“Welcome tae the show that likes tae ken whit’s goin on, an loves tae tell ye aa aboot it!”
Hamish wis ae year intae his residency as the Scots Scriever soon at the National Library o Scotland – a post he aquittit himsel o awfy weel in his twa years doon in the capital – an cam tae speak tae us aboot mony things, but aboot his Wee Windaes project in particular.
Noo, Hamish micht hae muived on tae ither things, but his legacy as Scriver aye bides on in the Wee Windaes site he helped create.
Hamish telt us that he wis ettlin tae create “a new resource fir Scots, we’ve cawed it a Continuum o the Scots Leid…It’s the fruits o ma research fae whan i stairtit in the library…an the continuin research i’ll dae afore i finish ma term here.”
The site in effect unpacks an presents in a gey approachable wey some o the Scots content that oor National Library hauds in its innumerable stoorie kists doon in the vaults. On the site ye’ll find sic ferlies as an introduction tae John McNeillie, a Gallowa novelist wha pit guid Sooth-West Scots intae the lave o his work. The site has audio recordins, images an extracts fae the buiks, aa tae gie the general reader an insicht intae the scriever.
It’s nae just literature on there. “It’s important tae say that there are ballads, collections, there’s sermons, there’s psalms, there’s a hail variety o written forms o Scots. Because the voice is so important in sustainin Scots”
Check oot https://wee-windaes.nls.uk/ tae discover aa sorts o braw resources an airticles!
In anither case o makin records o Scotland’s rich traditions mair widely available, Frieda met up wi Dundee’s kenspeckle singer Sheena Wellington tae lairn aboot her work on Jimmy Shand’s collection.
The treasures, that include Neil Gow’s original pieces o sheet music, some o which are owre twa hunner an fifty year auld, were bein conserved an stored in the Wighton Heritage Centre in Dundee.
The volumes are unique, an come fae sic airts as Brechin an Dunkeld, an lea us a trace o aa the skirlin pipe tunes an girrsome strathspeys that oor ancestors were birlin tae a few hunner year syne. Weel done Sheena!
Frieda also heard fae Kirsty Gallacher, wha works fir ‘into film’ in the special role o ‘The promotion o Scots language through film.’ But there’s a problem….
“There’s not a lot of Scots films out there. So basically we built resources around the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo’s Child. Doing a screening of the film, then having a special guest reading in Scots, and getting the kids to write a film review in Scots.”
Rare. And ye can find oot aboot what Into Film are daein here: https://www.intofilm.org/scotland