Anne will celebrate her 70th birthday at festival

SINGER, broascaster and Obanite, Anne Lorne Gillies celebrates her 70th birthday at the opening night of Blas Music Festival.

The festival, that will take place over nine days across the Highlands and Argyll, will use this as an opportunity to celebrate her many musical achievements.

Arthur Cormack OBE of Fèisean nan Gàidheal, who will be making a rare singing appearance at the event, said: ‘We are delighted to be able to celebrate the career of one of our foremost Gaelic singers at this year’s Blas Festival.

‘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.’

Anne Lorne Gillles, a former Oban High School pupil, who won a Mòd gold medal as a teenager, 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.’