{"id":15516,"date":"2014-08-27T23:55:12","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T23:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eoisabi.org\/?p=15516"},"modified":"2021-08-12T16:01:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T16:01:52","slug":"the-whistlebinkies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishroam.com\/?p=15516","title":{"rendered":"The Whistlebinkies + Robin Williamson"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost 40 years the Whistlebinkies<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have toured the world with their\"\"<\/a> own brand of authentic Scottish traditional music.\u00a0The quirky name is derived from the old Scots word for a bench: a \u2018bink\u2019. A whistlebinkie was someone who played the whistle whilst sitting on the bink. Other musicians who joined became known by the same generic appellation, hence the name of the group. Whistlebinkies were travelling minstrels who played and sang for their supper.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group use\u00a0only acoustic instruments arranged to complement each other.\u00a0Those employed are Scottish lowland and smallpipes, fiddle, flute, concertina, bass, percussion (Scottish style side drumming and bodhran), clarsach (celtic harp). The group do do some vocals, but the main fare is instrumental. Their music comes from all parts of the country: airs from the far west archipelago of St Kilda, Border ballad melodies, Shetland reels and song tunes from the land of Burns, Ayrshire. Always keen to advance the tradition, the group also performs a number of new works set within the musical parameters of what makes it sound \u2018Scottish\u2019 or \u2018Celtic\u2019. In this the group is fortunate in having one of Scotland\u2019s leading composers in its ranks, Edward McGuire<\/strong>. His suites \u2018Inner Sound\u2019, \u2018MacBeth\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Albannach\u2019<\/em> have taken Scottish traditional music to a new level of musical complexity and interest whilst never losing the vernacular feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2207\u00a0 \u00a0‘Ane Ground’\u00a0 \u21d3<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n