Hamish donates Dervaig gig profits to Mull Music Makers
More than 100 tickets were sold for a Hamish Napier gig at Dervaig Hall, with a homegrown support act.
The sell-out night made a profit to the tune of £300 and Hamish donated it all to the Mull Music Makers’ project.
Supported by 10 young musicians from the island-based project, multi-instrumentalist and composer Hamish’s final night of The Woods tour was a huge hit.
The gig also coincided with news that MMM has just secured the final funds needed to run another free Mull Fiddle Week of tuition and performances this summer.
‘The Dervaig night on April 2 was a resounding success! Everyone rallied round to decorate the village hall. Over 100 tickets were sold - so a sell out gig! Lovely atmosphere and a great community effort,’ said Laura Mandleberg from MMM.
Hamish was also joined on stage by traditional top fiddle player Patsy Reid.
He said: ‘What a night we all had in special Dervaig on Saturday. This is clearly a strong local community, that communicate well and love to work together. You could just tell that from speaking with all the people involved and all the preparation work they put in for the event. The place just looked amazing – a real team effort! We had to try to find extra chairs on the night for all the people that showed up on the door! It was one of those totally magic community evenings with a highland ceilidh atmosphere and many smiling faces.
‘Patsy Reid is such an energetic teacher and worked for two hours straight in the afternoon with the youth music group, the Mull Music Makers, who were really focused and engaged, and played so well on the night. It was particularly kind of local fiddle player Hannah Fisher to drive all the way from Fionnphort especially to come and help Patsy work with the children.
‘One of the more experienced of the young musicians, Mimi, asked me if I would accompany her playing a fiddle solo – and she played brilliantly. Her volunteering to play a solo just proves how crucial it is for young musicians to get proper performance experience like this to help them gain confidence, develop their musical skills and to inspire them. You could tell the audience was proud to see the young musicians play so well.’
Now Hamish is wondering about running a series of three village hall events in collaboration with Mull Music Makers across the island next year – possibly in Fionnphort in the south of Mull with another hall in between.
Patsy Reid will be returning to Mull even sooner to lead the Festival Week in Tobermory this August.
Generous raffle prizes donated by businesses and artists from the area helped pay for hall costs at the Dervaig gig. Thanks go to Tobermory whisky, to Turus Mara for Staffa boat trip vouchers, Catriona’s hair and beauty salon, the Bellachroy Hotel and the Foodie Shack – a new pop-up pizza business.
Laura added: ‘So many comments from people saying how fantastic it was to hear our Mull Music Makers play after two years of Covid restrictions. They played two energetic arrangements that Patsy put together specially for last year’s first ever Mull Fiddle Week.
‘MMM has just secured the final funds needed to run Mull Fiddle Week again this August in Tobermory.
‘The Hamish/Patsy gig was stunning – the closing night of the Woods tour as well – which is safe to say I think ended on a high!’ said Laura.