From 2021 to 2023, Govan’s Orchestra, The Glasgow Barons asked locals to create new songs around and about their neighbourhood. From being the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel to celebrating SWG3’s Govan murals, here, for the first time, are all 13 tracks on one album entitled Made in Govan. The album is produced by Stewart Robertson of Govan’s legendary studio, The Green Room. Many of the tracks stem from Glasgow Life’s Artist-in-Residence programme of which The Glasgow Barons was the lead artist for Govan.
The tracks are:
BE THE ONE
16-year-old Kayden White from Govan High wrote Be The One about the new Alex Ferguson mural by Frank Carty along the road from his school.
CALL OUT THE DEAD
In 2021, David Tyma took to Govan Old churchyard with his electric guitar and wrote Call Out The Dead, a critique of the dark days of the pandemic.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD
The Gilded Lilies empower women through song writing. Their song, Women of the World, led by Liv Dawn, celebrates a mural by Protests and Suffragettes about Govan heroines Mary Barbour and Isabella Elder. The rallying cry, Woman, Life, Freedom supports Iranian women and girls who courageously protest for their rights.
THE PAGES TURN OVER
Louis Rive and Akeel Butt present on Sunny Govan FM. Their song The Pages Turn Over celebrates the giant girl with daffodil mural by SMUG on Govan Road.
FIVE A SIDES
FIVO wrote Five A Sides shortly after moving to Central Govan. His hugely popular podcast on YouTube, Premeditated Patter brings interviews with urban legends together with his own reflections on life in recovery.
WHO WE USED 2B
Lori Docherty wrote Who We Used 2B back in 2021 as an anthem to lift Govan out of pandemic blues, produced here by Steg G, station head of Sunny Govan FM.
TRACKSUITS AND TIES
SUMBOY formed under lead singer FIVO when The Glasgow Barons, Govan’s orchestra, commissioned local songwriters for Glasgow Life’s Artists-in-Communities programme. Tracksuits and Ties raises issues around community space as property developers move in.
ALWAYS ON THE MOVE
Musicians in Exile, the award-winning project for folk with asylum and refugee experience, performed their song, Always on the Move, to open the 6th Scottish parliamentary session in 2021. Their recording in Govan & Linthouse Parish Church featured emerging artists Eyve, Aref Ghorbani and Midya Jan and was played in the presence of her Majesty the Queen.
SOMETHING
Govan’s beat poet, Gus Abbot, performs one of his most popular, and deeply philosophical creations, Something, about the will to live against all the odds.
PEOPLE, TIME & PLACE
Gavin Paterson and local poet Joe Murray tell the stories behind Tragic O’Hara’s Cessnock mural round the back of the Park Bar on Paisley Road West. People, Time and Place celebrates among others, Rangers, local Olympian Belle Moore, Govan’s Daffodil King Peter Barr and the Rent Strike champion Mary Barbour with the slogan “The People’s Will is Law.”
IN TIME
Jennifer Armstrong wrote In Time, an uplifting song about the talent and potential of her music pupils at Govan High, and features Katrina Lee on violin.
SOMETHING WONDERFUL
Govan’s local reggae man, Clark Innes, wrote Something Wonderful in 2022 to help cheer up the neighbourhood as it came out of COVID.
LIGHT THE DREAM
Aref Ghorbani wrote Light The Dream for KMG’s Govan mural, The Flock. Aref began his musical career in Scotland with Musicians in Exile, an asylum-seeking ensemble of the Glasgow Barons. He celebrates his new beginning in Scotland in Farsi and English.
