The Essay: Dig Where You Stand

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The Essay

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Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Dig Where You Stand: Death in the Yarrow Valley

Death in the Yarrow Valley

Dig Where You Stand

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Dig Where You Stand, Death in the Yarrow Valley

Unearthing old tunes and songs from around the UK.

Lori Watson shares the border ballad 'The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow'.

The 'Dowie Dens o' Yarrow' is a border ballad collected by Walter Scott and published in his 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' in 1802.  Singer and ethnologist Lori Watson has unearthed an alternative version of the ballad which was sung by Margaret Laidlaw, the mother of the writer James Hogg.  Lori explains why this version of the tragic song offers more meaning for her as she stands under the James Hogg statue in the Yarrow Valley.

Written and Presented by Lori Watson
Produced by Helen Needham
Mixed by Ron McCaskill

A BBC Audio Scotland Production made in Aberdeen for BBC Radio 3

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Unearthing old tunes and songs from specific places around the UK

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