MELBOURNE — Scottish folk music legend Dick Gaughan will be performing at Trades Hall for one night only on March 25. His songs evoke a deep sympathy and respect for the working class, their struggles and their victories.
A professional musician and singer since January 1970, Gaughan has been playing guitar since he was seven. He made his first solo album in 1971 and has recorded extensively since. Has also worked extensively as a session musician in a wide variety of musical styles.
He has also been a record producer, midi programmer, actor, theatre music director and a music composer for films for the BBC, the Scottish Arts Council and independent producers. Gaughan's songs have been recorded by, among others, Billy Bragg, Mary Black and Capercaillie.
He plays most fretted stringed instruments but his natural instrument, and perhaps what he is happiest playing, is the acoustic guitar. His greatest musical love is for ancient traditional Scots ballads, also known as the muckle sangs (the big songs) that form a substantial part of Scotland's living wealth of traditional song.
As the British Guardian noted, Gaughan "takes 'folk' and shakes it until it rattles, making songs from 1707 as relevant as today's rap rants".
Gaughan lists his greatest influences as Karl Marx, Groucho Marx, Flann O'Brien, Bert Jansch, Betty Frieden, John Lennon, Vladimir Illych Lenin, Hugh MacDiarmid, Davey Graham, Doc Watson, Hank Williams, Jeannie Robertson, Ewan MacColl, Somerled, Bertolt Brecht, his mother (Gaughan's mother, not Brecht's), his father (likewise), Calgacus, Dolinna MacLennan, Crazy Horse, Sandy Denny, Martin Carthy, Clarence White, Sean O'Riada, Jack Mitchell, John MacLean, Big Bill Broonzy, Hamish Henderson, Robert Burns and everybody else he ever met, read, saw, heard or spoke with.
Gaughan will be performing at 7.30pm, Tuesday, March 25, in the New Ballroom, Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street, Carlton. Tickets are $28 ($20 concession). For more information, phone (03) 9662 3555 or visit <http://www.tradeshallarts.com.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, March 19, 2003.
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