Traditional dance music from Orkney, field recordings made by Peter Kennedy in 1955.
Selected and presented by Reg Hall.

The BBC, for whom Peter Kennedy was working part-time in 1955, had more or less left Orkney alone in its recording activity, except for some recordings about local customs and beliefs made on location in 1954. At the time, Orkney was seen as being at the extreme edge of Great Britain, and was virgin territory for a music collector such as Peter, who travelled there in 1955, recording singers and musicians in informal circumstances, amassing a wealth of songs, dances and some speech excerpts that still exist, and this CD presents a representative selection of the instrumental pieces from that treasure trove of traditional music.

1 The GARSON TRIO : The Greeny Hill March
2 The GARSON TRIO : King William’s March
3 The GARSON TRIO : The Victoria Waltz
4 JOHN FRASER : Napoleon Crossing The Rhine
5 JOHN FRASER : (Jig) Rory O’More
6 JOHN FRASER : The Foursome Reel
7 JOHN FRASER : Two Wedding Marches
8 THE ANDERSON BROTHERS’ BAND : Scapa Flow
9 BILLY & JIMMY MELL : Untitled Waltz
10 The ORKNEY STRATHSPEY & REEL SOCIETY : (Hornpipes) Byrne’s / The Elk’s Festival
11 The ORKNEY STRATHSPEY & REEL SOCIETY : (Polkas) Untitled / Untitled
12 PETER PRATT : Two Quadrille Tunes
13 PETER PRATT :  Miss Brown’s Horning
14 PETER PRATT : The Morning Star
15 PETER PRATT : (Strathspey) Kitty My Navel
16 PETER PRATT : (Barndance) Paddy Carter
17 BILL GRIEVE : Bob Johnstone’s Stathspey & Reel
18 TOM THOMSON : Deerness Quadrille Tune
19 The GARSON TRIO : The Venus Polka
20 The GARSON TRIO : (Jigs) Off She Goes / Dumfries House / Unidentified
21 JIM LESLIE : The Red House
22 JIM LESLIE : The House On The Hill
23 RONNIE AIM : The Glimps Holm March
24 RONNIE AIM : Untitled March
25 The ORKNEY STRATHSPEY & REEL SOCIETY : The Grand March
26 JOHN BURGESS, MARY ORMAND & TOM THOMSON : (Strathspey) Smith’s A Gallant Fireman
27 JOHN BURGESS, MARY ORMAND & TOM THOMSON : (Two Quicksteps) Unidentified / Patience Quadrille
28 JOHN BURGESS, MARY ORMAND & TOM THOMSON : The Grand March No. 2
29 PETER PRATT : (Stathspey) Archie o’ Lamb Holm / (Pipe March) Unidentified
30 PETER PRATT : The Bride’s Reel
31 PETER PRATT : Tune for the quadrille (The Rose Tree)
32 The GARSON TRIO : (Strathspeys) The Monymusk / The Iron Man
33 The GARSON TRIO : (March) The House of Skene / (Strathspeys) The Four Stringer / MacDonald Black

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