the Whistlebinkies

In concert. Part of the Scottish Cultural Festival.

Various performances over three days as part of the SKOTTÍS festival of Scottish and Icelandic culture.

Performance of John Cage’s Scottish Circus. Recorded by National VPRO radio. Reviewed by Mary Miller in the Scotsman 2 December 1992:

“Sunday morning, the museum is packed… No-one, one suspects, knows quite what to expect… The silence warmed to rapt attention, for McGuire’s marvelous 1982 String Quartet [played by The Utrecht Quartet]: two outer movements of wriggling, vital fast moving pattern and exploration enclosing a vast, still Largo, where the high violin and creeping bass line seem to climb inexorably together. One listened, hypnotised by the sound.

And wide-eyed, ears straining, we remained, as more haunting phrases crept from all around – from the upper galleries, from distant rooms and hidden corners. John cage’s Scottish Circus, he devised for the Whistlebinkies, an improvisation of incredible beauty and delicacy. Upstairs, hanging in sombre splendour, Alexander Reid stares from his ornate frame, out over the work of his friend VanGough. There’s a Hornel on one wall, Van Gough’s peasants on another. None of this seems strange. It is, after all, art, and music, in context.”

Informal concert. Reviewed by Mary Miller in the Scotsman 2 December 1992: “…a Dickensian room on the Prinzegracht. The Dutch munched bravely at Scots food, the Scots drank and reminisced about Glasgow pizza, and the Binkies played, Peter anderson drumming withwonderful menance to Mick Broderick’s wild tales.”

Concert with Islandica, Wilma Young and Carol McCormick. Part of the Breaking the Ice a celebration of Icelandic culture festival.

A concert themed Music for Industry. Reviewed in The Worker June 1992 which stated: …a tribute to labour, whether the hypnotic singing and chanting of women weavers working up Harris tweed or the heroics of workers whose lives have been scrificed getting oil for Britain in the North Sea. While this kind of material can be be mawkish in the wrong hands, the sheer class of the Whistlebinkies avoided potential pitfalls and presented workers not as victims to be pitied but as people defying adversity, working together and shaping the world.”

In concert with the Scottish Chamber orchestra. Performing Eddie McGuire’s Riverside.

In concert with the Scottish Chamber orchestra. Performing Eddie McGuire’s Riverside.