‘Tis Sixty Years Since: The 1951 Edinburgh People’s Festival Ceilidh and the Scottish Folk Revival

This book marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh and collects views and perspectives on the way the Scottish Folk Revival has evolved over the past sixty years. The Ceilidh at Oddfellows' Hall was a catalyst for the modern Scottish Folk Revival. It was presided over by Hamish Henderson and recorded by Alan Lomax. Also in 1951, the School of Scottish Studies was founded at the University of Edinburgh. The book was launched at the 10th Carrying Stream Festival in Edinburgh in November 2011, organised by Edinburgh Folk Club in cooperation with the School of Scottish Studies and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, to celebrate these anniversaries. Edited by Eberhard 'Paddy' Bort, the chairman of the Edinburgh Folk Club, it gives the history of the 1951 Ceilidh, as remembered by the late Hamish Henderson himself, and as researched by Ewan McVicar, and the involvement of Alan Lomax in Scotland, in contributions by Margaret Bennett and Ewan McVicar. Folk singers, collectors, organisers and researchers add their perspectives to paint a multi-faceted picture of the Scottish folk scene's evolution, its present state and future perspectives."There are essays discussing the Ceilidh’s contributors such as Flora MacNeill, as well as Margaret Bennett’s exploration of Lomax’s song collecting in the Hebrides. The book also tackles the social and political overtones of the Ceilidh, which ended in 1954 after being proscribed as a ‘Communist front’. The momentum and direction of the ensuing ‘revival/survival’ of Scottish traditional music is amply and fascinatingly covered by Bort himself and others.The book wouldn’t be complete without exploring the formidable figure of Hamish Henderson, master of ceremonies at the Ceilidh and whose impact on Scottish culture is immeasurable. As well as Henderson’s own memories of the Ceilidh, we have essays which examine aspects of the man himself and his achievements, including Steve Byrne’s fascinating account of cataloguing Henderson’s archive. There is a plethora of approaches befitting such a multi-faceted subject, but highlights include erudite contributions from Adam McNaughtan and Ewan McVicar, and a transcription of the 1951 Ceilidh itself. There is far too much to do justice to here: just read it!"from Clare Button's review of the book in The Living Tradition