Ulster (Scots) Hall NOW OPEN!

I dragged Mrs Ulsterscot along to the Ulster Hall last night to see the mighty Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band perform in a concert styled "Traditional Acoustic".

The first part of the concert was in the hands of Neil Martin and Rod McVey and featured prominently the members of the West Ocean String Quartet.

Brian Kennedy was the surprise guest in that portion of the show and it is fair to say that the various tunes were met with polite applause and general murmurings of approval.

However, after the interval the Hall really came alive when the boys (and girls) of FM took to the boards.

They rattled through the repertoire contained on the RE:Charged cd to rapturous response from the Monday night crowd. It is perhaps true to say that the acoustics in the Ulster Hall are not best suited to the significant volumes that the band generated and for those wanting to really pick up on the finger work, the unusual (but effective) practice of jamming one's fingers into one's ears was the only way forward. For those scratching their heads at this point, the reason is that it cuts out a lot of the extraneous echo and gives you a "purer" sound.

Despite that, Mrs Ulsterscot, who would not profess to be an aficionado pronounced herself well impressed and I went home nursing the warm glow that only the open and notorious display of my culture can engender.

The second half was ably compered by Mark Thompson - blogger of note - and I was particularly gratified to hear the warm cheers when he named Ulster Scots. Could it be that we are all starting to warm up and embrace our identity. One swallow doesn't make a summer - but it was a welcome sight and sound.

Oats for Breakfast?

I have to admit that it is some time since I last had a bowl of porridge. Perhaps a shameful thing to admit for an avowed Ulster-Scot.

On Mark Thompson's Blog he has recently posted an image from yesteryear of White's Speedicook Porridge Oats with the familiar piper on the front.

Rummaging round the interweb, I came upon the current White's website and was mildly disappointed to see no trace of a piper, a kilt or anything else.

As an aside, I would have to say that the Toasted Oats they do are lovely and local too!

Anyhow, I'm curious as to why they abandoned the piper, bearing in mind that I think most people still associate porridge with Scotland and the image is iconic. Presumably the new swanky packaging would demand a sexier image but I would have thought there was still room for a bit of tartan or a well turned heel in a ghillie brogue?

Want to hear how to say "Aiblins"?

The Merriam Webster on-line dictionary has a feature where you can listen to the pronunciation of words and here is the entry for aiblins

Are we all in the Tartan Army?

Over on Bloggin fae the 'Burn Mark is having a look at the generic reasons (should that be excuses?) people have for not endorsing/embracing Ulster Scots.

If he will forgive me, my laziness and current inability to come up with unique thoughts have compelled me to develop the theme here myself.

His first post in the series (the page seems to be down at the minute, so excuse the lack of a link) addresses the Haggis/Tartan issues - whether people feel it is artificial to "suddenly" go all Bay City Rollers, after years of comparative drabness.

Unlike Mark, I am a member of a Pipe Band and have been for 20+ years at this point.

I have to admit that putting a kilt on for the first time was an odd experience but very quickly it becomes a fairly ordinary part of life (although not a daily one!) and is akin to the uniform that you might put on doing many other activities - Boys' Brigade, Scouts, St John's Ambulance etc..

I'm not trying to pretend I'm a Scot when I'm wearing the thing, it's just the uniform you wear when playing in a band. The reason for my attraction to the whole "pipe band thing" is the harder bit to define. I love the music - although my band is at the lower end of the talent spectrum. I do feel a "connection" to the whole tradition - which is odd, bearing in mind that you have to nip across a few generations and branches of the family to find anyone else who has ever been involved.

It has been said before that Identity is a complex and multi-layered concept. The more I think about this, the more I am driven to the conclusion that this discussion is yet another one about that very concept. I don't feel Scottish. I don't feel Irish. When I go to Dublin, I feel that I am very much in a foreign country. When I go to Glasgow, I feel comfortable and much more at home than I would in either London or Dublin. What does that make me? Confused?

The roots of both branches of my family seem to be from Scotland via East Donegal and therefore I suppose that I can claim impeccable Ulster-Scots credentials, but I doubt that my attraction to the culture (and the language, although I don't claim to be a speaker) can be attributed to ancient generations crying out to me from beyond the grave.

After all that rambling, perhaps the best response is as follows:

• You don't have to wear a kilt to be an Ulster-Scot - although it can do no harm to get a bit of air round you.
• You don't have to eat haggis to be an Ulster-Scot - although it is lovely - and my dad had it EVERY DAY (no kidding) when he was at University in Edinburgh. And he lived.
• You don't have to like porridge to be an Ulster-Scot - nor do you have to eat it with salt. Indeed, you should not as it is disgusting that way.
• At the end of the day, an Ulster-Scot is like an elephant - you know one when you see it - but we're really hard to define. Nessie the Elephant? Ulster-Scots elephant? Okay, suit yourselves.....
  

A Tentative Beginning

A busy man I know is also a disturbingly frequent Blogger and shamed me into dipping a toe in the interweb waters myself.

Whether this will amount to anything remains to be seen and I am sorely tempted just to use this page as a place to dump clips from any number of sites I mooch round on a regular basis.

Who knows what might happen?

If you have landed here through searching for a site much more interesting than this one, I can only apologise and wish you well on your quest.