Brel gig, June 09

Hello to all and hope you’re having a fantastic summer. I finally got a wee “breather” from all the various fèisean, gigs and nonsense and thought I’d update the News page!

JUNE

June was a very busy month with lots of work for Fèis Rois’s YMI project up north and in the central belt. In the midst of it all the West End Festival started in Glasgow and I was lucky to be involved in various different events. First up was a gig with James Graham, Hamish Napier, Rachel Newton and Barry Reid in Bar Brel on Ashton Lane (see pic on left). This was a gig organised by the company “My Gaelic”, and the place was so packed that some people couldn’t get in the door! We had a great time so thanks to everyone who came out for that.

Marty & Ewan dancing!

Also during the West End Festival I did a series of Gaelic singing taster workshops for beginners, which was held in Partick Library, and had great fun working on a gig entitled “Comadaidh ’s Cràic”, which consisted of myself and Barry Reid playing sets in between brilliant comedy sketches by some of my Gaelic comedy heroes. A big thanks to Arthur Donald, Daibhi Walker and Carina MacLeod in particular for having us on the show, and to An Lòchran for putting on the event.

JULY

The weather in July was uncharacteristically stunning (for Scotland!) and I had the pleasure of doing several Fèisean in a row, the first of which was on the beautiful Isle of

Sunbathing on Barra

Barra. The ferry trip is a rough 5hr sailing from Oban, but for anyone who hasn’t been, it really is a stunning place. Myself and the other tutors had a very action packed week teaching through the day, and playing most evenings but also got a few nights off (see pic on left!).

It was also a sporty week with some of us doing a daily jog. In fact the term “extreme jogging” might be more appropriate, as some of us found out that we had in fact, chosen the most dangerous beach on Barra to jog on (the sinking sands at Baile na Crèige). Myself and Megan Henderson were completely unaware of this until one of the locals calmly pointed out to us that someone had died on that beach. I think we lost about half a stone each that week attempting to drag our feet out of the sand with every step!

Almost a winning team!

Not to be outdone however, Findlay Napier eclipsed us all by bringing his surfboard to Barra and actually went surfing every single day! And very professional he looked too. Incidentally I did take a picture of Fin wearing his wetsuit and a rubber helmet (apparently it keeps his ears warm!!), but I seem to have lost it… damn!

ARRAN

The next island we managed to assault was lovely Arran, where we again had a busy but fun week. I managed to catch up with my former RSAMD tutor Màiri MacInnes, who had written a beautiful song especially for the Arran Fèis, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it. The cràic was mighty once again, and the sporty theme continued with daily jogs and tennis, up until the pub quiz tournament in Lamlash…

“Team Jogging” came 2nd out of about 12 teams of fully grown adults (a major achievement for folk musicians!!!) but Gary Innes’ team failed to make the finals and was relegated. There was laughter, there was tears…

Stay posted for the next installment!!! Mx