MATT MCGINN TRIBUTE CONCERT & AWARDS 2003 Highlights of the Night Reviews Movie Clips

The McGinn Concert and Awards are seen as an opportunity for the city and the people of Glasgow to honour the memory of one of Glasgow's and indeed one of the world's foremost folk songwriters and performers (only recently Matt's work was invested into the Smithsonian Institute in America as one of the most important folk writers of the twentieth century. How fitting on the 75th anniversary of his birth that this event takes place in his native city (with plans for it to be received by a wider audience via a live webcast.) Already various artists both in Scotland and worldwide have pledged their support to the project.
The awards are to be presented on a city-wide basis ,with separate heats of the competition being held in various community centres throughout Glasgow. This will give an opportunity for both the artists and the general public to be given greater access to the awards and by so doing endeavour to make this event a popular annual feature in the cities calendar . There is no mechanism at present which fulfils the criteria of these awards.Issues that could be covered by the cities artists do not have a suitable platform to be heard. The groundbreaking poetry of McGinn which covered issues as diverse as racism ,bigotry, social injustice and most importantly the inbred humour of native Glaswegians, is seen as a stepping stone for a new generation of citizens who have their own tale to tell. The multicultural nature of the city in the present day gives greater reason to believe that we are ever capable of producing some great new songs and stories. Issues such as drugs awareness which had they been an issue in McGinns era would surely have been adressed by Matt.

The McGinns are seen as an ongoing feature of Glasgows cultural make-up with workshops in song writing,poetry and storytelling being presented at community centres throughout the city on a weekly basis, giving the opportunity for musicians and artists to be employed in a useful way for both the community and themselves.