Jock Duncan

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Jock Duncan Jock Duncan is a national treasure twice over. As a singer of the muckle sangs and bothy ballads of his native Aberdeenshire, Jock is a tradition bearer of great authority. Moreover, he is the patriarch of a family that has made an immense contribution to the Scottish musical tradition. Born on the farm of Gelliebrae, by New Deer in 1925, Jock grew up in the farming life at a time when horses were still in daily service. By the age of ten he could drive a horse and plough expertly, an experience that he would later put to wonderful use in performing his famed Tradesmen’s Plooing Match song, complete with imaginary livestock. Music and song were an everyday part of the Duncan household. Jock’s mother was a fine pianist who organised musical sessions in the front room and accompanied the fiddlers she invited. His older sister Marion sang and brother Jimmy played the fiddle. A regular visitor to these sessions was the celebrated John Strachan, a local gentleman farmer who went on to sing on BBC broadcasts and appeared on the 1951 People’s Ceilidh, a milestone event in the Scottish folksong revival. Jock remembers, as a youngster in the 1930s, singing along with Strachan and learning Bonnie Udny and Rhynie from him. He also learned songs from George Kidd, the grieve at the neighbouring farm, and his schoolteacher at Fyvie. The background information these singers passed on, as much as the songs, added to the richness of Jock’s recitations. Added to these, the cor

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