Participation Type
Performance
Session Title
Session 6.17 Music
Presentation #1 Title
Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This is a performance based on the newly-released (September 2014) book WAYFARING STRANGERS: THE MUSICAL JOURNEY FROM SCOTLAND AND ULSTER TO APPALACHIA, published by University of North Carolina Press. The book was co-authored by Doug Orr and Fiona Ritchie, and features music from well-known musicians in the Old and New World folk and ballad singing traditions. The Orrs and Beck will discuss the origins of the book, perform pieces from the CD, and talk about the give-and-take between these related cultures, particularly in their music. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a steady stream of Scots migrated to Ulster and eventually onward across the Atlantic to resettle in the United States. Many of these Scots-Irish immigrants made their way into the mountains of the southern Appalachian region. They brought with them a wealth of traditional ballads and tunes from the British Isles and Ireland, a carrying stream that merged with sounds and songs of English, German, Welsh, African American, French, and Cherokee origin. Their enduring legacy of music flows today from Appalachia back to Ireland and Scotland and around the globe. In Wayfaring Strangers, Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr guide readers on a musical voyage across oceans, linking people and songs through centuries of adaptation and change.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jack Beck is a lifetime honorary member of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland. An advisor to the Wayfaring Strangers book, he is featured on its CD. Jack was an examiner for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. He runs the annual Celtic Festival in Southwest Virgina and is an advocate for traditional musicians and music on both sides of the pond. With his wife Wendy Welch he runs The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Doug Orr is President Emeritus of Warren Wilson College. It was his vision that started the Swannanoa Gathering summer music schools. With Fiona Ritchie (of Thistle and Shamrock fame) he co-authored Wayfaring Strangers. With his wife Darcy he plays traditional music from Appalachia and the British Isles.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Darcy Orr was the artistic director for Wayfaring Strangers, compiling rare and beautiful photos of both Scotland and the Appalachian mountains region. With her husband Doug she plays mountain dulcimer and sings.
Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia
This is a performance based on the newly-released (September 2014) book WAYFARING STRANGERS: THE MUSICAL JOURNEY FROM SCOTLAND AND ULSTER TO APPALACHIA, published by University of North Carolina Press. The book was co-authored by Doug Orr and Fiona Ritchie, and features music from well-known musicians in the Old and New World folk and ballad singing traditions. The Orrs and Beck will discuss the origins of the book, perform pieces from the CD, and talk about the give-and-take between these related cultures, particularly in their music. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a steady stream of Scots migrated to Ulster and eventually onward across the Atlantic to resettle in the United States. Many of these Scots-Irish immigrants made their way into the mountains of the southern Appalachian region. They brought with them a wealth of traditional ballads and tunes from the British Isles and Ireland, a carrying stream that merged with sounds and songs of English, German, Welsh, African American, French, and Cherokee origin. Their enduring legacy of music flows today from Appalachia back to Ireland and Scotland and around the globe. In Wayfaring Strangers, Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr guide readers on a musical voyage across oceans, linking people and songs through centuries of adaptation and change.
