Members of the North-East public are invited to a musical evening of Ballads and Songs with Stanley Robertson and friends organised by the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Institute on Wednesday, 29 May. The free event will be held at Humanity Manse, University of Aberdeen from 5.30 to 7.00pm.
Stanley Robertson has recently been appointed the Keyworker for the Heritage Lottery funded 'Oral and Cultural Traditions of Scottish Travellers' project. He is the nephew of the late Jeannie Robertson, who was considered by Hamish Henderson to be the greatest ballad singer of her generation. Stanley learnt his repertoire of songs and stories from Jeannie and other members of his family.
Humanity Manse will be a fitting venue for the ballads. The building was formerly the home of Anna Brown (née Gordon, 1747-1810), who was the daughter of Thomas Gordon, Professor of Humanity (and later Philosophy). She had an extensive repertoire of ballads, learnt in childhood, and many of these were included in Walter Scott's inappropriately titled Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The so-called 'border' ballads are, in fact, largely the substance of myth, for many came from the North East.