Spirits were not the least bit dampened on Skye on Saturday 3 May 2014, despite the gentle drizzle, for the happy crowd that gathered at Sabhal Mor Ostaig to eat, drink and be merry in celebration of Seall’s 1000th event, facilitated by the organisation’s stellar group of volunteers.
This was quite an astonishing moment for a mostly volunteer-run rural promoting group, which has presented the best in traditional, world and jazz music, alongside theatre, comedy and dance, over the last 23 years.
The programme for the weekend was characteristically diverse with the ‘Tarskavaig Blues Band’ opening the show, followed by tunes from Donald Livingstone and Brendan Martin and a trio of beautiful Gaelic songs from Anne Martin, in the courtyard amidst the smells of a delicious slow-food BBQ and the heat of the brazier.
Scots singer and cellist Fiona Hunter stirred emotions with a set of storytelling songs supported by Mike Vass on guitar, Euan Burton on string bass and Jack Smedley on fiddle before the floor was cleared for dancing, from the SEALL 1000 Ceilidh Band led by Eilidh the Ceilidh and other students of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.
The night’s headliners were Edinburgh-based techno-cèilidh specialists ‘Shooglenifty’. Described by the Chicago Tribune as “…a bit like a jam between the Tannahill Weavers, Phish and The Chemical Brothers” the band pulled the strings of a bouncing crowd, teasing them with their characteristic crescendos and infectious rhythms. They are certainly a stunning band to be heard in a small venue.
A jumping, time-warping set from DJ Porridge – Hector MacInnes and Willie Threlfall – rounded up proceedings for the first of the two nights of celebration.
Then on the Sunday evening by way of an antidote, all ticket holders for Saturday were invited back again to the Talla Mhòr, which had transformed for one night only into the South Skye Jazz Collective, with intimate lighting and café style seating for an evening of warm, witty hospitality wrapped up with the finest jazz standards hosted by trombone maestro Rick Taylor and his band, young and exciting drummer Finlay Adam Jamieson, cool and cultivated string and acoustic bassist Mario Caribe and funky jazz guitarist Malcolm MacFarlane.
Seall’s 1001st event and the group is embarking upon its new millennium on the back of a truly memorable weekend!
Seall, with Duncan MacInnes at the helm¸ certainly has set many feet tapping over the years, an observation which prompted the group to launch its charitable giving idea, the “Seall Shoe Share Challenge”. Almost 1000 shoes have been gathered and were hung in curious displays around the venue. Shoes continue to arrive in astonishing numbers, via generous donations from all over Scotland, as far and wide as Edinburgh, Oban and the Small Isles and will shortly be distributed to charities across Scotland and the North East of England.
In July and August SEALL will re-invent and host the two-month long ‘Fèis an Eilein’ or ‘Skye Festival’. 2014 is proving to be an epic year.
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SEALL is a community-led Company Limited by Guarantee and recognised as a Charity. It is mainly funded by Creative Scotland and is currently undertaking a two year Cultural Tourism Project. It mainly uses two venues in Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic College.
SEALL also works as a development agency supporting other community–based promoting projects in the area.