{"id":11516,"date":"2017-03-29T14:44:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T14:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=11516"},"modified":"2021-02-19T15:54:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T15:54:43","slug":"paddy-bort-1954-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/29\/paddy-bort-1954-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"PADDY BORT – 1954-2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allan Armstrong writes about the\u00a0contribution made by Paddy Bort, who died on February 17th, to our\u00a0understanding of Scottish and Irish cultural and political links.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PADDY BORT \u2013 1954-2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eberhard Bort, Germano-Scot and Germano-Irish by choice, \u201cin essence the ultimate European\u201d, and known to most acquaintances in Scotland and Ireland as Paddy, died unexpectedly on February 17th. Steve Byrne, founder member of the folk group, Malinky, and convenor of the Hamish Henderson Archive Trust, wrote what has become Paddy\u2019s much circulated obituary. It begins with the strikingly appropriate words, \u201cA hole the size of Arthur\u2019s Seat is in the Edinburgh folk scene today.\u201d
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However, the Edinburgh folk scene was only one of the arenas to which Paddy contributed so much. \u00a0Anyone wanting to know more about the life and influence of Paddy Bort should read Steve Byrne\u2019s fine obituary in full\u00a0[1]<\/a>.\u00a0I will choose only one other quote from Steve\u2019s piece. \u201cHe was hugely instrumental in securing the legacy of Hamish Henderson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, this article will focus on another aspect of Paddy\u2019s contribution \u2013 his clear understanding of Irish and Scottish cultural and political links. It was only after Paddy had taken the lead in setting up the annual Carrying Stream Festival, dedicated to Hamish Henderson, that I began to appreciate Paddy\u2019s true significance.<\/p>\n

Paddy was a very good friend of the late Tessa Ransford\u00a0[2]<\/a>, poet and translator. Tessa was involved in the Edinburgh Peoples Festival (EPF) revived after Hamish Henderson\u2019s death in 2002\u00a0[3]<\/a>. A few years ago, after one of the EPF organising meetings, Tessa and I went to the Royal Oak, Paddy\u2019s favourite drinking haunt, where he organised many folk events. We discussed Hamish as a Scottish internationalist, epitomised by his songs, Freedom Come All Ye <\/em>and John Maclean March<\/em>. The upshot of this discussion was that the EPF invited Paddy to its annual memorial lecture in August 2015.<\/p>\n

In the pub, immediately after this event, Paddy and I talked about Hamish\u2019s time in Ireland and Irish and Scottish cultural connections. Paddy was so knowledgeable that I thought he should give a talk on Hamish Henderson and Ireland for the Edinburgh Festival of Ireland\u00a0[4]<\/a> held in March 2015. At this Paddy spoke passionately and went well over his allotted time \u2013 but nobody minded that!<\/p>\n

After this he developed this speech into a major article, The Shamrock and the Thistle \u2013 Hamish Henderson\u2019s Ireland, <\/em>in Anent Hamish Henderson<\/em>, published later that year. This is the fourth volume in the series on Hamish, which Paddy edited. These volumes have been published by Grace Notes.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Paddy included an article in this volume written by Ray Burnett \u2013 Vive la Gillie Mor: Hamish Henderson, Gramsci and Subaltern Scotland<\/em>. This included a section entitled, A Scots Perspective on the North of Ireland<\/em>. Paddy had already published a lot of material on Ireland, including a book, which he had edited entitled, Commemorating Ireland. <\/em>This included an earlier article by Ray \u2013 In The Shadow of Calton Hill<\/em>. Here Ray outlined a subaltern Scottish and Irish international analysis of the revolutionary 1790s, the 1840s and James Connolly\u2019s years in Edinburgh\u00a0[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite Paddy\u2019s own significant contribution to a fuller understanding of Ireland, an account of his own contribution in this regard has yet to be written. This would provide material on his work beyond Irish and Scottish folk music, his own writings and edited collections of others\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

Here are two examples of this much more extensive contribution. Back in Tuebingen, in Baden-Wurttemburg, the state from which Paddy originally hailed, he played Hugh, the hedge school teacher\u00a0[6]<\/a>, in Brian Friel\u2019s seminal play, Translations\u00a0<\/em>[7]<\/a>, <\/em>set in early nineteenth century Donegal.\u00a0Also, in nearby Lauffen-am-Neckar, Paddy \u00a0helped to restore a pub, which became the Phoenix Irish Bar. This is quite an achievement. I only know of the Irish republican socialist, Peadar O\u2019Donnell, going one better, and having a pub in Derry named after him\u00a0[8]<\/a> \u2013 significantly another major traditional and folk music venue.<\/p>\n

Although Paddy\u2019s main drinking haunt was the Royal Oak, a new portrait has been displayed in Sandy Bells\u00a0[9]<\/a>, where he also drank. This portrait is located near to the bust of Hamish Henderson\u00a0[10]<\/a>. Both are in easy earshot of Scottish, Irish and other traditional and folk musicians from around the world, and of the constant craic from the punters about the affairs of the world.<\/p>\n

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The bust of Hamish Henderson in Sandy Bells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/twitter.com\/arbroathsinger\/status\/832989146650116098. This has also been published in issue no 118 of The Living Tradition.<\/em><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/opinion\/obituaries\/13642134.Tessa_Ransford\/<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.edinburghpeoplesfestival.org\/?page_id=12<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.edinburghsfestivalofireland.org\/home.html Soon afterwards Paddy joined the EFoI committee.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In May 2016, Ray and I went on to make contributions on the historical and continuing significance of the 1916 Easter Rising at the second Radical Independence Campaign Scottish Radical History event held in Edinburgh. Articles upon which these talks were based were published in Scotland and the Easter Rising<\/em>, edited by Willy Maley and Kirsty Lusk.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.gracenotepublications.co.uk\/book-reviews\/paddy-bort-a-very-sad-time\/<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Translations<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.peadars.com\/about\/<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/03\/the-story-of-sandy-bells-edinburghs-world-famous-bar-a-review\/<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.lesleyriddoch.co.uk\/2015\/11\/hamish-henderson-returns-to-sandy-bells.html<\/p>\n

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________<\/p>\n

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also see:-<\/p>\n

HAMISH HENDERSON, FOLK SONGS AND THE BUILDING OF SCOTTISH LEFT WING IDENTITY<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n