Work-in: Rab Noakes leads the singing in the UCS celebration concert Pic: Pete Heywood
There are some shows which need a festival. This concert, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the UCS work-in, was one of them. Tucked away on the final Sunday evening of Celtic Connections at the Old Fruitmarket, it could be better described as an event as much as a concert. It was a tribute both for and by the shipyard and Trade Union communities.
I would hazard a guess that over 90% of the audience had a significant personal or family connection with the UCS struggle or trade unionism in Scotland. This extended to most of the performers including Rab Noakes, Alasdair McDonald, Jimmie MacGregor, Arthur Johnstone, The Whistlebinkies and Dick Gaughan, all of whom played a significant part in the development of the Scottish folk revival and who contributed through their music to the protest and fundraising efforts during the UCS work in. These musicians were the young guns of the music scene at the time; now they are the old masters, to some extent marginalised by the fashion trends as folk music flirts with the music business, but still supremely able to deliver the goods.
Musically the concert demonstrated the ability of the solo performer to cut through to the heart of the music. A real highlight was Alasdair McDonald singing a song written about John Maclean which said “You could liberate Maclean tomorrow if you dare!” On an evening celebrating a community which took on the might of the government of the day, this was a protest song that spoke quietly to the heart.
That folk music was at the heart of the event was appropriate given what Jimmy Reid once said about it: “Folk music has no meaning unless it expresses the lives and struggles of ordinary people. In 1971, when the shipyard workers on the upper Clyde refused to accept the butchery and dismantling of their yards, it was inevitable that the folk song world would give it expression”
Arthur Johnstone, described in the programme as Scotland’s greatest political singer; his has been a voice of the people for many years and one close to the UCS struggle. On stage for this evening as Arthur Johnstone and The Stars Band, this was a line up which for the older folkies in the audience, particularly when Gavin Livingstone moved from piano to five string banjo, would take them back to the days of The Laggan, one of Glasgow’s seminal folk groups.
Rab Noakes was the artistic director of the show and contributed throughout the evening in no small measure, including a spot with a younger singer, Emma Pollock, and perennial side man Fraser Speirs. Fraser, thankfully for once, took centre stage for a version of Honest John, complete with train sounds from Fraser’s harmonica. He has long been fascinated with American railroads having grown up as a boy surrounded by train manufacture in Springburn. Jimmie MacGregor, another master of communication, captured the mood of the evening in song and through a monologue which was a humorous modern Glasgow take on the story of David and Goliath - with obvious parallels to the fight between the shipyard workers and the Government of the day.
The concert had started off with an overture composed by Eddie McGuire. Eddie had composed some music which he had presented to Jimmy Reid in 1971 and was honoured to be asked 40 years on to compose for them once more. One of Scotland’s major composers, he has had a long association with the folk group The Whistlebinkies. He met them in the aftermath of the UCS through their charismatic singer and frontman Mick Broderick who worked in the shipyards at that time. For this composition, Eddie brought in traditional music elements through the Whistlebinkies adding brass, long associated with trade unionism, played by Alba Brass, saxophones from Sax Eccosse and cello from Maya Burman-Roy who, in one of those coincidences which make the hairs on the back of your neck stand-up, is now the cello teacher of Jimmy Reid’s grand-daughter.
The night wasn’t all about music, Dave Anderson was the MC for the evening, pulling the various elements together including poetry and stories from Tom Leonard and David Hayman, a video message from Tony Benn, an appreciation from Pat Rafferty, Scottish Secretary of Unite, and an emotional moment when Mike Kirby, President of the Scottish TUC, invited veterans of the UCS leadership to the stage. The huge projection screen provided a visual focus throughout the evening with some lovely photographs from the era of the UCS struggle. There was pindrop silence at all the right moments and total attention throughout the concert. The Old Fruitmarket worked well as a venue on this occasion.
This event at Celtic Connections was towards the end of a year long series of events marking the anniversary of 1971. At least one more event is still to come; a series of showings of contemporary films made by Cinema Action, the only film crew allowed into the yards by the Stewards. These will be shown at The Mitchell theatre from 21 – 23 March.
Photos of the event can be viewed here on Flickr:
