A Moray musician who was inspired to greatness by a group of fiddlers in her home town returned last night to kick off a nationwide tour.
Mhairi Marwick, from Cowfords Farm, began her relationship with the fiddle as a seven-year-old, when she saw The Fochabers Fiddlers perform at a Christmas lights opening.
The group was fronted by renowned fiddler, James Alexander MBE, who taught Mhairi until she left Fochabers to study applied music at Strathclyde University.
The former Milne’s High School pupil went on to attain a Masters in Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and reached this year’s final of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition.
Yesterday, the twenty-two-year-old returned to Fochabers, with five of the six other BBC finalists, to play an intimate session for pupils at her old school and the first of six nationwide concerts at Bellie Church.
Speaking yesterday, the international star she said she hoped to influence the next generation of Moray talent the way that James Alexander inspired her.
She said: “When you do something you love, it’s your life.
“And I have James and the Fochabers Fiddlers to thank for that because otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.
“Up here in Moray, you’re the cool kid if you play music, which isn’t the case everywhere.
“It’s all about your personalities and having a laugh. I just couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
James Alexander MBE said: “I started breeding fiddlers in 1981, and Mhairi is the third or fourth student of mine to go on to the Young Traditional Musician finals.
“It’s good to see when they go right through the mill and end up making a living from music.
“And I think it must be pretty inspiring for local youngsters to see people like Mhairi because they are professional musicians, who are able to combine traditional and contemporary music.”
After seeing Mhairi play, Milne’s High School pupil, Macaulay Ross, 13, said: “I thought it was brilliant. It’s stuff like this that makes you want to play for the rest of your life.”
After Fochabers, the group will play at Kilchoan, Portpatrick, Tiree, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Mhairi has performed abroad with various bands in America, France and Taiwan and released a debut album last year with her original 14-piece band, Fat Suit, from Glasgow.