summer
0:39:10 > 0:39:13# And we sat till the red setting beams of the sun
0:39:13 > 0:39:16# Came a-sparkling down among the heather
0:39:16 > 0:39:18# And it's heather on the moor, over the heather... #
0:39:18 > 0:39:20The songs are really well written.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24They tell about the deepest things that human beings feel.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29If the song is really a strong song,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32people will adapt it to suit the place they're in.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35# Up she rose and away she goes
0:39:35 > 0:39:40# And her place and name I know not either
0:39:40 > 0:39:43# But if I was king I'd make her queen
0:39:43 > 0:39:46# The lass I met among the heather
0:39:46 > 0:39:49# And it's heather on the moor, over the heather
0:39:49 > 0:39:51# Over the moor and among the heather
0:39:51 > 0:39:54# But if I was king I'd make her queen
0:39:54 > 0:39:57# The lass I met among the heather
0:39:57 > 0:39:59# And it's heather on the moor. #
0:40:19 > 0:40:22Many who heard Jean Glover sing never knew her name.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28There's no picture of her here among the great and the good
0:40:28 > 0:40:30at Scotland's National Portrait Gallery,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33but the reason we know her story is down to the man
0:40:33 > 0:40:35to whom she gave her songs,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39the collector and songwriter who was also Scotland's finest poet.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Robert Burns.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45I think it's fair to say that we all feel a little bit like he's ours.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49He speaks for us of love and loss, joy and sorrow.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Whenever we can't find the words to say, it's him we turn to.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55He found his inspiration in the great cargo of songs
0:40:55 > 0:40:57that he collected from his own people.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03But he also reminds me of every great singer I've ever worked with.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06He was able to shape the material to suit himself.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Burns was very much the eager collector.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21He would find scraps of ballads, he would try to preserve them
0:41:21 > 0:41:24by expanding them into more complete verses.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27He would attach them to tunes he thought they worked quite well with
0:41:27 > 0:41:31and he really was a very creative collector.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42We have a tremendous tradition of song collecting in Scotland.
0:41:43 > 0:41:44He wouldn't have been the first,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47but he was definitely one of the most important.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Scotland's rich oral tradition inspired Robert Burns
0:41:55 > 0:41:57and provided the raw material for songs
0:41:57 > 0:42:00that are still sung the world over.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07In his own lifetime he was as loved and lauded as any modern rock star,
0:42:07 > 0:42:08and not just in Scotland.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17This is Belfast, where granite and sandstone from Ayrshire,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19Dumfries and Giffnock define the grandest buildings
0:42:19 > 0:42:21in the city centre.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25They're a reminder of the industrial and cultural connections
0:42:25 > 0:42:29that once made this shipbuilding city part of a Scottish world.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Here at the Linen Hall Library is one of the largest collections
0:42:34 > 0:42:37of the poems and songs of Robert Burns outside of Scotland.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43Burns was taken to Belfast, indeed the north of Ireland, very quickly.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Practically as soon as Burns' work was published in Scotland
0:42:47 > 0:42:48it was published in Belfast,
0:42:48 > 0:42:52it was pirated and brought out here and a number of his poems
0:42:52 > 0:42:55were reproduced in local newspapers.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Was it important for the people of Scottish lineage
0:42:57 > 0:43:00to have Robert Burns as a reminder of their Scottish roots?
0:43:00 > 0:43:04I think this is one of the reasons that Burns becomes so popular here.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07Burns gives them a sense of confidence
0:43:07 > 0:43:10and an awareness of their culture.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12There is a sense of being a hyphenated person
0:43:12 > 0:43:16if you are an Ulster Scot. You are aware of your Scottishness
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and you are aware of your Irishness, and even if we see the hyphen
0:43:20 > 0:43:24as a kind of metaphor which enables these two cultures to meet,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28just as they speak and revere Burns,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32they're also aware that they are part and parcel of an Irish world.
