Live Reviews


Elizabeth Stewart in conversation May 2011.


with Alison McMorland Girvan Folk Festival, Sunday 1st


The time spent with these two had flown past. In between the items performed by Elizabeth, Alison would unobtrusively guide the presentation forward by linking and setting the scene for what Elizabeth would next perform.


Alison McMorland and Elizabeth Stewart Photo: Pete Heywood


Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen Travellers’ Songs, Stories and Tunes of the Fetterangus Stewarts as told by Elizabeth Stewart.


A s part of the 37th Girvan


Folk Festival, Elizabeth and Alison presented a fascinating show based on Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen. This forthcoming book tells of Elizabeth’s life story and her music, and of her influential North East musical family, the Stewarts of Fetterangus. Alison led Elizabeth briefly through her life starting from the early influences of her immediate family, taking as examples her Aunt Lucy from whom she learnt her extensive repertoire of traditional songs and ballads. Elizabeth also told us of her mother, Jean Stewart, a formidable musician: accordionist, teacher and pianist all her life, and well known for her dance bands in the North East. Luckily for us her talent as a pianist is inherited by Elizabeth who demonstrated this admirably by playing piano medleys as well as singing in her own unique style.


What becomes glaringly obvious when Elizabeth starts talking, singing or playing is that one is in the presence of a national treasure who not only has an unfathomable wealth of versions of traditional songs and ballads but is also able to connect with an


The Living Tradition - Page 64


audience and perform really well as a singer and pianist. During the show, Elizabeth sang parts of, and complete versions of, several of her family’s songs, including The Gallant Forty Twa and the Hill of Bennachie, which, by the way was heard by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker when they visited Lucy in the early 1960s and heard Elizabeth ‘boogie’ it up on the piano. This was to become the tune they used for Come Aa Ye Fisher Lassies in their Radio Ballad Programme, Singing the Fishing, and Elizabeth and her sister were the original singers on it.


Elizabeth also played pipe marches and reels on the piano when telling us of the long, family tradition of pipers, and famous army pipers and composers. Finally just to blow us all away, her encore was some rag time tunes reminding us of why she was known at one time as the ‘Winifred Atwell of the North East’.


Elizabeth and Alison had opened the show by singing together Up Yon Wide and Lonely Glen, the book’s title, and they finished by singing The Plooman Laddies the Stewart family’s song that was taken up by singers in the early 60s - still well loved and well sung.


They have worked together over many years to produce this book so it’s not surprising that we were only just able to skim the surface of all that Elizabeth is about - but the book will make amends for that I have no doubt. As editor and compiler of the material, Alison whetted our appetite by telling us that there are over 145 songs, family and life- stories, tales, riddles and lore in the book which is to be available in the summer of 2012.


Elizabeth Stewart and Alison McMorland were guests at the 2011 Girvan Folk Festival and


the presentation by Alison and Elizabeth was typical of the ‘special moments’ that seem to happen at this long established event.


Without taking away from the performances of the other guests, for many people this Sunday afternoon presentation was one of the undoubted highlights of the festival, Elizabeth’s piano performance in particular being as entertaining as it was jaw dropping.


Within the Girvan festival there is always a focus on traditional singers and musicians. This year’s festival also included an all too rare reunion performance from The Clutha, a Glasgow based group who are one of the seminal groups of the Scottish folk revival.


The Girvan Folk Festival


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