Over the four years of the Renewing the Tradition project we have commissioned 11 songs to be part of a new book. The songs in English, Scots and Gaelic have been written by some of the top songwriters in Scotland and form a new collection for community choirs and song groups to sing and make their own.
The commissioned songwriters took inspiration from the life and work of Robert Burns; some writers took a line or two from a Burns poem or song as a springboard for new work, some were inspired by a situation Burns found himself in or observing, while others took a broader Burnsian sentiment or outlook on life as their starting point.
Alongside this, we also ran a commissioning programme to create simple, contemporary Gaelic songs for harmony singing. The vision here was to create work with easy phrases and not too many words; songs that would be straightforward for people approaching the language for the first time. Over the course of Renewing the Tradition, the songs that make up this book have been taught at workshops around Scotland and hundreds of singers have taken part.
The book will be available to pre-order at February’s workshops in Alloway, Lauder, Birnam, Connel and Inverness and thereafter on our website.
Details of the workshops can be found here.