Ian Powrie (26 May 1923 - 5 October 2011) was a

Scottish country dance Scottish country dance (SCD) is the distinctively Scottish form of country dance, itself a form of social dance involving groups of couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns. A dance consists of a sequence of figures. These dances are ...

musician and

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

player best known for his performances on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

White Heather Club ''The White Heather Club'' was a BBC TV Scottish variety show that ran on and off from 7 May 1958 to 11 April 1968 History It was an early evening BBC television programme. It started at 6.20, and Jimmy Shand composed a melody "The Six Twenty ...

Early life

Bridge of Cally Bridge of Cally is a small village in Kirkmichael parish, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It sits at the junction of three glens, Glenshee, Strathardle and Glenericht and is centred round the bridge over the River Ardle 200m before it joins the Bla ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

Wartime service

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Music career

Powrie did not immediately take up a career as a professional, playing only at dances at weekends, but by 1949 had reformed his father's band. In that same year he made his first recording. His brother Bill played

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aerop ...

and his sister Mary played piano. His mainstream recording career began with the Beltona label, on 21 May 1951, in Glasgow. After a further session with Beltona in October, 1953, he transferred to the Parlophone label. Perhaps one of his most well-loved discs followed. This recording was produced by

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

, '' Bothy Ballads for the Gay Gordons'' and was recorded in Dundee on 27 July 1957 (label number R 4386). In 1960 Powrie and his band turned fully professional and worked with Andy Stewart on the ''

''. However, he continued to own a farm where he worked as a hobby. Powrie toured Australia and New Zealand with Andy Stewart in the 1960s. He emigrated to Australia with his wife Leila and children in 1966 where he successfully continued his music career. The family returned to Scotland between 1984 and 1999 but then again emigrated to Australia. While in Scotland in 1994, a violin belonging to Powrie, made by the famous 18th century Scottish violin maker

Matthew Hardie Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

, was destroyed when a lorry rear-ended Powrie's car at Bridge of Cally. The tune ''Th
Matthew
Hardie'' by Bert Murray is a reference to this violin.J. Murray Neil, ''The Scots Fiddle: Tunes, Tales & Traditions of the North-East & Central Highlands'', Neil Wilson Publishing, 2013 .

Death

Powrie died on 5 October 2011 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powrie, Ian 1923 births 2011 deaths People from Blairgowrie and Rattray Scottish fiddlers British male violinists Scottish country musicians Scottish folk musicians 20th-century violinists 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians