‘Angel Boy’ was composed in memory of my great-nephew, Iain, who sadly passed away as a result of a road accident in August 2021. I really wanted this to be an inclusive project and enlist the support of professional as well as hobby musicians. I contacted friends and former students as well as some musicians lesser known to me, but whose playing I admire. It was important to me to give an opportunity to players who might perhaps not normally have the courage to take on this kind of project themselves. The tune came to me quite quickly in early October. I had recently released a CD Album entitled ‘The Stroma Swelkie’, with 20% of proceeds from sales going to Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity. At the time, reporter, Gordon Calder of HN Media asked if I had any other plans to fundraise. I remember saying that at some point I would like to think that I might write a tune as a fundraiser for the same charity. I didn’t have a timeline in mind. I have some beautiful photo memories of Iain, and perhaps I was inspired a little sooner than expected, when looking at Iain’s photos one day. It didn’t take long to write my dedication to Iain and the hospital in which he was cared for. I first played the tune to musician Addie Harper Jnr., on 9th December. After a couple of plays together through the tune, with me on fiddle and Addie on guitar, I left with Addie’s endorsement that he liked the tune and was supportive of turning it into a project. We had spoken briefly about my thoughts of getting a split screen video recording of the tune made. I then turned to my good friend, musician & sound engineer, Alastair MacDonald, who agreed to take on mixing and arranging the audio for the tune. We began with Alastair laying down a ‘click’ track, to ensure that when all musicians recorded their contribution, that we would all be playing ‘in time’ to the music, and so that hopefully, it would come across in the audio, that we had all played together, as a band. Alastair provided some accordion and piano, to get me started and then I recorded fiddle. This, along with the click track would be the benchmark recording for all players to record to, through headphones. I’m not sure that either Alastair or Addie had any idea of the scale of the project, until the recordings started to come in. I got a little carried away in my inviting so many valuable musicians. Some musicians chose to record at home, using various mobile devices and recorders, while some others recorded in studios. I was very kindly offered the use of Ruby Rendall’s recording facility at Kintore in Aberdeenshire, to ensure that I had the best quality recording possible for my own fiddle tracks. I play melody, low octave melody and harmony. I am truly grateful to Ruby for agreeing, and to Ruby’s son Robbie, who engineered the sound for me. When a project is for charity, it’s easier to ask for help from others. After every submission to the project, Alastair would add the recording to the mix and then send to myself and Addie. Alastair very meticulously created a track plan, outlining his thoughts on which instruments to feature at which points throughout the recording. This ensured that each player was given prominence in the mix at a time discussed between Alastair, myself and Addie. I love the combination of accordion and fiddle and have been playing in recent years with Aberdeen Strathspey & Reel Society, who have quite a good ratio of fiddle to accordion. I was keen to have a very Scottish sound and that played a part in when to feature players. However, having also invited a number of piano/keyboard players to join the project, in addition to guitarists, it was a little more of a challenge for Alastair to consider which players to feature at which points in the recording. In essence, most players are playing most of the time, with levels adjusted, depending on which players are being featured at the time. Normally there would only be one piano accompanist, we have 4. In addition to both Addie and Alastair inviting some students and friends respectively to play on the recording, by end January 2022 we had a total of 38 musicians, including 2 dancers. It was decided that this be the cut-off and final mixing was done. I am so incredibly grateful to all the musicians and dancers who enthusiastically took on board agreeing to be on the project, for learning the tune, without delay and for sending in their video recordings.

In the end, I think there were about 60 different tracks on our one recording. Some musicians play more than one instrument on the recording, while others play melody as well as harmony. After the sound was mixed, fiddle player, Gordon Gunn very kindly took the time to master the recording. Such a huge number of hours put in by Alastair, in arranging and mixing the sound ensured a smaller job for Gordon, a very busy musician himself, which I am sure he appreciated. The project was then handed over to Addie Harper Jnr for the video edit. After discussions with Addie about the amount of time needed in order to convert all 60 videos to the necessary format before beginning the edit, I was overwhelmed and excited to find that, within a week, Addie had achieved a great video. From not knowing many of the musicians on the project, and using Alastair’s track plan, Addie very quickly was able to match whose video went where. Just one or two debates and tweaks and some further suggestions by Addie to improve the overall video, the project was finally ready to go online, early March. With assistance from Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity who are co-ordinating placing our video on Twitter and Instagram, the planned date for going live on various social media platforms is w/c 27th March. Other platforms include; Just Giving on facebook, Peter Woods ‘Tartan Tunes’ page and John Carmichael’s ‘Carmichael’s Ceilidh’ page. NAAFC (National Accordion & Fiddle Club) have very kindly agreed to a posting on their facebook page. In addition, as the audio that accompanies the video has been professionally mastered, the recording will be available to download from my own Bandcamp page. All proceeds through digital download/donate will go to Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

I can’t thank Addie, Alastair and Gordon, enough, for their valuable expertise, willingness and friendship in pulling this together, for a charity that has a very special place in my heart now and in memory of our family’s very precious little Iain Mackay. I would also like to thank all the amazing musicians and dancers who took the time and care to learn Angel Boy and support the project. It was clear to see that so many were affected by the story. It really doesn’t take much to think how any one of us might feel in these circumstances. I was humbled to witness the passion and compassion in the band’s playing, that you will see for yourselves when you watch the video. Musicians from 4 countries were represented: Canada(3), Scotland(29), Sweden(2) and USA(4).
We really hope that the public enjoy our video and take the time to support Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity. The charity are there, to support child patients of The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, as well as offering financial support to the various wards of the hospital, to enable them to deliver the best of care to the patients and their families. Although Iain was from Caithness, The Royal Hospital for Children is the local hospital for child trauma of Iain’s nature.

Iain was cared for in the palliative ward of The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow for 3 days. I wanted to help raise funds for the hospital as I couldn’t imagine the support and comfort I received from staff on the ward being in any better. Iain was a very precious great-nephew to me and so thoughts of Iain are also at the heart of this composition. Iain passed away just 16 days before his 3rd birthday and I have some fantastic memories of time spent with him, as I still do, with Iain’s older brother and mum. Iain’s personality was so full of fun. He was a bubbly little character, he loved his new puppy and he had a love for nature. I remember on his last visit to Aberdeen with us, he was mesmerized by the flowers and shrubs at his hotel. Iain was a loving and caring little boy. The interpretation is really my feelings at the loss of such a special family member, as well as reflecting the calmness of the ward where Iain spent the final 3 days of his little life. After watching our film, I hope you feel inspired to donate to Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, and support their efforts in helping care for patients, their families and the wards of The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.
Thank you