0:43:37 > 0:43:38The music of Ulster reflects a place
0:43:38 > 0:43:41where cultures have always mixed and mingled.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Over time, as Scottish ballads and verse forms
0:43:47 > 0:43:50connected with the ancient music of Gaelic Ireland,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53songs in English borrowed Irish tunes.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56Three strands came together to create a unique song tradition.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59It's as vibrant as ever
0:43:59 > 0:44:02in the hands of a new generation of musicians.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06# Courting is a pleasure
0:44:06 > 0:44:09# Between my love and I
0:44:09 > 0:44:14# And it's down in yonder valley
0:44:14 > 0:44:18# I will meet her by and by
0:44:18 > 0:44:22# It's down in yonder valley
0:44:22 > 0:44:26# She is my heart's delight
0:44:26 > 0:44:31# And it's with you, lovely Molly
0:44:31 > 0:44:34# I will stay till the broad daylight
0:44:38 > 0:44:41# Going to church on Sunday
0:44:41 > 0:44:44# My love, she passed me by
0:44:46 > 0:44:49# And I knew her mind was altered
0:44:49 > 0:44:53# By the roving of her eye
0:44:54 > 0:44:58# I knew her mind was altered
0:44:58 > 0:45:02# By a lad of high degree
0:45:02 > 0:45:06# Oh Molly, lovely Molly
0:45:06 > 0:45:10# Your looks have wounded me... #
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Courting is a Pleasure, Charming Molly,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17Black-Eyed Mary, Farewell Ballymoney -
0:45:17 > 0:45:18this northern song has many names
0:45:18 > 0:45:21and its many versions are widely travelled.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31The melody is thought to be an Irish take on a Scottish tune
0:45:31 > 0:45:33with roots in the 17th century.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38Like so many others, this song too would travel on to America,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42where Charming Molly became Loving Hannah.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46# Oh, never court a wee girl
0:45:46 > 0:45:51# With a dark and a roving eye
0:45:51 > 0:45:54# Just kiss her and embrace her
0:45:54 > 0:45:58# Never tell her the reason why
0:45:58 > 0:46:03# Just her and embrace her
0:46:03 > 0:46:07# Till you cause her heart to yield
0:46:07 > 0:46:11# For a faint-hearted soldier
0:46:11 > 0:46:15# Never gained a battlefield
0:46:15 > 0:46:19# Oh, farewell, Ballymoney
0:46:19 > 0:46:23# And to County Antrim too
0:46:23 > 0:46:28# Likewise, farewell dear Molly
0:46:28 > 0:46:32# I will bear you a fonder due
0:46:32 > 0:46:37# America is far away
0:46:37 > 0:46:40# Across the ocean blue
0:46:40 > 0:46:45# And I'm bound for there, dear Molly
0:46:45 > 0:46:48# And again I'll ne'er see you. #
0:46:55 > 0:46:57Songs like this one moved freely
0:46:57 > 0:46:59between Ulster's different communities,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02but instrumental music, the tunes that people love to dance to,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04were also important.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12In the 1830s, as part of the great mapping of the British Isles,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15the Ordnance Survey published a set of memoirs
0:47:15 > 0:47:17which examined Ulster society.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20These were observations of life in rural communities,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23and among the descendants of the Scots settlers who came here
0:47:23 > 0:47:28in the 17th century, what they found was music, dancing and fiddles.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30FIDDLER PLAYS
0:47:35 > 0:47:39They noted that dancing to the fiddle was the favourite amusement,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41but that the people had no other music
0:47:41 > 0:47:43than what one scornful surveyor dismissed as
0:47:43 > 0:47:45the "common airs" of the country.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Check this out from the surveyor of Ballymartin Parish.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54He writes, "Their dialect, idioms,
0:47:54 > 0:47:59"customs and manners are purely Scottish and by no means pleasing."
0:48:00 > 0:48:02Well, to each his ain, but it's a safe bet
0:48:02 > 0:48:05that among those "common airs" of the country
0:48:05 > 0:48:08there would be some common airs from Scotland.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19At farms and forges, from the big house to the smallest cottage,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21at every social occasion the fiddle was there.
0:48:24 > 0:48:25And in all the counties of Ulster,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Scottish tunes became part of the fabric of life.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41A handloom weaver, like his father before him,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44John Simpson was just a boy when the Ordnance Survey men
0:48:44 > 0:48:46were at work in County Down.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49He was a fiddler, too, with a great store of tunes.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55But his legacy might have been forgotten
0:48:55 > 0:48:58were it not for musician and collector Nigel Boullier.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Gathering 500 tunes and the stories of over 300 fiddlers in County Down,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05he was able to trace an unbroken line of music
0:49:05 > 0:49:09that stretched from the 1830s to his own lifetime.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11To my mind that's what traditional music is,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14it's been handed down from one generation to another.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16When I look back at the 300-odd fiddle players
0:49:16 > 0:49:18that I was gathering information on,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21the biggest percentage were actually farmers and farm labourers.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25A large number were weavers, stonemasons, various trades.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29The majority were Protestant because it just matches the population.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36There's a network of Orange halls around a lot of County Down
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and they had a very strong social side of dancing.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42They were doing dancing classes during the week
0:49:42 > 0:49:44and then the weekly dance would be on the Friday night.
0:49:44 > 0:49:45It was quite simple in the hall,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48you just locked the door and danced all night.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54The fiddlers were largely working men,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56but their music gave them status.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59They moved freely from farmhouse ceilidhs
0:49:59 > 0:50:02to Orange halls and parish dances.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05The Irish and Scottish tunes they played were common threads
0:50:05 > 0:50:07connecting different communities and traditions.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Among these young fiddlers in County Antrim, they still are.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29We play the music of our area and always have done.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36The Antrim style is quite...
0:50:36 > 0:50:39- Open.- Open, and it's not ornamented that much.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41It's quite like the West Coast of Scotland.
0:50:56 > 0:50:57They play it like they speak.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01It's quite clipped, quite strong.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09Musical dialect is very important.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12I think it is, I think it's an identity,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15and playing it with our own indigenous dialect
0:51:15 > 0:51:18is very important to keeping it alive.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44Here at Queen's University in Belfast there is a rare treasure
0:51:44 > 0:51:47dating back to the early 18th century,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49proof of the growing popularity of the fiddle in Ireland.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Printed by Dublin fiddle makers John and William Neal,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58this is the only surviving copy of the first-ever collection
0:51:58 > 0:52:00of Irish traditional music.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06Here's another book that the Neals printed in 1724,
0:52:06 > 0:52:10a full two years before anything of the sort would appear in Scotland.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14Most of them are song tunes, but check this out.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16HE HUMS THE TUNE
0:52:21 > 0:52:24It's amazing. I know this tune as Jenny Dang The Weaver.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27It's a reel, and the reel was Scotland's gift to Ireland,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30and it's still the dancer's favourite.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45We tend to forget that a lot of the reels came from Scotland.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48It is just that they've gone into the tradition
0:52:48 > 0:52:50and people forget where they've come from.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59The Scottish influence on fiddle music here in Donegal
0:52:59 > 0:53:02and all the Northern counties is very, very strong,
0:53:02 > 0:53:03especially in the Boyne.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08You can hear it in the repertoire and in the style.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21The Irish borrowed from everywhere. We borrowed the reel,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24we borrowed the hornpipe from England,
0:53:24 > 0:53:28we borrowed the jig, the giga from Italy,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32but apparently the only native rhythm we have is the slip jig.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38But what we did with those was we took it and we digested it
0:53:38 > 0:53:39and made it our own.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55APPLAUSE
0:54:01 > 0:54:03Playing music is a wee bit like travelling in time.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09It evokes emotions, wakens memories.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18But it also connects us to people and communities
0:54:18 > 0:54:22who played and shared the music in another time, another place.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30That's as true today as it must have been for those first Scots
0:54:30 > 0:54:32who settled in Ireland so long ago.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Thank you very much, thank you.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43Thanks, folks, see you next time.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52Their ballads, psalms and tunes changed Ulster's musical story,
0:54:52 > 0:54:54just like living in Ireland
0:54:54 > 0:54:56transformed and enriched the Scottish traditions.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00That same process of cultural fusion and musical exchange
0:55:00 > 0:55:03would happen all over again with another great wave of migration
0:55:03 > 0:55:05in the 18th century.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10BELL TOLLS
0:55:16 > 0:55:21The port city of Londonderry became one of the major points of departure
0:55:21 > 0:55:24where up to a quarter of a million Ulster Scots left for America.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Some were driven by poverty,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34others wanted land or religious freedom,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38but whatever their reasons, when they boarded that ship,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40they brought a precious cargo of music with them.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48This old Scots song of parting found a new tune in 18th-century Ulster
0:55:48 > 0:55:50when it became an emigrant's farewell.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59# An evening sun goes down west
0:55:59 > 0:56:04# The birds sit nodding in the trees
0:56:06 > 0:56:11# All nature now prepares to rest
0:56:12 > 0:56:18# But there's no rest prepared for me
0:56:19 > 0:56:22# Good nicht and joy
0:56:22 > 0:56:25# Good nicht and joy
0:56:25 > 0:56:29# Good nicht and joy be wi' you all
0:56:31 > 0:56:37# For this is my departing nicht
0:56:37 > 0:56:42# And the morn's the day I'm gaun awa'
0:56:44 > 0:56:50# Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had
0:56:50 > 0:56:55# They're sorry for my going away
0:56:56 > 0:57:03# And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
0:57:03 > 0:57:07# They'd wish me one more day to stay
0:57:09 > 0:57:15# But since it falls into my lot
0:57:15 > 0:57:19# That I should rise and you should not
0:57:21 > 0:57:26# I'll gently rise and softly call
0:57:26 > 0:57:32# Goodnight and joy be with you all
0:57:33 > 0:57:41# Goodnight and joy be with you all. #
0:57:49 > 0:57:52In the next episode, I'll follow in the footsteps of pioneers
0:57:52 > 0:57:56down the Great Wagon Road to the Appalachian Mountains.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59I'll look at how the songs and tunes they carried with them
0:57:59 > 0:58:00changed in the New World
0:58:00 > 0:58:04and I'll celebrate their enduring influence on America's music.