Frank and Jean Bechhofer. Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame Inductees 2022 скачать в хорошем качестве

Frank and Jean Bechhofer. Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame Inductees 2022

Frank and Jean Bechhofer were an inseparable pair who contributed much to the folk scene in Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular. They met when introduced by a mutual friend when Frank was a research student at Cambridge University and Shetlander Jean was working as a child psychologist. Jean turned Frank down the first time he asked her out, but he persevered and they soon discovered many mutual interests, marrying in 1960. Both enjoyed substantial careers in their chosen fields, Frank as a professor of sociology at Edinburgh University. Among those interests was a passion for theatre and music. They were active in the University’s Graduate Theatre Group, and Jean was for several years a trustee of Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. It was Jean who had the initial interest in folk music as a singer. Their interest led them to Edinburgh Folk Club where Jean was a frequent floor singer and one time chair while Frank also became immersed in the running of the club as secretary and as a genial compere. He was also a long-standing trustee of Edinburgh Folk Festival seeing it through several peaks and troughs, and several directors. Folk club involvement eventually led to the setting up the Bechhofer Agency. Frank was a famously acerbic critic and brought his high standards to bear on the roster of the agency which included names such as Nic Jones, Archie Fisher, Pete Coe, Tommy Sands, and Aly Bain’s trio with Ale Möller and Bruce Molsky, many of whom were not only clients but friends. Jean was also a critic (a gentler one) writing for Living Tradition, the Scottish Folk Gazette and online. They were both very sociable and welcoming whether within the Folk Club or at one of the ceilidhs at their home in Cramond, where they loved to entertain. Frank died in 2018, while Jean now lives in Manchester, close to her children. Find out more about the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame at http://www.halloffame.scot