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Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

The Scottish Word

19th January 2007

Billy Kay with Rod Paterson, Derek Hoy and Norman Chalmers of Jock Tamson's Bairns in an evening of music, poetry, story and song celebrating the Scottish diaspora and its influence all over the world. Among the highlights which captivated a sell-out audience in the Spiegeltent at the recent Edinburgh International Book Festival were: the French romantic love song with a Scottish setting, "Garon Malheureux"; the hymn "Alteren's Sacrament" by 17th century Norwegian poet Petter Dass, son of Peter Dundas from Dundee, translated back into Dass's ither mither tongue, Scots, by Kay and movingly sung by Paterson; the North East song from the Peninsular War, "The Forfar Sojer"; songs of exile like "The Sun Rises Bright in France" and the Scots Canadian classic written by a Borders shepherd, "The Scarboro Settlers Lament."