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September 8, 2006
Cape Breton Cousins
Kenny Mathieson,
TheScotsman.com
The Blas Festival is now in its
second year as an almost Highland-wide celebration of Gaelic
music, language and culture. For this year's festival,
organisers added events in Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
to the existing list of venues in Lochaber, Skye and
Lochalsh, Ross-shire, Sutherland and Caithness.
It is
appropriate that the festival should feature musicians from
Cape Breton, Canada, since it was very much inspired by that
island's renowned Celtic Colours International Festival.
Fiddler Troy MacGillivray, from Nova Scotia, opened
proceedings accompanied by Mac Morin on piano. His incisive
bowing, flowing melody lines and vibrant, rhythmic feel were
apparent in everything he played. Later in his set, he
switched to piano for a haunting version of Niel Gow's
Lament for his Second Wife.
Calum Alex
MacMillan, from Lewis, was the native Scot on the bill, and
confirmed his standing as one of the best young Gaelic
singers emerging in Scotland. His selection of three songs
included a keening lament, written by his great, great uncle
on the death of his young wife.
The
concert's headliners, Bẹlach, took the stage after the
interval with an eclectic mix of tunes from Cape Breton,
Scotland and Ireland. The twin fiddles of Wendy MacIsaac and
Mairi Rankin were supported by Morin's energised pianism and
the driving guitar work of Patrick Gillis, with Ryan J
MacNeil adding small pipes and low whistle.
Their
exuberant set took in the usual range of jigs, reels and
Strathspeys, augmented by some nifty step-dancing from Morin
and the two fiddlers, a theme taken up again in the mass
finale.
The
package, with different local guests, can be heard in Sleat
in Skye tonight, and the festival continues until tomorrow.
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RELATED LINKS:
 Blas
Festival
Troy
MacGillivray
Mac
Morin
Beolach
Calum
Alex MacMillan |
