The Hamefarers
"This was Shetland's foremost band through the 1960s, although it played very little in public.
It was formed in 1963 by a group of leading local musicians - all of whom played regularly in their own dance bands - who came together to make recordings. The original line-up was: Fiddle - Willie Hunter; Accordion - Ronald Cooper and Jim Halcrow; Piano - Eric Cooper; Bass - Willie Johnson; Drums - Drew Robertson.
Their first L.P. record entitled 'Dance to the Hamefarers' came out the same year. The band's distinctive style, together with the tunes of Ronnie Cooper brought to a wide audience for the first time, created a huge impression in Scottish dance band circles.
It was 1975 before the band did a Scottish tour, and a second L.P. This was 'A Breath o' Shetland', recorded in Edinburgh, with the line-up of Willie Hunter - fiddle; Jim Halcrow - first accordion; Jim Johnston - second accordion; Ronnie Cooper - piano; Jack Robertson - bass; Bobby Colgan - drums. This record again featured tunes by Ronnie Cooper along with five other Shetland composers."
DLPassword = reynardine
Warning - this record contains dance tunes played in the cheesy style...
posted by reynardine at 1:13 AM
1 Comments:
Special interest for me. My mother’s father’s father’s father was Arthur Robertson, a Shetland Islands crofter who was apparently kicked off his croft in the ‘Highland clearances’ by the SI equivalent of cattle barons - except they ran sheep - so he emigrated to Victoria, Australia.
Many thanks Reynardine.
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