Gaelic festival returns to Highlands in September
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Venues across the Highlands and Islands will host a celebration of Gaelic music, language and culture this September as the Blas Festival returns with an impressive line-up of traditional musicians and singers.
The nine-day festival, organised by Fèisean nan Gàidheal in partnership with Highland Council, runs from September 1-9.
On opening night, the stunning Inverness Cathedral will host an evening of beautiful music and song. Connemara siblings, Séamus and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta, are known for their sean nós singing (unaccompanied traditional Irish singing in the Irish language) and their unique harmonies and arrangements.
Their Late Late Show TV performance in 2022 of the soulful lament, Anach Cuain, captured the mood of the nation and went viral around the world.
Black Isle brother and sister duo Peigi and Donaidh Barker will support them on the night, alongside Gaelic choir Binneas, conducted by John Joe MacNeil, and Gaelic singer Jenna Cumming, making it a night full of vocal harmony, not to be missed.
On September 2 at Glengarry Community Hall, dancing shoes will be required at a cèilidh-dance with Robert Nairn’s Highland Dance Band and Ruairidh Gray.
Robert Nairn’s Highland Dance Band is deeply rooted in the Highland musical and dance traditions. This authenticity and their penchant for providing an evening of entertainment and great dancing won them the title of Dance Band of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2011.
Award-winning South Uist Gaelic singer and button box player Ruairidh Gray became the second person to have won both the Gold Medal and Traditional Gold Medal in the same year at the Royal National Mòd 2022. He also scooped Gaelic Singer of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2022.
Highland multi-instrumentalist, composer and member of folk super-group Mànran, Ewen Henderson brings his Blas Festival commission Leirsinn to Nairn Community and Arts Centre on September 4.
Lèirsinn, meaning perception in Gaelic, is an innovative new piece of music exploring the way humans relate and respond to the physical spaces and landscapes around them and how this, in some way, is shaped by the imagination.
For the performances, Ewen will be joined by a stellar line-up of musicians including Megan Henderson, Hamish Napier, Innes Watson, Iain MacFarlane and Su-a Lee.
Ewen said: "The initial idea of Lèirsinn was born during lockdown, when travel was heavily restricted. I found myself taking imaginary journeys to places further afield and, on several occasions, feeling moved to compose pieces of music inspired by these trips.
"Once restrictions lifted, I made actual physical journeys to these places and wrote further pieces of music inspired by these 'real' trips.
"Lèirsinn brings these pairs of pieces of music together and invites the audience to explore the extent to which our imaginations shape and colour our experiences of the places around us."
Highland traditional folk duo Làirig and the young musicians of Fèis Inbhir Narainn will provide support on the night.
Skye singer Anne Martin will present her musical work, An Tinne, at Croy Village Hall on September 8. This piece of musical work features Aboriginal and Australian work alongside Scots and Gaelic, with musicians including Anna Murray, Anna-Wendy Stevenson, Hannah Moule, Ingrid Henderson and Maggie Rigby.
An Tinne is a powerful and beautiful rendition of story and song which left audiences moved and inspired standing ovations when it premiered in Skye last year. The Kiltearn Fiddlers, a group of young Ross-shire musicians, will kick the night off.
The full festival programme, with details of how to purchase tickets, can be found at www.blas.scot
