The Corries were a Scottish

folk group Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

that emerged from the Scottish

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but

Roy Williamson Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson (25 June 1936 – 12 August 1990) was a Scottish people, Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries. Williamson is best known for writing "Flower of Scotland", which has become the de fa ...

and

Ronnie Browne Ronald Grant Browne ("The Voice") (20 August 1937 in Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland) is a Scottish folk musician and songwriter, who is a founding member of The Corries. Biography Browne was born in Edinburgh to John Albert ' ...

continued as a duo until Williamson's death in 1990. They are particularly known for the song "

Flower of Scotland "Flower of Scotland" is a Scottish song, frequently performed at special occasions and sporting events as an unofficial national anthem of Scotland. The song was composed in the mid-1960s by Roy Williamson of the folk group the Corries. It w ...

", written by Williamson, which has become an unofficial national anthem of Scotland.

History

Early years

In the early 1960s, Bill Smith (born in 1936 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

), Ron Cruikshank and Andy Turner had formed a trio called The Corrie Voices. The trio was named after Smith's daughter, Corrie Smith, but because a corrie is a deep bowl in a mountain, the name was particularly appropriate as it evokes imagery of the Scottish landscape. After Turner dropped out in 1962, Roy Williamson teamed up with Smith and Cruikshank to form the Corrie Folk Trio. Their first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks, Cruikshank left due to illness. They had already accepted an engagement at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

so Williamson suggested that Ronnie Browne should be brought in to make up the numbers. The band added female Irish singer

Paddie Bell Patricia Margaret Bell (née Simpson, 8 April 1931 – 3 August 2005) professionally known as Paddie Bell, was a Scottish folk singer and musician, born in Northern Ireland. Biography Bell was born as Patricia Margaret Simpson, in Belfast, Nort ...

to become the Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell. The audience was only eight people for the debut of this line-up but by the end of the festival there was a full house at every performance.

Television

Within a year of formation, they appeared on television. 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. ...

...

As The Corries

they performed at the Jubilee Arms Hotel in

Cortachy Cortachy is a village in Angus, Scotland. It lies in at the mouth of Glen Clova, on the River South Esk, four miles north of Kirriemuir. Nearby lies Cortachy Castle, seat of the Earls of Airlie Earl of Airlie is a title of the peera ...

, Angus.

1970s

In 1969, the band released the single, "

", backed with " Roses of Prince Charlie". The song was quickly adopted by world lightweight boxing champion

Ken Buchanan Ken Buchanan Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 28 June 1945) is a Scottish retired professional boxer from Edinburgh and the former List of undisputed boxing champions, undisputed world lightweight champion.Reg Gutteridge, Gutteridge, Reg" ...

, whose fans sang it on his entering the ring. It was then taken up by supporters of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

as the unofficial

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

and is still used at Scotland's rugby internationals. "Flower of Scotland" has since been adopted as the national anthem at international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches. The duo became closely identified with Jacobite songs, celebrating the final years of clan loyalty and military courage. The 1977 album, ''Peat Fire Flame'', saw the group move towards love songs and celebrations of the landscape.

1980–present

Roy Williamson suffered from

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

and before a series of concerts he would deliberately cease treatment to provoke attacks and gain temporary immunity. During the Corries' 1989 tour, Williamson's health went into decline and he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He spent his last years living in

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

, close to where he spent his school years. He died on 12 August 1990. Ronnie Browne continued recording and moved into acting, as well as expanding his painting career. He toured as a soloist for a few years after Williamson's death, and even released a solo album, but never reached the same level of success that he achieved as part of the duo. He has now retired from performing, but occasionally sings "

" along with the crowd at Scottish rugby or

shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...

matches. Paddie Bell continued to make solo albums following her departure from the trio, most notably with Irish musicians Finbar and Eddie Furey, but withdrew from the folk scene followed by a period of dependency on alcohol and anti-depressant medication. In the 1990s Bell, with the help of several friends and fans on the folk scene in Edinburgh, revived her singing career with new recordings and became something of a celebrity again. She died in 2005, aged 74. In December 2007, The Corries were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame at the Scottish Trad Music Awards in Fort William, promoted by concertina virtuoso

Simon Thoumire Simon Thoumire is a Scottish musician and an English concertina virtuoso. Thoumire has played all over the world. A winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award in 1989,mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and a guitar (along with four bass strings operated with slides), the other combining guitar and the Spanish

bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...

. The latter was an instrument Williamson had played since the early days of the Corrie Folk Trio. Originally conceived as a way to combine several of the many instruments they carried around on tour the combolins in fact became an additional two instruments for the tour van. Most often, Browne played the guitar/mandolin instrument with bass strings, and Williamson the other, which also had 13 sympathetic strings designed to resonate like the Indian

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

. The wood for the instruments was obtained from antique hardwood furniture as well as premium grade Tyrolean spruce, and featured Williamson's embellishments in silver and mother of pearl. The Corries' album, ''Strings and Things'' (1970), was specifically designed to showcase these instruments and featured detailed descriptions of them on the rear sleeve. Usually the combolins were played to accompany long ballads such as "The Silkie of Sule Skerry" and " The Gartan Mother's Lullaby", as well as a number of the compositions of

Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...

baker George Weir, including "Lord Yester" and "Weep ye Weel by Atholl".

Legacy

Gotye Wouter André "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), better known by his stage name Gotye ( ), is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. The name "Gotye" is a pronunciation respelling of "Gauthier", the French cognat ...

cites The Corries as the inspiration behind his music. The Scottish Traditional Hall of Music describes the Corries as “the godfathers of the modern folk-music scene in Scotland.”

Discography

Many of The Corries recordings have now been re-issued on CD by Moidart Music, a company set up originally to release Williamson's posthumous ''

Long Journey South Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

'' solo album. The recordings are now overseen by Browne's son Gavin, who runs the official Corries website along with original recording engineer, Allan Spence, and David Sinton.

References

External links

The Official Corries Merchandise Outlet

by Moray Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Corries, The Scottish folk singers Scottish folk music groups 20th-century Scottish male singers 20th-century Scottish musicians