Fèis fans look forward to song book
Fèis an Tairbeart hopes to spread the word about the magic of Scots Gaelic with the release of a song book later this month.
Fèis organisers want to bring Scotland's indigenous language to an even wider audience in North Kintyre when Music from Argyll/ Ceòl Earra-Ghàidheil is officially launched with the help of Fèis an Tairbeart musician-in-residence Ailie Robertson, who has been instrumental in the collation of music for the book, full of songs about places in Argyll, in the Celtic-family language.
The official first look and sound of the songs in the Music From Argyll/Ceòl Earra-Ghàidheil collection will be heard at the West Loch House on Sunday November 27, from 2.30pm to 4pm.
There will also be a talk from historian Angus Martin from Campbeltown, author of more than 20 books on Kintyre genealogy, and on the fishing and distilling industries of Kintyre, on the Gaelic place names of Kintyre, in collaboration with Tarbert Book Festival.
A fèis spokesperson said: ‘What underpins fèis is promoting Gaelic traditional music and song.
‘And being a non-Gaelic-speaking area in the modern day, we feel it is particularly important to highlight the language and its historical and cultural significance, through events such as this song book launch.
‘We have three of our tutors performing songs from the book live, as well as a short performance by some of our young musicians, and are looking forward to Angus's talk.
‘Other activities we have run have featured up to 20 children learning instruments online and face-toface, including the fiddle, keyboard and accordion, with support from Creative Scotland.
‘This event has been made possible due to grants from Fèisean nan Gàidheal and Fern Community Funds.'
Tickets are fast selling out but remaining spots can be secured via Eventbrite by searching for ‘music-from-argyll-ceol-earra ghaidheil-book-launch-andlive-performance-tickets'.
The spokesperson added: ‘The song book has a small initial print run but we hope there will be a lot of interest and we can look to print even more song books for people to enjoy.
‘Anyone interested in the song book can contact us directly through our Facebook page Fèis an Tairbeart.'