Return trip to Berlin beckons for Birdman
Roderick Mackenzie with what he believes is the goshawk skull he found in a Highland Forest. Berlin has its own big goshawk population. Pictures John Baikie
By Margaret Chrystall
INVERNESS musician Roderick Mackenzie - inspired by sightings of goshawks on his first trip to Berlin last year - returns there next week with the song now triggering his latest compilation.
Roderick (68) - best-known on the cities music scene as Jeep Solid - is fascinated by raptors, and goshawks in particular.
He chanced upon the image of a goshawk on the seal of a 14th century noblewoman attached to some historic documents in Inverness Museum some time ago.
And later he began to investigate the history of part of Inverness which was then included in the Kingdom of Moray.
The parallels he discovered with present times later grew into his exhibition at Inverness Museam last March the Kingdom of Moray: a conversation with film-maker Graham Roger.
One of those links was discovering strong women, including noble-woman Eva Tomas who owned land in what is now Crown and Kinmylies, and Edona of Auldcastle.
Roderick’s own music career took off in 1966, inspired by the acts he first saw in the Highland club called the Two Red Shoes. He moved on from the first band Size 4 to Edinburgh and Three's a Crowd, then in London he was invited to join a band called White Trash and moved to America before returning and forming a band called Choker.
In recent years, he has performed rarely as a solo singer-songwriter.
Roderick has recent concerns that the goshawk - revered in earlier times in Scotland - has been under threat locally.
But he was heartened to discover on arrival in Berlin that the city has 100 pairs of goshawks currently living in the many parks and green spaces of the city.
"They came there naturally," he said. "Central Berlin is a huge extended park and there is a lot we could learn there."
Along with the goshawk link Roderick discovered artefacts at his hotel - a vintage 1950s' Holiday Inn with film antiques and posters, some relating to Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl began her career as a young actress before moving onto directing. The pioneering film-maker found her reputation was damaged for the rest of her life aftet her work included directing three propaganda films for Hitler.
She later said meeting him was one of the greatest regrets of her life. Roderick said: "My mother remembers her as a young actress who went on to live along life making films till
the year before she died at 101. In Berlin, I found myself about her and the goshawks."
"And it reminded me when I was with my first serious band the Size 4 we went to play at the Edinburgh Festival for 16 guineas or something."
"And as our Bedford van stopped in George Street, who came out of this Bentley but Marlene Dietrich and she was exquisite, wearing a slate-grey couture dress. I can smell her perfume now — it just totally affected me."
"We were down from lnverness and her musical director, the man she was with, was a young Burt Bacharach. That was in 1960, so I have a piece about her, I have a piece about Leni Riefenstahl, the goshawks and it all ties together through my impressions of Berlin - the conundrum that is Berlin."
There is also a first song, Fraulein Fantastische, about Roderick's experience of Berlin which he wants to complete as a compilation of songs about the city.
He said: "I was writing so much during my six days there that the hotel manager Rudolf Helmel asked me what I working on.
"When I mentioned Leni, Rudolf said that his boss had been a great friend of hers and that he would be happy to ‘pass on what I'd been writing. So I'll be taking the pieces I've done since - and a copy of the song - back to Berlin with me next week."
