*THIS PROFILE IS MADE BY A FAN WHO WANTS TO SPREAD THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC OF SILLY WIZARD, I AM NOT ACTUALLY AFFILIATED WITH THE BAND*
Silly Wizard was a Scottish folk band, formed in about 1971 in Edinburgh by Johnny Cunningham (fiddle, viola, mandola, vocals), Bob Thomas (guitar, mandolin, mandola, banjo, concertina) and Gordon Jones (guitar, bodhran, vocals, bouzouki, mandola). They performed at the Triangle Folk Club for a time, then went on a tour of France in 1972. Soon after, they signed to Transatlantic Records to record an album with Maddy Taylor, who had sung with them on the tour. The album was recorded but has never been released.
The band then added Phil Cunningham (accordion, tin whistle, harmonium, synthesizer, guitar, vocals), Alastair Donaldson, Martin Hadden (bass, guitar, piano) and Andy M. Stewart (vocals, whistle,banjo). Their first LP to be released was Silly Wizard, and they began touring throughout Europe. There were some line-up changes prior to recording their second LP, Caledonia's Hardy Sons (Highway Records).
Silly Wizard played a variety of Scottish folk music, both instrumental and not, from fast jigs and reels to slow airs. While the majority of the music they played were traditional songs, the band did write many of their own. Phil Cunningham wrote generally instrumental music centered on the accordion, and Stewart wrote several songs in a style often distinctly traditional. The group's overall sound changed little until their final album, A Glint of Silver, which introduced the synthesizer as a prominent part of the band, giving them a slightly New Age sound.
They continued recording until the late 1980s, when the band decided to
dissolve after performing for seventeen years and releasing nine albums.
Generally considered the world's finest performers of traditional and contemporary Scottish music -- and with good reason. Silly Wizard's music is at once driving and sensitive, powerful and poignant, at times hypnotic, often humorous, with sensitive group interplay and virtuoso-level musicianship, particularly from brothers Phil (accordion, keyboards, whistles, guitar, vocals) and Johnny (fiddle) Cunningham. Their repertoire includes centuries-old instrumental dance music along with traditional and contemporary narrative ballads: tales of joy and woe, of men and women, of time and travel, of love and loss. Silly Wizard is not just another folk music group; they rank with the greatest creators and performers from any country from any time.
Several members of the group, particularly the Cunningham brothers and vocalist Andy Stewart, have made solo and duo recordings and have performed and recorded with other artists, primarily Scottish traditionalists. These recordings are also well worth investigating, but get the Silly Wizard stuff first.
