BY MIKE RITCHIE

SWEDISH singer-songwriter Ferdinand Snow set out on his career, unaware that he was not the first in his family to have music in his veins.

Now the gifted piano player, producer, composer and band leader has learned that his Scottish great-grandfather was also a musician, who played alongside the likes of the late Dame Vera Lynn and inspirational Scots accordionist, Jimmy Shand.

Snow has dedicated his new song, 'My Heart Belongs to Scotland' to his ancestor and is keen to find out more information on the man who also had music on his mind.

Snow, 41, who lives in a small village called Hurva, near Lund, in the southern part of Sweden, was raised in Sweden by his Scottish father and Swedish mother.

He said of writing the song: “I hoped I could cheer up my family in Scotland during lockdown, but it was also a way to pay tribute to my ancestors and help me find out more about one of them in particular."

He is on a mission to get more information on his Scottish great-grandfather, George Nicol Reid Caird, as he only discovered recently that Caird, like Snow was also a musician.

“Relatives told me this about my great-grandfather though my late father decided not to reveal this fact as he was keen to dissuade me from pursuing such a maverick career,” said Snow, who is well-respected in the Swedish music scene, writing music in various styles and arranging for every type of setting from small bands to symphony orchestras, for theatre, television and records. 

“In many ways, ‘My Heart Belongs To Scotland’ has become very much a tribute to George, a relative I have never met but with whom I feel a close bond.

”I really do want to unlock the mystery of my talented Scottish ancestor.”

Through online genealogy research and a visit to Scotland to meet relatives, Snow discovered that George Caird, who died aged 60 in 1963, had been a violinist for the BBC Scottish Variety Orchestra in Glasgow.

He played alongside star names like Forces’ sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn and inspirational Scots accordionist, Jimmy Shand.

So what has he uncovered about his great-grandfather to date?

 “Well, he was born 1903 in Banchory, near Aberdeen and he had to elope with his love, the stunning and adventurous Miss Robb from Aberdeen, as her parents would not approve of them getting married,” said Snow.

“They wed in secret in London in 1924 but settled in Glasgow where George played violin for the BBC Variety Orchestra.

“He worked on the popular 50s television show Jigtime and that’s when he would have accompanied Dame Vera, Jimmy Blair and Jimmy Shand.

“This was long ago and at a time when live music was heard on the air.” 

Taken from his brand-new EP, Live at a Funeral, ‘My Heart Belongs to Scotland’ is Snow's debut single. 

“I wrote the melody first and released an instrumental version and the lyrics came to me when I was out driving two years later in the spring of this year,” he said. 

“The lyrics tell the story of six generations of Cairds summed up in about three minutes.

“If I take on a new genre of music, I always make it a point to study the origin with respect. 

“In this case I analysed a lot of traditional Scottish and Celtic music going back to Auld Lang Syne and then moving forward through masses of jigs, reels and Strathspeys. 

“I also listened to every recording I found find that possibly could contain my great-grandfather and ordered old vinyl records with Jimmy Shand and Jimmy Blair’s Jigtime band, where I suspect my great grandfather might have been part of the band.

“All this combined and filtered down to the song, which also contains a bit of Nordic melancholy that is a part of my musical heritage."

“This song is not typical of the music I would write – it came more in depth from the heart and is not like anything else I’ve written."

“’My Heart Belongs To Scotland’ is the only song that I wrote for the EP. The rest of the tracks are ones that I would have chosen to perform if I had had the opportunity to be at my great-grandfather’s funeral in 1963 but I was born in 1979.”

Snow has spoken with family in Glasgow, including his 91-year-old uncle, and visited graveyards in the north-east of Scotland as well as in the Stonehaven area to find links to George Caird’s past.

“I was intrigued to find out my great-grandfather was a musician but little was known about him,” said Ferdinand.

“I would love to find out more about his life, find pictures of him and records of where he participated and when. 

“If anyone remembers him and has information to share, especially people in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stonehaven and thereabouts, I´d be eternally grateful.”

• Ferdinand can be contact at info@ferdinandsnow.com