‘I’m awfa happy that someone has done this amount o’ work for the Doric. I left Rosehearty in 1984 fan I was 20 and have lived a’ ower the island, fae Glaisga to London but I’m currently resident in Govan working as an archaeologist for the last 12 years. I was until 2006, full-time writer/ musician in a band and it’s true that I mostly wrote and performed in the Doric tongue, however, sometimes fan ye need ti’ get a message ower ti’ folk fa canna spik richt, ye hiv ti’ resort ti’ that awfa orra tongue tee! I would love to let you hear some of my songs.

I could news aboot Doric until the coos come hame!,

A’ the best Clarky or ‘Ingins’ as I used ti be caad’

The whole concept of keeping the Doric language alive is important to me as it works in tandem with my life as an archaeologist which is chiefly concerned with recording who was here, why, when, and what things affected them in their everyday lives. I feel a real sadness hearing it disappear from the mouths of people who live in Buchan and although I have lived away for the past 40 years, my Doric self re-appears generally around Stonehaven as I travel further towards the Broch.

I do believe that one of the main culprits for the reluctance in keeping the Doric alive is the Kailyard humour and that general view of people from Buchan which has never sat well with me as a writer. The audiences for my band’s music are generally reggae orientated and luckily have a good ear for deciphering our Doric language, but to have the message or sentiment of a song understood, I do think it’s better to mix the Doric and English.

I have found that people are far more interested in finding out what alien-sounding words mean when they are used unexpectedly in a song and are usually keen to learn more. I generally write in English then translate the words back into Doric as I listen to the music which sound’s a queer way to do things but it seems to work. I really believe that if Doric is to be accepted by the new Buchan youth, it must be spoken in a modern context, if we want them to visit us mair aften, we need to move oot o’ Geordie’s byre?

Clark Innes – ‘Reggae fae Rizarty’

Albaroot

Clarky enjoyed many years fronting up the Scottish-based Reggae band Albaroot, it would be fair to say that there weren’t many other Scottish bands playing Reggae music, and none were singing in Doric!

Albaroot however were a popular act and released half a dozen or so albums during their time together, much of that material has been lost to the universe for one reason or another and when we met him, Clarky didn’t have copies of everything they released. However Doric Future has taken up the challenge to work with Clarky to pull as much of it together as we can, and we will feature what we have found on these pages.

If you have any Albaroot tracks, images or video which you don’t already see on this page, please get in touch or send us a copy so we can build up as much content as we can on this fantastic band.

Below are shown the album covers of our soon-to-be-released album ‘Vackomaggi’along with the previously released albums, and the playlists we have pulled together so far, we hope you enjoy what we’ve posted to date.

The Band

Norrie Wilson – Percussion
Olivia Enemosser – Backing vox
Phil Rozier – Trumpet
Raymond Burke – Bass
Rej Forte – Digital drums, keys, percussion, overall production
Ross Wilson – Drums
Sam Kinney – Backing vox
Sandy Sinclair – Percussion
Simon Davidson – Keyboards
Tam O’ Malley – Bass and Engineer
Tom Binns – Hammond and Wurlitzer organs

‘Make poverty history’ gig from 2005, this particular one was at the Arts Center in East Kilbride

Some Press Releases from back in the day

This black and white photo gallery was taken at the Mayfair in Sauchiehall St Glasgow which subsequently became ‘The Garage’, the date was 1988

Here’s another collection of pictures taken over the years which haven’t been seen by anyone for a very long time, they really do bring back the fondest memories.