Scottish Andrew ? Who do you think you are ?

At a recent business networking event it was put to me in a critical way – who did I think I was – when I had stated that I am Scottish Andrew.
It seemed to my professional critic and business analyst that I was doing too much – trying to be more than I actually was because I was incorporating the term ‘Scottish’ into my name.
He was having trouble with a Scottish business idea that incorporated a Paranormal Ufo Tour, Scottish Art and a Ceilidh band that would play at Scottish community gatherings e.g. weddings. I appeared to be mixing up my communication channels and marketing streams. After all he laughingly announces to the gathered group of other business people who had attended to obtain his pearls of wisdom .. ‘Who would want a man in a green suit playing at their wedding …’

I would hate to have been Richard Branson turning up at one of these Enterprise assistance events today – After all who would want the sexual connotations of rock and roll handling their travel arrangements, monies and credit ratings ! etc

My critic though did make me focus on illustrating and highlighting the traditional provenance of my Scottish Andrew idea – so here is the extended answer to the question – Scottish Andrew ? Who do you think you are ?

Scottish Andrew Arts, Music and Storytelling is part of an ancient and historic tradition of the Ceilidh.
Originally, a ceilidh was a social gathering of any sort, and did not necessarily involve dancing.
Ceilidh (plural ceilidhs or ceilidhean) is from Scottish Gaelic cèilidh, Irish céilidhe, from Old Irish céile (“companion”) is defined as an Irish or Scottish informal social gathering anywhere in the Celtic diaspora where traditional folk music is played, with dancing and story telling.

The folklore expert Alexander Carmichael in his folklore collection Carmina Gadelica, 1900, tome I, p. xxviii writes..
‘The ‘ceilidh’ is a literary entertainment where stories and tales, poems and ballads, are rehearsed and recited, and songs are sung, conundrums are put, proverbs are quoted, and many other literary matters are related and discussed.’

Scottish Andrew is a part of that diverse folk tradition; a Scottish musician and ceilidh dance caller to facilitate and participate in all aspects of the gathering, with Storytelling that is part of the paranormal and mystical tradition in Scotland, a poet and composer, a ‘Dissident Scientist’ [2012] with solutions to the conundrums of the cosmos, and a producer of innovative art that seeks to augment the nature of tartan designs and the tradition of colours in Scotland.

In that context, Scottish Andrew is a Ceilidh ‘player’ – part of the ancient tradition of multifaceted performers and artistes called the Filidh – Scottish Gaelic: filidh, plural filidhean who were an integral part of community events.

The word “filidh” is thought to derive from the Proto-Celtic *widluios, meaning “seer, one who sees”, derived ultimately from the verb *widlu-, “to see”. This may suggest that the filí were originally prophetic poets, who foretold the future in the form of verse or riddle, rather than simply poets.

The Natural and Supernatural photography of Scottish Andrew carries on that tradition of seeing the truth in our Cosmos.

Through such traditional musicians as Turlough O’Carolan (who died in 1738 and is often lauded as “the last of the bards”) the musical tradition of the fili has made its way to contemporary ears via a contemporary culture of folk music artists and composers such as Scottish Andrew and his Wild Geese Ceilidh Band.

The fili maintained an oral tradition that predated the Christianization of Ireland and the culture placed great importance on the fili’s ability to pass stories and information down through the generations without making changes in those elements that were considered factual rather than embellishment.
In the accounts of Stargate Edinburgh Tours that Celtic tradition of paranormal folklore which witnesses, collects and compares the reports of modern faerie tales is preserved in the 21st Century through the reportage of Andrew Hennessey.

Scottish Andrew, Andrew Hennessey is part of an ancient tradition of community arts, entertainment and social insight.
In more recent decades, the dancing portion of the Ceilidh event has usurped the older meanings of the term, though the tradition of guests performing music, song, story telling and poetry still persists in some areas of the Celtic fringe.

http://www.scottishandrew.com