Search Results for “runrig”

Source: Runrig

Runrig were a Scottish Celtic rock band formed on the Isle of Skye in 1973. From its inception, the band's line-up included brothers and songwriters Rory MacDonald (bass, vocals) and Calum MacDonald (percussion). The line-up during most of the 1980s and 1990s, which was the band's most successful period commercially, also included Donnie Munro (vocals), Malcolm Jones (guitar), Iain Bayne (drums), and Pete Wishart (keyboards). Munro left the band in 1997 to pursue a career in politics and was replaced by Bruce Guthro. Wishart left in 2001, also to pursue a career in politics, and was replaced by Brian Hurren. The band released fourteen studio albums, with a number of their songs sung in Scottish Gaelic. At the height of their success during the 1980s and 1990s, Runrig were described by Billboard as one of the "most celebrated" Gaelic language bands in Scotland.
Initially formed as a three-piece dance band known as 'The Run Rig Dance Band', the band played several low key events, and has previously cited a ceilidh at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow as their first concert. Runrig's music is often described as a blend of folk and rock music, with the band's lyrics often focusing upon locations, history, politics, and people that are unique to Scotland. Songs also make references to agriculture, land conservation and religion. Their 1995 single "An Ubhal as Àirde (The Highest Apple)" made history by becoming the first song to be sung in Scottish Gaelic to chart on the UK Singles Charts. In 2007, they re–released their 1983 debut single "Loch Lomond" with the Tartan Army, entitled "Loch Lomond (Hampden Remix)". It debuted at number one in their native Scotland, remaining on the top spot for four weeks, and in the United Kingdom, debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Charts and earned a Silver certification from the BPI.
Since 1999, the band has gained attention in Canada, following Nova Scotian singer Bruce Guthro's entry to the band. In 2016, the band announced that it would retire from studio recording after the release of their fourteenth studio album, The Story (2016) and announced their final tour The Final Mile in 2017. In August 2018, Runrig performed the final shows of their farewell tour, entitled The Last Dance, in Stirling City Park beneath the castle ramparts. An estimated 52,000 fans attended The Last Dance. Bruce Guthro died on 5 September 2023 from cancer.

History

= Formation and early years (1973–1987)

Runrig

= Major label and mainstream success (1987–1997)

Runrig

= Transitional challenges (1997 to 2001)

Runrig

= Renewed popularity (2001–2009)

Runrig

= 50 Great Song (2009–2010)

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= Year off and Rewired (2011–2012)

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= 40th anniversary (2013–2014)

Runrig

= The Story (2014–2017)

= The Last Dance and disbandment (2017–2018)

Runrig

Historical references

Membership

= Timeline

Discography

References

External links

Runrig

Source: Run rig

Run rig, or runrig, also known as rig-a-rendal, was a system of land tenure practised in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Islands. It was used on open fields for arable farming.

Its origins are not clear, but it is possible that the practice was adopted in the late medieval period, supplanting earlier enclosed fields which were associated with a more dispersed pattern of settlement.: 149 It fell into decline mainly over the last quarter of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century.
The land was divided into towns or townships, comprising an area of cultivable "in-bye" land and a larger area of pasture and rough grazing. The in-bye was divided into strips – "rigs" – which were periodically reassigned among the tenants of the township so that no individual had continuous use of the best land. This periodical reassignment can be considered a defining feature of run rig. The majority of townships were rented by tacksmen and sublet to the actual farming tenants. Some tacksmen would have leases on several townships.
The detailed working of run rig differed from place to place. The degree of co-operation in these communal farms was one of these aspects. In some instances, where ploughing was carried out by horse gangs, the responsibility for this was shared among the tenants – so providing an obvious communal activity. The Breadalbane estate was an example of this. However, there is no evidence for this sort of organisation on Tiree, where the arable lands were almost entirely ploughed. A further complication was that many parts of the West Highlands used the caschrom to work arable, especially in the Hebrides, so there was no need for a shared plough team.: 142–143
Two documented methods of working run rig demonstrate the relatively limited level of co-operative working. The first is found in a 1785 survey of Netherlorne on the Breadalbane estate. Here the typical township had eight tenants who would plough all the arable land, then divide it into parts judged to be of equal quality and draw lots, for each crop, as to who would occupy each part. The tenant of each part would then prepare his own section for sowing, broadcast his seed and then finally harvest. The second example is on North Uist, where spade and caschrom working was used. Here the land was divided before any working of the soil – each lot was worked entirely individually by the occupier. Dodgshon discusses the misconception that communal working was the main characteristic of run rig. Instead a key defining feature was the holding of intermixed strips of land on the arable area. His conclusion is that run rig was not an archaic system of management based on communal ownership; rather it was a system that valued private property and employed communal activity only when necessary.: 142–143
From the mid-18th century the system was steadily supplanted in Scotland as the in-bye was divided into crofts under fixed tenancy, but run rig survived into the 20th century in some parts of the Hebrides. Where Crofting began to dominate in the Highlands and Isles, the Lowlands transitioned to estate arrangements of individual farms whose lands were laid out in the typical rectilinear field enclosure systems, with one or many fields farmed by the one resident family.
In Ireland, a similar system was called rundale. The run rig system of tenure should not be confused with the agricultural practice known as rig and furrow, which produced permanent ridges in arable fields. This resulted from the horsedrawn plough being worked in a clockwise direction, with the mould board turning the furrow to the right, thereby creating these ridges ("rigs") in the fields over time. A run rig system of agriculture may or may not produce a rig and furrow landscape, depending on the method of cultivation used.