The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Blas line-up hits the right notes with music lovers
Festival: Unique showcase of music with Highland charm at its heart
The line up for a music festival which showcases Highland music and culture has been announced and it will feature a grand finale celebrating the legacy of Runrig.
The 11th Blas Festival to run in September launched in Inverness yesterday and main acts will include Dick Gaughan, Macanta, The Scottish Traditional Song Collective, Eddi Reader and Julie Fowlis.
Gigs, performances and dances will be staged at venues across the Highmarking
“A celebration of the best Runrig songs over the years”
lands and Argyll from September 4-12.
Inverness and Wick, as well as Sleat and Broadford on Skye, will be among the places holding events.
This year’s festival will be marked by a notable series of events marking special anniversaries and milestones.
Traditional music groups Kiltearn Fiddlers and Fèis Spè are both celebrating their 25th anniversaries and renowned singer Anne Lorne Gillies will be celebrating her 70th birthday.
For the festival’s opening, a concert called Shinty’s Heroes: The Pipes Come Home, will be held in the Phipps Hall, Beauly, the infamous battle of Festubert in which many Highland soldiers died.
For the grand finale there will be a celebration of the best Runrig songs over the years in a specially commissioned event at the Eden Court Empire Theatre. All the artists appearing have either performed Runrig’s material or collaborated with the band since it was formed in the 1970s.
Calum Mac Donald, Runrig founder and drummer, said: “The Blas Festival is without doubt one of the most iconic events in the traditional music success story of recent times. Exciting, varied, vibrant, international, yet completely rooted in the Highland, Gaelic psyche. It is therefore a huge honour for the band to have our music performed at the finale of the 2015 Festival, and particularly gratifying for us to see some of our songs slip back into that tradition – a tradition to which we owe so much.”
Chairman of Highland Council’s Gaelic implementation group, councillor Hamish Fraser, said: “We are very proud of the Blas Festival which was originally initiated by the council 11 years ago.
“Since 2005 it has developed to become bigger and better but has still managed to maintain, at its heart, the original charm and uniqueness which sees internationally acclaimed artists share the stage with home grown young musical talent.”