Dik Banovich was brought up in Chicago and influenced by blues from an early age. In 1966 he moved to London and then married a girl from Forres in Moray before moving north in 1972.  Dik was a popular blues, jazz and folk singer guitarist playing all round Scotland and Brittany with fiddler Ronnie Gerrard in the 70’ and 80’s. He founded the Forres Folk Club around 1974/5. He has lived and worked singing and playing in France for many years now.

The band Gizzenbriggs, Duncan MacGillivray, Christine Martin and Dagger Gordon, met Dik at the recording studio of Jim Hunter in Dalvey, Forres when they went there to record their first album.

Dik became a frequent visitor to Tain and often stayed with Christine and her family. He also became firm friends with Jimmy Philip who joined Gizzenbriggs as singer for their second album, and also played with the band Fuaran.  Fuaran made several music trips with Dik to Skye and other places and they played together quite a lot at that time.

In Tain Dik recorded the album he now calls The 1983 Tapes with Terry B Small at the Proles Pleasure Studios when he invited Christine to add fiddle to the two tracks and clarsach to Draper’s Maggot, as presented here.

Dik always said this was the first of the “Transatlantic Sessions” – before the BBC thought of it!