Blazin’ a trail for highland homecoming as Highland trad exponents Blazin’ Fiddles return to Inverness for Eden Court gig
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Members of Highland trad exponents Blazin’ Fiddles return to Inverness this weekend and it will be a homecoming gig for members Anna Massie and Bruce MacGregor.
It is part of a short summer tour for the band and they are set to take the stage at Eden Court on Sunday at 7.30pm.
Speaking ahead of the concert, band founder and driving force MacGregor says that the group is approaching their 25th anniversary next year.
He adds: “This short tour with former BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Hannah Rarity follows on from a series of gigs with Scotland’s leading folk singers – we previously toured with Karen Matheson and Emily Smith.
“The shows allow us to show a different string to our bow as it were… the ability to arrange and support songs.
“There will still be all the Blazin’ Fiddles hallmark banging jigs and reels but with the addition of some fabulous songs.”
Inverness marks the opening night of the tour and, for MacGregor, the venue holds a special significance. He says: “I played this stage as a 12-year-old with the Highland Strathspey and Reel Society – I’m only now beginning to enjoy playing it, for years nerves took the better of me.”
After the Highland capital the band are due to visit Aberdeen, Stirling, Dundee and Dumfries on this tour.
And it follows what he describes as “an amazing summer festivals” in Norway and Finland already and they are due to head to Denmark at the end of this month for the Tonder festival. He says: “There is an incredible fiddle tradition in these countries.
“Then there is Blazin’ in Beauly in October – we are looking forward to getting back to full numbers for this international fiddle school.
“We are also looking ahead to the St Andrews concert with Dougie Maclean in Usher Hall in Edinburgh which will be a massive gig for us.”
The band describes itself as “a group of the hottest contemporary fiddle players” from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Add to the mix some wonderfully sympathetic piano and guitar arrangements and you have an award winning combination.
In the past decade they have captured Scottish fiddle music’s variety, energy and sensitivity and each member of Blazin’ Fiddles draws the distinct flavour of music from their part of the Highlands and Islands.
Blending solo and ensemble sets, aged with the occasional insightful tale, they all come together in a fiery blend to excite your senses.
From remote village halls to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, fiddlers MacGregor, Jenna Reid, Rua Macmillan and Kristan Harvey are joined by Anna Massie on guitar/fiddle and Angus Lyon on piano to deliver a musically intoxicating evening for all.
MacGregor, who is recognised as one of Scotland’s most celebrated and accomplished fiddle players, was taught by Donald Riddell CBE. His style encapsulates the finest points of Highland fiddle music – bold and rugged at times, lyrical and beautiful at others.
