Norman Kennedy Norman grew up in the city of Aberdeen just along the street from the great ballad singer Jeannie Robertson. From her and other traditional singers he quickly developed a way with the old songs and, in the folksong revival of 1960s, he was soon acknowledged as one of the finest traditional ballad singers. When Mike Seeger heard him in Aberdeen in 1964 he invited him to sing at the Newport Folk Festival of 1965. Norman was made very welcome and was quick to make his home in the USA - teaching ballads, telling the old tales, spinning and handloom weaving. When he heard of the Fife Traditional Singing Weekend he flew across specially to join in. Here he sings the ballad Binnorie (track 8), a version of one of the most widely known of the international ballads (in Francis James Child’s The English and Scottish Popular Ballads as The Twa Sisters) and a ranting version of Aberdeen’s notorious and still popularly sung The Castlegate (track 17).
Website: Norman Kennedy - Leopard Magazine
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