Lauren: Song of the Fishgutters

Описание: Ewan MacColl first performed this song in 1960, as mechanisation was about to take over herring processing, causing this way of life to disappear. We've set the words to a new tune, more influenced by the local bothy ballad style suited to our Doric lives & tongues.

Doric Soul releases this December, featuring this to open my first collection.

#scotland, #scotlandhistory #scottishheritage #herring #doric #fishing #quine #folk #folksong #aberdeenshire

For your information, here's the background...

At the peak of the Herring Boom in 1907, 2,500,000 barrels of fish were cured and exported from Britain, mainly to Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia. In 1913 there were over 10,000 boats involved in the Scottish Herring Industry. The boats followed the shoals and along with them followed an army of curers, merchants, general hands - and the herring lasses/quines. Throughout the boom, the Scots fisher lasses were an integral part of the fisheries landscape at any port where herring was landed. The girls came from fishing villages all around the Coast of Scotland. They began gutting and packing the silver darlings at the age of 15, and travelled throughout the season from Stornoway to Lerwick, to Peterhead, and as far south as Yarmouth by October & November. (www.scotfishmuseum.org)

Images are copyright of their owners and are used to inform the viewer with my thanks. Please see my playlist of original sources for more on the fisher quines. Thank you.