Gig - Dick Gaughan

Looking on the website of Scottish folk musician, Dick Gaughan, I find myself confronted with a holding page bearing two promises. The first is that I will find such useful sources as “a song library… discography… and biographical details”, the second that I 'WON’T' find, what Gaughan succinctly sums up as 'those irritating gimmicks that just screw up your browser and waste your time'. It’s a subject close to his heart. In the mid ‘80s, Gaughan took a break from performing to pursue an unlikely alternative career path in web design. Now he is as passionate about creating accessible websites as he is about politics and folk music. Originally it was the 'hard-bitten years under the Tories' and the murder of Chilean folk singer Victor Jara by the Pinochet regime that apparently galvanised Gaughan into putting his politics into his music. “I knew then I couldn't just play old tunes”, he has said. “You have to speak out. And, really, that is what traditional music is all about... People's music, folk music if you will, is very dangerous stuff!” And Dick Gaughan’s career has been all about speaking out (via theatre as well as music) not least about his Scottish identity and the various misrepresentations of that identity to be found, especially in the States. (He once said that Braveheart was about 5% accurate). “It is subversive to acknowledge that ordinary people actually have a culture with artistic merit”, he has said. “This gives the lie to those who would like us to think that the poor are poor because they are stupid”. ER