Lament for Captain Simon Fraser SD 480p

Day 6 Tune 6 I was always fascinated by the Captain Simon Fraser Collection. He lived his last days in Rose street, Inverness, just opposite MacGregor's. I was taught many tunes from this amazing collection by Donald Riddell but he had to hand write them or teach by ear, as the book itself was was not available in Scotland in the 1980s. It had, however, been republished in Cape Breton! In the early 2000's I started speaking to Hamish MacDonald about the man and his book. I didn't know an awful lot about him but within a few weeks Hamish had uncovered a wealth of material on Captain Fraser's rather tumultuous life. A stage play, a radio dramatisation (winner of a Celtic Media Award) and a fantastic CD featuring Alyth McCormack, Jonny Hardie, Beard McAlpine and Rory Campbell all came out on the back of that meeting with Hamish. This tune hopefully captures a bit of Simon Fraser and his life. His desperation for success led him to 'classicise' many Gaelic airs and melodies to fit with the styles of the day and he removed all the words from th songs as they were not 'correct' (i.e. in praise of the Jacobites) Bankrupt, and even ending up in Inverness prison, Fraser did at least leave us with a fascinating insight to his days and some wonderful melodies.