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Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at Donald Shaw

If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?

I think if we are aiming for the surreal and frankly unattainable, it would have to be The Bothy Band, Joni Mitchell, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Weather Report, John Mar- tyn, Ishbel MacAskill, Oumou Sangare & band with Shetland’s Willie Hunter on fid- dle, and Rhiannon Giddens on a couple of guest songs. Oh and the Schotts & Dykehead pipe band circa 1998.Probably quite a long night, and we’ll need a pretty good back- stage rider if that’s OK.

Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?

As I was growing up in Argyll the radio was always tuned to BBC Radio Nan Gaidheil and I used to record random programmes to listen back to for learning songs and tunes. I have boxes of C-90 tapes filled with record- ings of Hebridean ceilidhs from the ’80s that feature amazing ‘un-released’ local singers and players – like piper Iain Morrison from Lewis or Chrissie Mary MacNeil from Barra. Sorry this is not the question you asked! The answer to that would be anything by Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland if you can find it

What was the best live gig you ever saw?

This is the kind of question that gives you sleepless nights, so can I pick three?!

1. Silly Wizard at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh, August 1983. I was 16 and they were everything I wanted to be. It‘s when I realised traditional music was actual- ly acoustic rock’n’roll and it wasn’t some- thing that only happened in kitchens and village halls.

2. The Big Day, Glasgow, June 1990. The sense of community spirit was incredible. Mostly I remember Dick Gaughan and Michael Stipe of REM on the Renfrew Ferry in the afternoon, and then being at the back of a 250,000 strong crowd on Glasgow Green for Deacon Blue.

3. Flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia at Celtic Connections 2008. I can still hear it in my head sometimes.

And what was the worst?

I think I know my answer to this, but as the band in question is still touring and as I seem to have a bad habit of bumping into the most unlikely people , I’ll keep schtum on this!

What was your own best ever gig?

This would require a certain amount of self-appreciation which isn’t really catered for where I come from. However I’ll give it a go! Capercaillie playing the Hanging Gardens

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of Babylon in Iraq (sadly now demolished by bombs); a makeshift stage in the Amazon in Brazil; Leipzig Concert Hall in 1989 (two weeks before the Berlin Wall demolition) and Vatersay village hall summer 2013.

And what was your worst?

Way back in our early years of touring Canada we played the Sydney open-air band shell in Nova Scotia. As it was pouring with rain the audience stayed in their cars instead of taking to the more attractive option of sitting on wet wooden seats in front of the stage. We went ahead with the gig and the crowd flashed their lights and beeped their horns at the end of each num- ber. The sound of wheels spinning on gravel to leave whilst our fiddler Charlie poured his heart into an old slow air was a bit dis- concerting!

What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?

Programming Celtic Connections in 2007 and being asked to stay on!

What’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did in public?

It would be the time I entered for a tal- ent competition in Oban aged fourteen. The brief was to perform two pieces of music preferably in different styles, so for the first piece I played some marches on the accordeon. But for the second I borrowed my Mum’s electric piano and accompanied myself whilst singing So Lonely by The Police. I had blonde hair and thought I was Sting…

Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?

It would be Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb or anything by JS Bach.

Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?

It would be my Dad who plays accordeon. If family doesn’t count , then it would most likely be the music of the John Ellis Highland dance band.

Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?

It’s all about the music of course but when Portuguese star Anna Moura does those slow heart-wrenching fado songs in three/four time there is a part of me that appreciates it wouldn’t have the same effect if sung by a Glaswegian in a Saturday night Karaoke bar. That’s all I’m saying.

If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?

Music can heal, soothe, enlighten and in some cases change lives. Always for the better. Scotland is lucky to currently have in Fiona Hyslop a minister for culture who appreciates what is at stake and fights any talk of arts cuts. But those in positions of power within the UK government and beyond that are constantly undermining the value of arts on society whilst posturing for the financial sector know who they are. And there are rockets with their names on them. Not real rockets of course.

Donald Shaw is Artistic Director of Celtic Connections, acclaimed composer, and founder and keyboard player of Capercail- lie. donaldshaw.net

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