December 14th 2012
Up Helly Aa CD
A recording which had been thought to be lost for over thirty years is being released in Shetland just in time for the run up to Christmas and the beginning of the traditional Shetland fire festival season. The master tapes of the original 1980 vinyl recording of the Up Helly Songs featuring the Lerwick Brass Band and Registered Squad No 1 have now been carefully restored and remastered digitally and are scheduled to be released in CD format in Shetland on Saturday December 15th with a UK release date in late January 2013.
This is the only authentic version of the three festival songs which are sung at many of Shetland’s fire festivals. The CD also includes all the lyrics of the songs, a bonus track of the full length version of the Up Helly Song and description of the Lerwick festival by G.H. Burgess. In addition to the CD release, a special limited edition of the original 1980 vinyl format which will also include the CD version will be available.
Well-known local recording engineer Billy Kay used the Bell’s Brae Primary School gym hall as the recording ‘studio’ to capture the music from the Lerwick Brass Band and vocals from the 1980 registered squad number 1, commonly known at the time as the ‘teachers’ squad’. The EP record proved to be a big hit and sold around 2000 copies until vinyl was overtaken by digital technology.
The first task was to establish whether the recordings were in a good enough condition to be remastered as it was feared the integrity of the tapes might have deteriorated over the years. The expertise of audio restoration and mastering engineer Dave Sinton of Dunkinty Audio in Unst was sought who gave the project the go ahead. Dave became a sound engineer in 1970 and works with the likes of The Corries and The John Denver Band. He has recently completed restoring material for Shetland Museum and Archives. He described the master tapes as “very tired” but was able to restore and re master the audio.
The release is being issued on newly formed Shetland music label Making Waves Records which is owned by Rick Nickerson. This is the label’s second release after the debut album “In Passing” from Shetland rock quartet The Donald Anderson Band last year. Now, 32 years later, Rick is making the music accessible to a new generation, after he discovered the master tapes when he was recently clearing out his loft.
Editor Notes:
The largest festival is held in Shetland’s capital Lerwick on the last Tuesday of January (Tuesday 29th January 2013) although the fire festival season starts much earlier in January with the Scalloway event and many more rural festivals take place through to March.
THE LAST TUESDAY in January each year is marked by the celebration in Lerwick of the Festival of Up – Helly – Aa. Its origin and history are obscure, but general acceptance is given by the prominence of the final and twenty-fourth day of the Yuletide rejoicings in the period of the Norse occupation of Shetland. Throughout the succeeding centuries there could have been no less urge to celebrate the growing ascendancy of the sun and the ending of the long, dark nights of the Shetland winter, but what form the celebrations took we know not. Sufficient that there was a festival tradition, with the inherent instinct to rejoice in light and fire.
More Information about Shetland’s fire festivals can be obtained here:
http://www.uphellyaa.org/up-helly-aa-2013
http://visit.shetland.org/up-helly-aa
For more information contact
Rick Nickerson
Making Waves Records
“Ringan”
Ireland
Bigton
Shetland
ZE2 9JA
Tel 01950 422342
