Rakkin aboot the archive o aulder Scots Radio episodes is like rummelin aboot in a kist o riches. Ye never ken whit ye’ll finn, but it’s aye worth the trouble tae luik.
The dey we’re gien new licht tae Episode 17. Kent back then as Scots Language Radio, Frieda Morrison an her studio accomplice Steve Byrne guidit us through some kenspeckle owresetins intae Scots – fae the Gruffalo tae the Lord o the Rings – an Peter Reid, thon bonnie fechter fir the Doric dialect o Scots, lets us ken aboot his lecture ‘Fa div ye think ye are?’
Peter Reid’s lecture wis basit on his traivels the length o the A96, the road that gings fae the Haudagain roonaboot at the edge o Aiberdeen, richt through the hert o the North-East through Keith, Huntly, Elgin an Forres afore enterin Inverness fae the west.
Peter telt us the thinkin ahind his journey. “We traivelled the full length o the A96, fae Aiberdeen right through tae Inverness, tae luik at the cultural an the heritage offerin that is there fir visitors. We went intae aa the main touns, nae intae the tourist attractions theirsels as we kent fine they existit aaready, but tae see the offerin o North-East culture in touns sic as Kintore, Huntly an so on. We found some affa interstin things, an some dissapointin things”
Inverurie had ane o the finest exaimples, in the tourist info twa cheils were just bletherin awa thegither in the Doric. “It could hae bin a visitor attraction itsel just tae listen tae them.”
But Peter insists that mair interaction wi modren tech, sic as apps an so on could mak shair that ye wadnae hae tae lippen on a chance interaction wi twa Doric cheils in a visitor centre tae lug in tae the North East Scots dialects, but instead could be introducit tae it in a structured wye.
Peter has some braw concepts o whit we can dae tae improve the cultural aspect o the visitor experience, an whit the benefits wad be. Lug in tae hear mair!
Frieda is joined in the studio bi Steve Byrne, wha gies us some braw crack anent Scots buiks he’s recently pickit up, including a readin o a poem fae James Robertson.
A young Duncan Sneddon maks an appearance, then in his role as a PhD student doon at Embra university. He is noo ane o the lecturers in the prestigious Gaelic department at Aiberdeen University. We hear aboot hou he set oot tae owreset J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings intae Scots. He’s finished the Fellowship of the Ring, an wis awa tae get stairtit on The Hobbit. Whit wye is he commitin tae sic a darg?
Duncan’s twa priorities? “Braidenin oot the range o materials fir Scots readers tae read. But also makkin models fir fowk that want tae produce new material, tae say ‘weel this is something that can be done’.”
Its gings ayont thon, wi Duncan keen tae serve an apprenticeship in Scots scrievin bi owresettin ane o the great maisters. A similar apprenticeship tae the ane servit bi Gavin Douglas whan he owreset the Aenied.
He gies us a braw extract.
Music fae the episode comes first fae Gavin Marwick. We hear a set o tunes, Bredalbine Reel/Queen Maeve/The Perthshire Races, fae his The Long Road CD, pairt o his Journeyman Recordings. Brian MacNeil gies us ‘Tae Feed a Hungry Child’, an ‘the Lads o the Fair’, a sang anent the Fawkirk Tryst. We tak a Silly Wizard live recordin o a set o tunes, an we enn wi ‘Firedance’ fae Gavin Marwick’s The Long Road.