Billy Kay: An Ayrshire Legend
Edinburgh University Futures Institute, 19/8/24
Billy Kay, author, Robyn Stapleton, singer, Alan Little, chair
Words and music ‘gan the gither’ !
That’s what I told Billy Kay and Robyn Stapleton at the end of their presentation at the Book Festival and I also reinforced the message to Alan Little, the chair of the Book Festival Board, who introduced the event. Hopefully, the success of this event will encourage the Book Festival to schedule more events like this that meld written, spoken and musical expression.
Billy Kay is one of the finest amongst Scotland’s writers and broadcasters who explain and defend Scottish language and culture. His previous books like ‘The Mither Tongue’ have been well received and he was presenting his latest book ‘Born in Kyle: A Love Letter tae an Ayrshire Childhood’ to a very big audience at the Book Festival on Monday. Billy is a great communicator indeed entertainer and I’m sure he would do very well on the comedy circuit as well as the literary circuit. He certainly entertained us with humorous extracts from the book. He was backed up by Robyn Stapleton, one of Scotland’s finest traditional singers, who sang songs of Scotland’s favourite son, Robert Burns, finishing with ‘Auld Lang Syne’. The combination of Billy Kay’s Lallans dialect with what Billy calls ‘The Scots Lied ‘, which is musical in its declamation, with the wonderful singing of Robyn Stapleton made for a magical afternoon which went too quickly.
I had a brief chat with Billy after at the book-signing event and explained that, like him, I was also a pupil of Kilmarnock Academy, and that I came from Hurlford, the next village to Billy’s Galston (pron. ‘Gawston’ in Lallans, and as we pronounced it as weans!). I asked Billy about the role of Scots literature and history at the Academy in his day. He confirmed it was very slight, as Willie Mcilvanney, another Kilmarnock High former pupil, and I both agreed about the 1950s. Fortunately the curriculum of Scottish schools including Kilmarnock Academy has been much improved since then and Scots literature and history is much more present,
When I was an MEP (for Essex and Herts!) I added Lallans to the list of lesser known languages of the EU, which allowed access to funds for research and publication of Lallans. Of course with Brexit (not voted for in Scotland!) that’s disappeared.
Billy’s book is available as an audio book as well if you want to listen to him speak the Lied. On November 16 at the Reid Concert Hall in the University of Edinburgh Billy is performing the great Edinburgh poet Robert Ferguson’s ‘Auld Reikie’ with the great Scots singer Karine Polwart accompanying him. Billy clearly believes that words and music “gaun the gither“!
PS. Congratulations to Edinburgh University and the architects and workers who have transformed the old Edinburgh Royal Hospital into the Futures Institute, this year the new home of the Book Festival. They have done a great job and, since I stay next door in the Quartermile, I approve. Sadly, our new Labour government doesn’t seem to believe in the future since they have just cancelled the new supercomputer that was meant to be at the centre of the Futures Institute. Billy Kay, like me, is a supporter of Scottish independence. It is more clearly needed if we are to plan our future as well as defend our language and culture!
