{{Short description|Scottish singer}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Jock Duncan | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = | background = solo_singer | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- leave empty if the same "name" --> | alias = | birth_date = 1925 | birth_place = Gellibrae, New Deer, Aberdeenshire | origin = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|03|25|1925|df=y}} | death_place = Dundee | genre = Bothy ballad | occupation = Farmer | instrument = Voice | years_active = 1930s–2021 | label = | associated_acts = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} or {{Official URL}} --> | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Jock Duncan''' (1925 – 25 March 2021) was a Scottish singer from Gelliebrae near New Deer in Aberdeenshire, known for singing many songs and bothy ballads from Aberdeenshire. He had performed at bothy ballad competitions since 1975 and made recordings of his music since 1996. In recognition of his work for furthering Scots singing, Duncan was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jock Duncan |url=https://www.scottishcultureonline.com/projects_subdomain/hall-of-fame/jock-duncan/ |website=Scottish Culture Online |publisher=Hands Up For Trad |access-date=22 January 2021 |archive-date=2021-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129055125/https://www.scottishcultureonline.com/projects_subdomain/hall-of-fame/jock-duncan/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2000, Duncan was given a Herald Angel award from the Edinburgh Festival for his long work with ballad singing.<ref name="hof">{{cite web |title=Jock Duncan |url=https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/jock-duncan/ |website=Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame |access-date=25 January 2021 |date=1 November 2012 |archive-date=2021-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325235344/https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/jock-duncan/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Early life== Duncan was born on the farm of Gelliebrae, New Deer, Aberdeenshire in 1925. In 1928, the family moved to South Faddenhill, to a farm owned by Duncan's grandfather that his father had taken over. Duncan left school at 14 years old to work on the farm as an orra loon or apprentice.<ref name="livingtrad" />
==Family== He was the husband of Frances Duncan and father of Gordon Duncan and Ian Duncan,<ref name="Scotsman">{{cite news |last=Gilchrist |first=Jim |title=Obituary: Gordon Duncan |newspaper=The Scotsman |page=33 |date=20 December 2005 |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/gordon-duncan-1-686722 |accessdate=13 April 2013 |archive-date=2018-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709094517/https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/gordon-duncan-1-686722 |url-status=dead }}</ref> both well known for piping,<ref name="hof" /> as well as Moria and Frances Duncan.<ref name="livingtrad">{{cite news |last1=West |first1=Gary |title=Jock Duncan - 1925-2021 |url=https://www.livingtradition.co.uk/obituaries/139_02 |access-date=7 January 2023 |work=www.livingtradition.co.uk |date=1 June 2021}}</ref> He learnt bothy ballads from his uncle Charlie Duncan.<ref>{{cite book |title=The singer and the scribe : European ballad traditions and European ballad cultures |publisher=Rodopi |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789042018518 |page=198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aYoernSybgC&dq=Jock+Duncan&pg=PA198 |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> Jock's mother was a pianist and his sister Marion was a singer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shepheard |first1=Peter |title=About Jock Duncan |url=https://electricscotland.com/culture/features/scots/springthyme/jock_duncan.htm |website=Electric Scotland |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> His brother Jimmy was a fiddler.<ref name="livingtrad" />
Both of his sons as well as his grandson, Alex Duncan, were pipers.<ref name="dailyrecord">{{cite news |last1=Bonn |first1=Melanie |title=Tributes paid to Scottish cultural icon Jock Duncan after death at the age of 95 |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/tributes-paid-scottish-cultural-icon-23898142 |access-date=1 February 2023 |work=Daily Record |date=12 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
==Work== Duncan joined the Royal Air Force when he turned 18 in 1943, spending two years in France during World War II. After the war, he returned to farming. In the 1960s, Duncan worked for the Hydro Board, moving first to Thurso then to Pitlochry.<ref name="livingtrad" /><ref name="Scotsman" />
===Music=== In 1960, Duncan featured on the Grampian TV programme ''Bothy Nichts'', as a member of the Fyvie Loons and Quines.<ref name="FMJ">{{cite journal |last1=Russell |first1=Ian |title=Competing with Ballads (And Whisky?): The Construction, Celebration, and Commercialization of North-East Scottish Identity |journal=Folk Music Journal |date=2007 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=170–191 |jstor=4522806 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4522806 |access-date=1 February 2023 |issn=0531-9684}}</ref>
In 1975, Duncan entered and won his first bothy ballad singing contest in Kinross,<ref name="livingtrad" /> while in 2004 he came fourth in a contest in Moray.<ref name="FMJ" /> In 2000, he was awarded the Herald Angel award for services to ballad singing,<ref>{{cite news |title=Angels speed the plough From Doric song to Das Rheingold, The Herald salutes the outstanding artists of the Festival |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12236952.angels-speed-the-plough-from-doric-song-to-das-rheingold-the-herald-salutes-the-outstanding-artists-of-the-festival/ |access-date=1 February 2023 |work=HeraldScotland |date=28 August 2000 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="livingtrad" /> and was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2006.<ref name="dailyrecord" />
Iona Fyfe credits Duncan as an influence on her own singing, describing him as an "uncle". They met while Duncan was judging the Turra Bothy Ballad competition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Guise of Tough by Iona Fyfe |url=https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/folkwaves/guise-of-tough-by-iona-fyfe/ |website=FolkWaves |access-date=25 January 2021 |date=10 April 2018}}</ref>
===Other=== Over fifty years, from the 1930s, Duncan interviewed Scottish soldiers that fought in World War I, recording all they could remember about country life in the Northeast of Scotland before the war. The 59 soldiers were mostly Scots speakers and Duncan transcribed the soldiers' stories in Scots. After giving all his recordings and transcripts to the University of Edinburgh, an edited book ''Jock's Jocks: Voices of Scottish Soldiers from the First World War'' was published in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=James |title=Scottish Review: Essential Reads |url=http://www.scottishreview.net/SummerReads1487a.html |website=www.scottishreview.net }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In April 2019, ''Jock's Jocks'' was made into a single-act play and a Scots-language radio programme.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jock's Jocks |url=https://www.gordonduncan.co.uk/jocks-jocks/ |website=The Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref>
==Death== Duncan died on 25 March 2021 in Dundee at the age of 95.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Drysdale |first1=Neil |title=Folk music legend Jock Duncan ensured the voices of Great War troops will never be forgotten |url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/nostalgia/3011782/folk-music-legend-jock-duncan-ensured-the-voices-of-great-war-troops-will-never-be-forgotten/ |access-date=30 March 2021 |work=Press and Journal |agency=DC Thomson Media |publisher=Aberdeen Journals Ltd |date=29 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Letford |first1=Stuart |title=Jock Duncan, 1925-2021 |url=https://bagpipe.news/2021/03/26/jock-duncan-1925-2020/ |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=Bagpipe News |date=26 March 2021}}</ref>
==Discography== '''1996:''' ''Ye Shine Whaur Ye Stan!''<br> '''2001:''' ''Tae The Green Woods Gaen''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Alan McIntosh |title=Living Tradition CD review of Jock Duncan, Tae the Greenwoods Gaen |url=https://www.livingtradition.co.uk/webrevs/slpycd010.htm |website=www.livingtradition.co.uk |access-date=23 January 2023}}</ref>
==External links== * [https://soundcloud.com/gary-west-1/jocks-jocks-a-one-act-musical-play Audio-only version of Jock's Jocks, the play based on Duncan's work with soldiers from World War 2] * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011208h BBC interview with Jock Duncan]
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Jock}} Category:1925 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Scots-language culture Category:Scottish folk musicians Category:People from New Deer Category:20th-century Scottish male singers