WATCH: Dunnet singer's Hogmanay tune hits the right note
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A special Hogmanay tune performed by a local musician has proved a big hit on social media with over 15,000 views and hundreds of likes and shares.
Nancy Foggo's rendition of the popular Caithness song – Over the Ord – went down a treat with folk both at home and abroad.
The singer, who has been keeping the spirits of the Dunnet community up with regular tunes since the first lockdown, has been "absolutely overwhelmed" by the response to her Hogmanay performance.
She explained: "Once the family heard the song they thought it would be a good idea for me to put it on my Facebook page and theirs too so that other Caithness people could hear it, and it just took off from there.
"Late on Hogmanay evening the song had been shared so many times that I was completely overwhelmed by the response from Caithness people all over the world and this continued over the next few days.
"I think the formula for its success was a song about Caithness, Over the Ord, which was written by Wick man Donald Sutherland and sung by a Caithness woman."
The musician chose the local song to help remind people no longer living in the county of home, and with the year everyone had experienced she felt it would stir up a few emotions and memories.
On her video clip she explains why she decided to do the Hogmanay tune, saying: "It was the last day of 2020 and I was just remembering what it was like when I was growing up on Hogmanay. It was like a major spring clean. Loaves were bought to make up sandwiches for the people who would visit.
"The celebrations were not just a one-day-event but lasted for a few days. The music, the dancing, the craic, the singing, it was just such fun."
At the beginning of 2020 the Dunnet singer had been rehearsing for a concert for the Northern Nashville Club in April, which was to be a reunion of Caithness bands from the past.
"Then lockdown came and everything changed," said Nancy. "The first Sunday after lockdown (March 29), on the spur of the moment, I took the guitar up to the village and walked around singing a few songs to cheer people up.
"This went down very well people, came out to their front doors and joined in. Within a week a private messenger group was set up – the Dunnet Community Chat Group."
The aim of the group was to help vulnerable people in the village during lockdown.
The following Sunday, Nancy decided to video a song and send it to the group. "The response was very encouraging and suggestions were that I do this on a regular basis, and so I did," she said.
"The songs were folk, country, Scottish with an occasional rock song and it proved to be very popular, so every Sunday a song went out to the group, which I believe was then forwarded to their friends, so my songs were already being sent abroad.
"I realised this by messages that I was receiving from the group. Everyone seemed delighted and some of the songs brought back so many memories to different people which I found quite touching."
Since April 5, she has completed a total of 38 videos for the community group.
Nancy said: "I have been singing most of my life – a great hobby which I have enjoyed."
She has been singing and playing the guitar since a young teenager and started taking part in local concerts at 14-years-old as a member of The Blue Diamonds.
She was the first recording artist for Grampian Records in 1964 with a 45rpm record called You Win Again/Wedding Bells – it was number one in the local charts for several weeks in front of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She later played in another band called The Electrons.
When Nancy moved to Edinburgh in 1968 she continued singing in various clubs until she returned home in 1976 with her husband Alastair and started a family.
She took a break for a few years until the opportunity arose to get back out singing in local bars with Johnny "Fats" Sutherland and more recently at the Park Hotel, Thurso, with Ian Sinclair and the Barracuda Boogie Band for charity events.
Nancy also appeared in the Brandon McPhee show which was televised.
