Professor Gary West is an academic, musician and broadcaster who spent three decades teaching and researching in Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he held a personal Chair in Scottish Ethnology. In 2021 he moved to a part time position as a content producer and presenter for BBC Radio Scotland, as well as a freelance role as a musician, researcher and writer. His music interests have seen him tour widely in Europe and North America, and in 2020 he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
His talk is entitled Jock's Jocks: Voices of Scottish Soldiers from the First World War. Between the 1930s and 1980s, north east folksinger, Jock Duncan, sought out and interviewed around 60 veterans of that conflict, and spent two thousand Sunday mornings transcribing them word for word, staying true to their rich dialect of Scots. Gary helped edit and prepare the collection for publication, and the book appeared a few months before Jock passed away last year at the age of 95. Gary will share some of their stories, interlaced with music and song in a tribute to Jock Duncan and the men whose memories he has gifted us - the Jocks.
This event is free to attend either in perosn on online via zoom but must be booked in advance here.
