History of Da Fustra Dance Band

Da Fustra, ("The rock in the foaming sea"), played it's first dance band on 17th October 1969 in the Zetland Hall, Pilrig Street, Edinburgh. The first band was based in Edinburgh but played in Shetland.

Cecil Hughson (bass guitar & business manager) owns the Camera Centre in Lerwick and founded Da Fustra while a student in Edinburgh. He was, for many years, treasurer of the Shetland Accordion & Fiddle Club. Douglas Johnstone (drums) is the only other founder member still playing - now retired from teaching mathematics at the Anderson High School in Lerwick. Douglas also plays drums for the Lerwick Brass Band, and for musical productions of the Islesburgh Drama Group.

Peter Wood (accordion & music arranger) is originally from Crawfordjohn. He moved to Shetland in the summer of 1996 having made a name for himself in the Scottish folk and dance scene as an accordionist, pianist and piper. Inga Wood (née Scott) (fiddle) is from Kintore. She studied violin at school up to grade eight and in 1984 won the Daily Record Junior Golden Fiddle Award. Peter and Inga married in the autumn of 1996. Peter now runs High Level Music - Lerwicks only music shop, and Inga is a doctor's receptionist.

James Leask (accordion), the bands youngest member, is studying mechanical engineering at Heriot-Watt University and so can only join Da Fustra during university holidays. He is becoming known as an accordionist in the Edinburgh area and has played with Iain MacPhail and on BBC Scotland's "Take the Floor" with Nicol McLaren and Sandy Legget.

Pauleen Wiseman (piano) joined the band in 2001 after graduating from the Northern College of Education and the Open University with a BA degree in music studies. She has a grade eight in piano and also the flute. Pauleen teaches fiddle in several of Shetland schools and is a member of Shetlands Heritage Fiddlers. She features on the Dance o da Puffins CD.

Brian Morrison (piano) is from Forfar. he won the All Scotland accordian Championship at Perth in 1995 and has grade 5 in piano. He has lived in Shetland for a number of years and has recently married a Shetlander. During the day Brian is an HGV driver.

Da Fustra normally plays music suitable for a typical Shetland dance including two-steps, waltzes, marches, reels and jigs. It can also cope with ballroom, old-time and Scottish country-dances. The tunes used are mostly Shetland or Scottish in origin, with a number of compositions by Peter Wood featuring in each programme. Novelty two-steps such as "Chinatown, my Chinatown", and "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" say much about the bands light-hearted approach to its music. The aim is to play music, which can be enjoyed, by listeners and dancers alike.

The band has broadcast on a number of occasions. There have so far been three 50-minute sessions for Robbie Shepherd's "Take the Floor" on BBC Radio Scotland (1998, 2000 & 2001) and regular annual appearances on BBC Radio Shetland's Children in Need programme.

Da Fustra's first CD "The Foaming Sea" was issued in 1997. This was followed in 1998 by "Da Fustra Strikes Again" and in 2001 by "A Shetland Dance". Christmas 2003 saw the release of "Dance o Da Shetland Puffins" which is available on CD, Cassette, VHS (PAL & NTSC), and DVD. This new recording features entirely Shetland music - a mixture of traditional and more recent compositions.

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