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The
widow of the co-writer of Highland Cathedral says she would be delighted
if her late husband’s tune was adopted as a Scottish national song.
Maria Roever, who lives in the Friedenau district of Berlin, insists: "I
know that he would be immensely proud that such a song had been taken to
heart by the Scots."
The Scottish Rugby Union is planning to try out Highland Cathedral
alongside Flower of Scotland at the Scotland-France game in March. But at
issue is the choice of words. Highland Cathedral has soared to world-wide
popularity since it was written by two German composers, Michael Korb and
the late Uri Roever, in 1982, in the style of a traditional pipe tune.
It has also had a particular appeal in Scotland for those who feel that
while Flower of Scotland is a rousing folk classic its words are
anti-English and its tune, at worst, a dirge.
Last month the Edinburgh poet and playwright, Donald Smith, produced a new
set of words for Highland Cathedral and challenged others to do the same.
But it is now clear that over the years many other people have reached for
words for Highland Cathedral - including as a possible song for Scotland.
The Scottish Rugby Union has stressed it is not trying to replace Flower
of Scotland, the Corries folk tune that emerged spontaneously as a
surrogate national anthem. But it is seeking to test the waters on a tune
that could be sung beside it.
Ben Kelly, an Inverness tenor and composer, has been trying to promote his
version of Highland Cathedral for some years, since copyrighting the words
back in 1990 - after an eight-year effort to track down the composers and
distributors.
His words have already been sung at the Edinburgh Tattoo, and
internationally, and he believes it should be his version that gets sung
at the Scotland-France game. "I hope they do it, because it’s a tremendous
tune. But I’d like them to sing my words," he says.
After early performances by Scottish pipe bands in Berlin, Highland
Cathedral has become one of the best-known bagpipe tunes in the world,
especially after being featured in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.
It was chosen by pop diva Madonna to be played at her Highland wedding.
Co-composer Michael Korb says he was initially surprised that the tune he
and Roever composed should spark such worldwide interest. But such has
been the pressure for information, he has put the story of how it was
written on a
web site.
Korb was always drawn by the sound of the bagpipes, and in 1975, fresh out
of school, he took lessons with the pipe major of a Scottish regiment in
Berlin. Later, he went to Edinburgh, where he took lessons with piping
master Paddy Atkinson, aged 80 at the time.
"He was leading an evening school in the West End," Korb recalls. "When I
came back to Germany, I met Uli Roever and I tried to make experiments
with the bagpipes. We wrote a lot of tunes but Highland Cathedral was a
fantastically successful tune.
"We were surprised every year about the things that happened with Highland
Cathedral. A lot of people think that it is a Scottish tune - we had to
create a web site to let people see that it was not. And a lot of people
think that it is traditional, but it’s actually quite new."
Of the title, Korb says: "I love Scotland. We were looking for a title of
the tune, and I thought Highland Cathedral, because Scotland is very
beautiful, and it’s like the majestic landscape and so on."
It is not just Scots who have been inspired to come up with words for the
tune. Korb points out that a German writer, Werner Bonfig, has also
written words - titled "Stand Up Again". The city of Cologne, he says, has
been interested in using it for its own anthem.
Roever’s widow has every sympathy with those Scots who would like to adopt
Highland Cathedral for their own. "I can understand that it’s not
particularly comfortable for proud Scottish people only to have a national
anthem that praises the Queen far away in London," she says. "We would
certainly give our blessing to this becoming the national song of Scotland
because it has touched so many people in so many ways.
"I think that is the great legacy of my husband - his music was capable of
moving people."
Highland Cathedral was first recorded by
the
Royal Highland Fusiliers, when they were stationed in Berlin in the early
1980s. Ben Kelly first heard it at the Berlin Tattoo in 1982, and soon
sought out the composer’s agents.
"I was trying to get words that weren’t anti-English because there’s too
much of that," he says. "I was trying to get words that were more in the
future because there’s too much anchoring on the events of the past."
"The original purpose for writing the song wasn’t for the rugby. I was
trying to write a Scottish national anthem, to have it sung at the
Commonwealth Games, anywhere that Scots actually achieved something,
anywhere that someone from Scotland has won something or is standing on a
rostrum."
"At the last Commonwealth Games they ended up with Scotland the Brave,
which was awful. They couldn’t sing Flower of Scotland because it’s
anti-English, they couldn’t do that."
Kelly, who started his career at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and
Drama in Glasgow, has sung tenor with Scottish Showtime in Inverness for
about twenty years. He recently published a book of his own original
compositions, titled New Scottish Songs.
"Land of our fathers," begins Kelly’s version of Cathedral, "we will
always be/Faithful and loyal to our own country./In times of danger, we
will set you free, Lead you to glory and victory."
He suggests it is sung with the chorus, possibly with the last verse,
which reads: "Rise, Caledonia, let your voices ring/ In this Highland
Cathedral of our God and King./ Whom joy and liberty to all will
bring./Come; let your heart, with love and courage, sing."
Kelly believes his lyrics are clearly different from the historical call
to arms enshrined in the Flower of Scotland, but he points to the example
of God Save the Queen.
"People are quite happy to sing that, but it doesn’t mean a diddly to
anyone. It’s just getting a new way of thinking."
Highland
Cathedral
Words by Ben Kelly
Land of our fathers, we will always be
Faithful and loyal to our own country.
In times of danger, we will set you free,
Lead you to glory and to victory.
Hail, Caledonia, to our ancient prayer.
In this Highland Cathedral, let our standards bear.
Joining, together, with one dream to share.
God bless the people of this land so fair.
Chorus
Gone is the past, let us start anew.
Let this hope of peace, always remain.
Spirit of Scotia, be strong and true.
Then your children will smile again, again, again, again.
Rise, Caledonia, let your voices ring
In this Highland Cathedral of our God and King.
Whom joy and liberty to all will bring.
Come; let your heart with love and courage sing.
Chorus
Lonely the exile, o'er distant seas,
The home of their birth, gone from their eyes.
Bring back their souls o'er the ocean breeze
To the land where their fathers lie.
Repeat last verse
The Scotsman |
