Scotsman Obituaries: Ewen Forfar, Scottish folk and blues performer

Ewen Forfar, musician. Born: 19 October 1950 in Edinburgh. Died: 2 September 2021 in Edinburgh, aged 70
Ewen Forfar was an influential figure on the Scottish folk scene (Picture: Tommy Slack)Ewen Forfar was an influential figure on the Scottish folk scene (Picture: Tommy Slack)
Ewen Forfar was an influential figure on the Scottish folk scene (Picture: Tommy Slack)

For half a century, guitarist and singer Ewen Forfar was an invaluable contributor to Scotland’s folk music scene.

An accomplished performer of blues fingerstyle guitar, and a talented accompanist of Scottish and Irish folk tunes, Ewen could claim that rarest of accolades: he was a Scot who really could sing the blues.

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Born in Edinburgh, Ewen was introduced to piano and fiddle music via his mother’s side of the family at an early age; his father also worked as a piano tuner after the war.

He was educated at Parsons Green Primary School and George Heriot’s. During his secondary school days he struck up a friendship with an elderly lady who lived above General’s Entry on Potterrow.

Demolished in the late Sixties, this was once the home of Robert Burns’ great muse, Agnes McLehose, who was immortalised in the lyrics of Ae Fond Kiss. The original documents she showed Ewen relating to the bard’s renowned romance left a lasting impression.

The Edinburgh folk revival in the Sixties thrived in Old Town pubs such as Sandy Bells and the Waverley. As a teenager Ewen was drawn into this scene at a moment when it was incubating the talents of a generation of renowned folk performers, from Dick Gaughan to the Incredible String Band.

But while some of his peers focused on the Doric stream of resurgent Scots songs and tunes, Ewen’s musical home was to be found in the Mississippi Delta. This path was fixed from the moment he encountered reissued recordings of the Blues masters made in the 1930s, at the age of 14.

The folk revival was a transatlantic process, and it was the strand of blues fingerstyle guitar that a young Ewen Forfar quickly gravitated towards.

In addition to country blues records by Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Blake, Ewen cited Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music as a key reference point in his early musical development.

Latterly, the wide-ranging nature of Smith’s anthology continued to be reflected in Ewen’s repertoire as he settled in to a 30-year residency at the Royal Oak; the spiritual home of the Edinburgh folk scene from the Nineties on.

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He also co-hosted a weekly session in Sandy Bells with his good friend, the fiddler Adam Jack, and played at the Captain’s Bar for a decade. Prior to the pandemic, Ewen was still performing live four to five nights every week.

As a solo act, Ewen’s renditions of country blues, rockabilly and old-time country songs were unmatched in Scotland, and drew in numerous younger players eager to hone their technique.

But he was also a keen collaborator, playing guitar and sometimes calling the dances at ceilidhs.

He gigged regularly with Ann Hughes (fiddle) and Bill Grieve (accordion) for a number of years, as well as standing in at short notice for gigs with many other local musicians.

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He also taught for a while in the Eighties for the Adult Learning Project. His Mixed Instrument group was often asked to play at local charity events, and after a year or so the Auld Reekie Ceilidh Band was formed from core members of this group. Ewen gigged regularly with the band for many years, playing at weddings and events throughout Scotland.

Alongside Iain "Stretch" MacFadyen, Roy Percy and Archie MacAlister, Ewen released an album and toured the folk festival circuit as Delta Croft Revue; an outfit which offered “a unique take on the Blues meets West Highland Music”. Ewen also played alongside one of his musical heroes, Emmylou Harris, when the country star dropped in to join a Sandy Bells session.

Beyond his gruff exterior, and dry sense of humour, Ewen possessed a fierce intellect and an encyclopaedic knowledge on subjects as diverse as BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, the novels of Walter Scott and Tobias Smollett, and the heritage of his native town, which changed so much during his lifetime.

His wry observations, with a unique perspective and turn of phrase, were treasured – and often quoted – by pub regulars and staff.

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As the product of an era when beer money really was enough to get by on, Ewen lived in and defined the pubs he helped make a name for and would regale friends with a wealth of anecdotes about his misadventures (all sadly unprintable). Coming of age at a moment of great new freedoms: he dedicated himself to the pursuit of music and conviviality; unconcerned with the expectations of wider society or any urge to fit within it.

Instead, throughout his life Ewen remained one of the talented, garrulous, freewheeling children of the great cultural renewal his generation experienced.

As a result he was one of the few remaining performers linked to that world who continued to play night after night for friends and strangers alike in the warm atmosphere of Edinburgh’s folk pubs, until their temporary closure in March 2020.

He will be sorely missed by the staff, musicians and regulars of Sandy Bells, The Captain’s Bar and the Royal Oak.

Obituaries

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