A folk group that has worked with everyone from pop singer David Essex to avant-garde composer John Cage appears at Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church as part of the WestFest community festival on Sunday 21 June at 7:30pm.
The Whistlebinkies are one of the longest-established groups on the Scottish folk scene, having formed in the late 1960s in Glasgow.
They were the first folk group to champion the playing of the Scottish tradition’s “three graces” - fiddle, pipes and harp.
Flavour
Later, they went on to become the first Scottish band to play in China during an international career that has included tours across Europe and the U.S.
“We like to give audiences a real flavour of the Scottish tradition,” says the group’s flute player Eddie McGuire, who is also a respected and prolific composer of works for a whole range of ensembles from guitar duos to orchestras and choirs.
“But we’ve also enjoyed playing in concerts and on recordings with a wide variety of musicians.”
As well as appearing on records by David Essex and the English rock band Cutting Crew, the Whistlebinkies have worked with celebrated Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan, who sang and played tin whistle on the group’s 1999 album, Timber Timber.
Their work with John Cage included a recording that is being released this month, Scottish Circus, which the composer devised specifically for The Whistlebinkies.
“One of our more unlikely adventures was when we performed John Cage’s famous 4’33”, which is four minutes and thirty-three minutes of silence,” says McGuire.
“We did this twice, the second time being outdoors and of course, being in Scotland, it rained and we had to abandon the performance.”
One of our more unlikely adventures was when we performed John Cage’s famous 4’33”, which is four minutes and thirty-three minutes of silence - Eddie McGuire.
The Whistlebinkies’s collaboration with Cage, which began when the American composer became fascinated by them when he visited Scotland in 1984, is being released on DVD by New York-based Mode Records and includes videos of both Scottish Circus and 4’33”.
The group also recorded the music that McGuire composed for the first adaptation in Scots of William Shakespeare’s MacBeth, a BBC Radio Scotland production from 1981. They’ll be including extracts from this in their West End festival concert.
“It’s an atmospheric piece but not so different in terms of sound to our traditional material,” says McGuire.
“It makes a good contrast to the reels, airs and strathspeys, which we’ve always played as examples of authentic Scottish music.”
* The Whistlebinkies play Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church as part of WestFest, Sunday 21 June at 7:30pm. Tickets on the door, £15, £10 concessions. More information on WestFest here: https://westfest.uk/
