{"id":16787,"date":"2022-08-29T15:09:01","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T14:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/?p=16787"},"modified":"2022-08-29T15:09:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T14:09:05","slug":"blas-9-day-feast-of-highland-music-culture-language-kicks-off-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/blas-9-day-feast-of-highland-music-culture-language-kicks-off-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Blas. 9-day feast of Highland music, culture & language kicks off this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>
Norrie MacIver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Scotland\u2019s top musicians will tour the Highlands & Islands with Blas Festival, 2-10 September<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Highlands & Islands will see a flurry of musical and cultural activity from this Friday (2nd<\/sup>\u00a0September) until 10th<\/sup>\u00a0September as the Blas Festival hits the road for the 18th<\/sup>\u00a0year, visiting village halls and concert venues across the region, as well as an extensive online programme of events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musicians and singers including Norrie MacIver, Rachel Walker, Gillebr\u00ecde MacMillan, M\u00e0nran, Mary Ann Kennedy, Kim Carnie, Paul McKenna and Sian will take to the stage in venues from Stornoway to Ballachulish as the Blas Festival returns with its annual celebration of Gaelic music and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights include Staran,<\/strong> a formidable collection of some of Scotland\u2019s most sought after artists, who will play at the impressive Dornoch Cathedral on 4th<\/sup> September; Shinty aficionados, Gary Innes and Hugh Dan MacLennan<\/strong>, will be at the Highland Cinema, Fort William on 9th<\/sup> September to celebrate 100 years of the West Highland Museum, home to important shinty artefacts, with stories, songs and craic; and Julie Fowlis, Anna Murray, Christine Primrose, Catriona Macdonald, Allan Macdonald<\/strong>, Maighread & Tr\u00edona N\u00ed Dhomhnaill<\/strong> and many more will join forces with singer and tradition bearer, Mary Smith, to celebrate her 80th<\/sup> birthday in style at An Lanntair in Stornoway on the final night of the festival, 10th<\/sup> September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine of the concerts will also be livestreamed including Essie Stewart @ 80 and Chlo\u00eb Bryce\u2019s commission, The Summer Walkers<\/em>; Tomhas<\/em>, a new collection of Gaelic songs by Calum Munro<\/strong> performed by Kim Carnie<\/strong> and Norrie MacIver;<\/strong> Capercaillie\u2019s Charlie McKerron<\/strong> with his Badenoch Suite<\/em>; and A\u2019 cuir seinn ri seanchas<\/em> featuring Allan Henderson, Margaret Stewart <\/strong>and others. On the final night of the festival, Welsh youth group, AVANC<\/strong>, will be joined by C\u00e8ilidh Trails from across Scotland. These livestreamed events can also be booked via the Blas website \u2013 www.blas.scot<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 43 concerts and c\u00e8ilidhs taking place in venues across the Highlands & Islands, there is also a full programme of online workshops and livestreamed events, for all members of the family. The youngest members of the family, age 3-6, will be able to take part in Action Songs with singer Claire Frances MacNeil<\/strong> (in Gaelic & English) on the 3rd<\/sup> September; on the 5th<\/sup> September, Skipinnish front man, Norrie MacIver<\/strong>, will be teaching your favourite Runrig songs; D\u00e0imh piper, