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The Burns’ Unit: It’s The Second Scots Whay Hae! Burnscast…

Alistair Braidwood

In case you haven’t yet had yer fill o’ the Bard this weekend we present you with the second of our Rabbie themed podcasts. Last year we concentrated on the mythology of the man as well as the wonderful poetry, and finished with song.

This year we start with song, or at least music, as Ali interviews Fergus Muirhead, Scottish broadcasting legend, piper extraordinaire, (Ali’s local pub quizmaster, hence the buttering up) and foot soldier of many a Burns’ Supper. Fergus tells some tales and talks about the importance of Burns’ lyrics and his work on Scottish song. Then the quiet man of Scots Whay Hae!, sound guru Ian Gregson, plays a terrific version of one of the finest examples, Now Westlin’ Winds.

After that Chris Ward reads one of his favourite Burns’ poems before he and Ali discuss the enduring, and perhaps increasing, appeal of the heaven taught ploughman. They then ask why there has been no significant film about the man and/or his work (with one exception) since the earlier years of the last century, and come up with some fantasy casting. Ali finishes proceedings for another year by reading from what some regard as Burns’ ‘Blue Book’, The Merry Muses of Caledonia.

If you like Burns then you can also hear the great Douglas Gifford and our very own Ronnie Young talking about how Burns and Walter Scott met, and how they are forever linked together, in the second half of the discussion on Scott that we recorded at the end of last year.

You can listen to both podcasts by going to iTunes or on RSS, and you can still watch the film version of the Scott chat if you have great broadband and/or the patience of a saint.

In the meantime, to keep with the musical theme, here’s a recording of Teenage Fanclub and their acoustic version of Green Grow the Rashes O’:

Coming soon; a very special musical podcast, so watch those inboxes…

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