About this episode
The episode explores the emotional depth of Robert Burns' 'Ae Fond Kiss' through personal stories and performances.
Robert Burns began a correspondence with Agnes McElhose, also known as Clarinda and Nancy, a married woman he was besotted with. When she left Scotland to reunite with her husband he wrote Ae Fond Kiss as a heartfelt farewell. It was later set to music and is one of his most famous 'songs' along with Auld Lang Syne and My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose. Karen Matheson, the singer with Capercaillie, talks about its meaning to her and how performing it at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 was a very special moment. Joan Donaldson from Michigan grew up with Scottish music and has called her latest historical novel Ae Fond Kiss. She says she channelled her grief into the characters as a way of dealing with a devastating loss. Sir Geoff Palmer discovered the song when he arrived in Edinburgh in the 1960s. He has traced Burns' and the song's connection to his home country of Jamaica and feels proud of the links he discovered. For film maker Karen Guthrie from Ayrshire - Burns' birthplace - coping with and caring for her estranged parents meant long drives home through the countryside he inhabited. It was a journey of rediscovering Scotland's national poet and relating her family's…
People in this episode
Guests: Karen Matheson, Joan Donaldson, Sir Geoff Palmer, Karen Guthrie, Seonaid Aitken
Topics covered
- Robert Burns
- Scottish music
- love and loss
- cultural heritage
- personal stories
- performance
Keywords
- Robert Burns
- Ae Fond Kiss
- Scottish music
- love
- loss
- performance
- cultural heritage
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Capercaillie, BBC Radio 4
Books & works: Ae Fond Kiss, Auld Lang Syne, My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose
Places: Scotland, Jamaica, Edinburgh, Ayrshire
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