Donald MacLeod: Some Government support for the Scottish Music Awards would be music to my ears

Travis performing at the SSE Scottish Music Awards (Andy Buchanan/PA Wire)

LAST Saturday’s 18th SSE Scottish Music Awards, held at the Old Fruitmarket Glasgow again lived up to its billing as the must-see Scottish music industry party of the year.

It was a total belter!

Compered brilliantly by Sanjeev Kohli (Navid the shopkeeper in Still Game) the whole place laughed, rocked, sang, celebrated, ate, drank and danced through the night’s proceedings. And more importantly it raised more than £155,000 for the charity Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland (NRS).

A stonking sum of money which as longstanding chairman of this wonderful charity was music to my ears. Money that will go a long way in ensuring that, for another year at least, our therapists can continue to “Make Music and Change Lives” of those largely forgotten members of our community who are less able and less fortunate than ourselves.

On the night there were some blistering performances by the likes of Amy Macdonald, KT Tunstall, Middle of the Road (with their sing-a-long Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep) and Scotland’s outstanding achievers Travis, who were rained on with applause during and after their climactic set.

The late, great Jim Diamond’s life and works were also celebrated and commemorated and we heard words of praise and gratitude for NRS from the brave parents of little Hannah who receives music therapy and whose performance on video moved the whole room.

Even the reverberations and aftershocks following on from the news that T in the Park is taking a T-break didn’t dampen proceedings.

Nor did the sad news that Dougie MacLean’s popular Perthshire Amber Festival was about to be red-carded sour the evening.

I only had one wee niggle . . . well quite a large one actually. And it’s one that grows and niggles more every year.

And that is – why does the Scottish Government not do more to support and promote these awards.

They are after all bone fide and well-established music awards that highlight and promote Scotland’s rich musical culture, diversity and heritage, an event from which the proceeds are given to charity.

Yet the Scottish Government does nothing by way of helping reduce the event’s rising cost base or indeed boosting its appeal either here at home or abroad.

All of that is done by the charity and its partners and any shortfall has to be met by them without any outside help.

But it rolls out the barrel and oodles of cash when the MTV awards, the Ryder Cup or the Mobos are in town?

That is wrong. As well as shopping overseas on a grand scale for these events our elected leaders should also be making a song and dance about their ain – using the abundance of home grown talent to attract visitors and boost Scotland’s global appeal.

They are not and they should. And the SSE Scottish Music Awards would be the ideal occasion for them to start with.