In all my Olympics readings, I keep seeing articles about a Scottish band, the Porridge Men. “Porridge Men,” I say to myself, “What does that have to do with the Olympics?” So, after a bit of research I can tell you what the Porridge Men and the 2006 Turin Olympics have in common.
Sinead and John Kerr, British ice dancers, have chosen to use a song called Planet Porridge by the Porridge Men for their ice dancing routine which they will perform in Turin. I’m not sure why this is so newsworthy, but since I keep seeing it come up, I must conclude that there is cultural significance to Scottish ice dancers choosing to skate to music from a Scottish Celtic band at the Olympics.
Hello Jill.
When you hear the music and see some of the slightly more controversial (sic: The Times) aspects of the Kerrs` routine, choreographed by Christopher Dean, hopefully the reason for the more than usual interest will be explained.
The cd, Planet Porridge, was recorded a few years ago. There are 3 tracks in total being used by the Kerrs, one of them twice: Gulravage, Coronach (x2) and Planet Porridge.
It IS unusual for Britain`s ice-skating duo to come from Scotland, the last time was in the 1930s, I think. The music is unmistakeably Scottish but also very outward looking and with an international edge to it (drums, didjeridoo, loops etc), hopefully appropriate to the Scottish based Kerrs, who chose it, but also to the spirit and ethos of the Olympics.
Great to see your site. Will return here to keep up with all things Winter Olympic in 2006!
Regards,
Murray Fergusson
www.porridgemen.com
Hi Murray,
Thanks so much for clearing up my confusion. Are there any audio clips of your music floating around the internet where one could check out the Porridge Men sound?
Jill
Jill,
I would suggest that the best thing would be to check out the routine itself. You can do that at Sinead and John`s website: www.sineadandjohn.com where there is a video section and you can watch them perform the routine at the British Championships in December last year.
This video will also be posted shortly on the porridge men website where there`s more information on the band and the music: www.porridgemen.com
The routine music is an amalgamation of the different tracks, so by itself (as a `piece of music`)it sounds a little weird because it was cut and adapted to suit the routine from different tracks.
There are a couple of sites that have mp3 clips of other tracks, but they`re not great quality to be honest. We`ll be adding (better quality!) music clips to the website very soon. I`ll let you know as soon as it happens.
Hope you enjoy the video. Sinead and John were skating at the European Championships tonight and they were amazing, totally stunning.
Murray
Update: The full performance by Sinead and John Kerr from the Eurosport coverage is available to download at www.porridgemen.com
Murray
Just watched the clip. Really nice music. Thanks for posting so we can all take a listen.
Jill