Angus & Dundee – 2012-13
As a precursor to the formation of Local Voices, Steve and Chris partnered with local authorities in their respective hometowns of Arbroath and Dundee to carry out school workshops focussing on local songs and singers.
We worked with P5-P7 children in a number of schools in Arbroath and Dundee to discover some of the local songs and singers that can be heard in archives of traditional music, including the Kist o Riches online archive (http://www.kistoriches.co.uk). We started off by exploring the idea of our families and communities as sources of knowledge and cultural memory, and the power of heirlooms and traditions to connect us to the past. We then learned some simple local songs – often street songs – that helped start a discussion about local Scots dialects and aspects of identity. These topics formed a basis to go on and look at some larger songs that we could tease apart and use to learn about our local environment and working life.
You can read more about these workshops by visiting the following blogs (no longer updated):