My time in Edinburgh was one of the finest times of my life, because I enjoyed my work, and there was great music in the evenings. I went out three times a week to folk music sessions, which took place in a few of the local pubs, and met some really great musicians there, some lovely people. We’d go in and sit down in the pub at the beginning of the evening, have a drink, and would be chatting away when someone would get out their instrument and start playing. Then others that knew the tune they were playing would join in. Some people would play regularly in each pub, and there were always people passing through. The first session I went to I discovered by luck. I just went into the pub and saw that there were people playing, and once you’re in one session it’s easy to find out from the musicians the times and places of others. I really was a bad fiddle player at the time, but I tried to play a bit and listened a lot, and people were very kind to me and took me to lots of sessions. I’m not a great player at the moment, but I think I’ve improved a bit since then! I took a portable tape recorder with me and recorded, session by session, many tunes, and tried to learn some of them when I had some spare time. I learned a lot from listening and watching how others played – and there were some really talented players in Edinburgh at that time, like John Martin, for example. You can’t imagine how good some of the playing was. There were also people playing the mandolin and the flute, Irish pipes and guitars.

A lot of people from Northern Ireland, particularly from Donegal, used to come to the Edinburgh sessions, and they were a strong influence. There are some pubs where people play Irish music there, and some where people play Scottish music. There were always more people playing in the Irish sessions, maybe because Scottish music is usually played by a solo instrument, maybe with a guitar accompaniment, whereas in Irish music you often find five or six fiddles playing together, which is, I think, more exciting. Also, in the Scottish sessions, you’d very rarely hear any songs, which were more common in the Irish ones.

I wouldn’t have liked to live in Edinburgh forever, but I had a really fantastic time there and I was sad to leave. The time there was too short, even for our kids. The kids went to school there, and for our son it was the first time he’d been to school. They both picked up a strong Scottish accent!

Pub Music in Edinburgh

1. When did Greg first become involved in playing Irish music?

2. What was the first festival he visited like?

3. What struck him most at the festival?

4. When did he take up fiddle?

5. Why did he have to learn playing it again?

6. How did he pick up the fiddle back home?

7. Why did they move to Edinburgh?

8. What did Greg and his wife do?

9. What about Greg’s work in Scotland?

10. Why did he enjoy living in Edinburgh?

11. How often did he go to folk music sessions?

12. Where did they take place?

13. What did they do at the sessions?

14. How did he happen to discover those sessions?

15. How did he turn into a regular session player?

16. What kind of fiddle player was Greg at the time?

17. Has he improved since then?

18. What did he do to improve?

19. What other instruments did some of the musicians play?

20. Did they only play Scottish music in the pubs in Edinburgh?

21. How did it happen that there were Irish sessions in Edinburgh?

22. Why were there more people playing in the Irish sessions?

23. Were songs typical for Scottish sessions?

24. How did he feel when he had to leave Edinburgh?

25. Why was that time prominent for their children, too?

Pub Music in Edinburgh

Training 1

Greg first became involved in playing Irish music many years ago when he first visited Ireland. He was greatly inspired after attending some great folk festivals there. The first one he went to was in County Sligo. There were so many great groups playing there. There were thousands of tents and people everywhere, and there was a really great atmosphere.

Training 2

Greg took up the fiddle when he was a small child but dropped it when he came to the age of about thirteen. But after seeing those folk play in Ireland, Greg had to pick it up again. He brought some sheet music back from Ireland, and when he got back home, joined a local folk music club and tried a few tunes. First, they played the tunes very slowly. But gradually Greg learnt a few of them by heart.

Training 3

He moved to Edinburgh, because his wife got a grant to work at the University of Edinburgh. She was looking for a place to work where she could expand her knowledge, and at the same time somewhere where Greg would feel happy. They eventually decided upon Scotland. Greg found some work there too. He is a biologist, specialising in mosses. And he had some good opportunities to talk with other experts, as well as to collect mosses.

Training 4

While they were living in Edinburgh Greg went out three times a week to folk music sessions. They’d go in, sit down in the pub, and have a drink, and someone would get out their instrument and start playing. Then others would join in. Greg really was a bad fiddle player at the time, but he learned a lot from listening and watching how others played.

Training 5

A lot of people from Northern Ireland used to come to the Edinburgh sessions, and they were a strong influence. There are some pubs where people play Irish music, and some where people play Scottish music. There were always more people playing in the Irish sessions, maybe because in Irish music you often find five or six fiddles playing together or because songs were more common in the Irish sessions.

My friend Alexander, who is Russian, told me an interesting story about a trip he made to Damascus, in Syria, a few years ago. He was working in a city in the heart of Siberia as an interpreter for a dancing group, composed of boys and girls aged between about fourteen and seventeen. They were a very professional dancing group, as they’d all started dancing at about the age of six, and had been training intensively since then, every day, learning many different types of dances, so it was very impressive to see them. It was a real pleasure for my friend to work with them, and to see them dance so often. Every time he looked at them, he couldn’t help admiring them, as they danced so magnificently, better than many adult dancing groups that he’d seen.

Anyway, they travelled to Damascus in July or August, in the middle of summer, so it was rather hot in Siberia at that time, about twenty-nine degrees Celsius, so everybody was sweating. He said to them before they left, “Don’t forget where we are going, we’re going to Damascus, very close to the desert, and it’s going to be something like forty-seven or even fifty degrees.”

When they arrived at the airport, however, and got out of the plane, they didn’t believe that they were in a desert region, as they all felt a little bit chilly! When it was announced at the airport that it was just eighteen degrees, they couldn’t believe their ears.

The next day, however, the heat wave came, and it was blistering hot. The temperature reached forty-seven degrees, and so during the day it was almost impossible for my friend and his group to go out into the street without staying in the shade. They could walk along covered walkways, or stay under the canvas awnings of cafes, but it was absolutely unbearable to be in the open.

My friend said that during the daytime in the summer there it is just like a dead city, with nearly empty streets with only very few people walking here and there and no other signs of life. But when the sun goes down, at about nine o’clock in the evening, life there really begins. All of the people come out into the streets, the cafes and restaurants open, and the social life starts. They go to parties, visit each other, buy, and sell things, go to the cinemas – everything starts at nine in the evening and carries on until about two or three in the morning. For my friend it was like an upside-down world, as in Siberia everything closes at about nine, life finishes and everybody goes to bed.