With nine days of non-stop entertainment on offer, it’s time to blast off with Blas!, writes Susan Welsh
The musical career of one of Scotland’s foremost and best-loved entertainers will be marked on the first night of this year’s Blas festival, which opens in style on Friday, September 4, with a special concert celebrating the 70th birthday of Anne Lorne Gillies.
Having benefited from an education at Oban High School with Iain Crichton Smith and the great Gaelic collector John MacLean, Anne, who has a unique singing style, went on to win the Mod Gold Medal then sang at venues across the world. As well as entertaining thousands, she’s enjoyed a distinguished career as an academic and author and was, at one time, the Scottish Government’s Gaelic Ambassador of the Year.
Inverness has a special place in her heart as she’s paid numerous visits to Eden Court Theatre with highlights, she recalls, being the John MacFadyen Memorial Concerts, numerous international festivals and performances, Royal National Mods and even pantomime specials, with one appearance as Mother Goose to her credit.
It’s here her big birthday bash – Moladh Anna (Celebrating Anne) – takes place tomorrow night, starting at 7.30pm, in the grand setting of Inverness Cathedral when she’ll make her debut at Blas, a festival established 11 years ago as a result of The Highland Council’s desire to create a festival that would match the vitality of Cape Breton’s Celtic Colours. It’s now an international event showcasing Highland culture at a number of different venues and locations across the Highlands and Argyll between tomorrow, Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 12.
Arthur Cormack, of Fèisean nan Gàidheal, who will be making a rare singing appearance at Blas, said: “We are delighted to be able to celebrate the career of one of our foremost Gaelic singers at this year’s Blas festival. Anne is a singer who transcends many musical styles but who has done so much for Gaelic language and education through, for example, her support of the Gaelic Playgroups Movement in the 1980s, her academic work on Gaelic medium education and the pioneering ‘Songs of Gaelic Scotland’ collection, which is a must-have publication for anyone interested in Gaelic song. We seem to honour people most often after they have left us, but I am delighted Blas will celebrate the voice and career of someone still very much with us.”
In what promises to be a very special evening, Anne will celebrate her glittering musical career with an extensive selection from her magnificent repertoire of Gaelic songs and also her array of anecdotes about special occasions and people she has performed with over the years.
She said: “It would have been impossible to assemble a cast of absolutely everyone I have worked with over the years, but the line-up we have brought together is notable for all sorts of reasons and includes Arthur Cormack, Kathleen MacInnes, as well as one of my own relations Angus Macleod, from Inverness. I am more than delighted that my daughters Marsali and Raghnaid will be coming from Sarajevo and England to appear alongside me, and my accompanying musicians – Allan Kitchen on piano, Duncan Findlay on guitar, Archie MacAllister on the fiddle and John Sampson – are very special friends and talents. We will also have a piper or two and my dearest friend Rhona Mackay on the clàrsach.”
MAIRI RETURNS
In the year that one of Gaelic’s most accomplished singers, Màiri MacInnes, from South Uist, released her first album for more than 10 years, fans will be delighted to welcome her to the Highland stage once more. The Màiri MacInnes Band will be appearing at Roy Bridge tomorrow, Friday, September 4, along with Fèis Lochabair Ceilidh Trail. The following evening, they will be out west when they appear in Plockton along with the legendary Dick Gaughan. Then, on Sunday, September 6, they will join a stellar cast including the redoubtable Inverness Gaelic Choir in the Celtic Praise event.
DANCING
There will be ample opportunity to dance the night away at Blas 2015, with three ceilidhs on the programme featuring the very best of Scottish dance bands who are appearing with other top performers. The first takes place in Dingwall on Saturday, September 5, when Fèis Rois Cèilidh Trail are joined by Rona Lightfoot, Ali Levack, Innes White and others.
Dancers and ceilidh-goers are then spoilt for choice on the closing Friday of the festival, September 11, when Cathy Ann MacPhee, Royal National Mòd Traditional Gold Medallist Ruaraidh Cormack, Strath Gaelic Choir and the Robert Nairn Dance Band will have the toes tapping and the boards rattling. Further north, in Strathy, Fergie Macdonald and his band, accompanied by Huradal and Fèis in an Oir, will be supplying the dancing delights. Huradal brings together four traditional young musicians and dancers from across Scotland in a dynamic ensemble which showcases the rhythmical links between puirt-à-beul (Gaelic mouth music) and step dance. Dancers Sophie Stephenson and Mari Britton are joined by Mòd Gold Medalist Eilidh Munro (clàrsach/vocals) and Robbie Greig (fiddle/guitar).
MUSICAL GIANTS
Powerful, emotive and critically acclaimed traditional Irish band, The Alan Kelly Gang, will be reuniting with Scotland’s Eddi Reader and Trashcan Sinatra’s guitarist and songwriter John Douglas, to perform at a number of venues during the festival. Joining them at various stages of the festival programme will be the supremely talented Gaelic singer Margaret Stewart as well as, on their final appearance, Canada’s J.P. Cormier.
First up for the Alan Kelly Gang at Blas 2015 is Nairn on Thursday, September 10, with the festival in full swing, then on to Strathpeffer on the Friday evening. At both those
venues, sharing the double bill will be Gaelic singer Margaret Stewart,
from Lewis, bringing together a dynamic trio with two renowned Highland musicians: piper Angus Nicolson, from Skye, and harpist Ingrid Henderson, from Lochaber. They all have their individual reputations as being among the
finest exponents of Gaelic music
and song in Scotland today. J.P. Cormier will then join the Gang
along with Eddi Reader and John Douglas for a spell-binding finish with a barn-stormer at Portree on the final night of the festival, Saturday, September 12.
Other well-known performers appearing at Blas this year include Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham with Ewen Henderson; Shooglenifty; Session A9; Dick Gaughan and Macanta, while Shinty’s Heroes with Hugh Dan Maclennan and others is a moving show that’s not to be missed.
Blas 2015 takes place at venues across the Highlands and Argyll from tomorrow, Friday, September 4, until September 12. Tickets for all events can be bought online at blas-festival.com