Waipu - a big Scottish Singaround!

In the beautiful Waipu Old School Hall

PlaidSong are currently in New Zealand, seeing friends and family and playing a little music as we go. We were hosted by Grant and Lorna in Waipu where Grant is part of the Waipu Acoustic and Folk Music Club. These folks meet regularly to play together, and we joined them for an evening to do a few songs together.

It was amazing to perform once again in Waipu's fantastic historic venue of the Old School Hall, a beautiful building, built with the famous Aotearoa kauri timber making it both a lovely hall with a fabulous acoustic.

It was a really sociable evening with some familiar faces bringing their instruments along to join in, and we met some new folks too, which is always lovely.

Thanks to Rob for the wee video snips, and I share a couple here as we did Broom o The Cowdenknowes and Wild Mountain Thyme as join-in pieces. Grant also accompanied us in a few of our own songs, and it was brilliant to sing with everyone too; there were many singers in the room who were very welcome joining in on verse and chorus.

We had to sing How Far Must I Roam as this song tells the story of the settlers from Scotland who made their way from Scotland to Nova Scotia and finally to New Zealand to make a new life for themselves. Descendants are still living in the area today, and the local museum is dedicated to this amazing story of Scots abroad.

I have to write about a family who came along with their little ones to enjoy the music. The little boy's mummy came to speak to me at the end. It seems the song Land o' the Leal has a very special significance for her, and she said that she had been looking online for versions of the song in the past weeks. She then came across our website and the blog that explained the history of this song. In finding this, she then realised that we were coming to Waipu and could not believe this coincidence! She decided that, in finding our version of Lady Nairne's song, she was destined to come and hear us and tell us her story. The power of the web! We were blessed to meet her, hear her story and share the song's story and its personal meaning. Music has an incredible power to express, connect and heal.

The video snips are below - I was so taken with everyone playing along that I didn't come in on time for the next verse!!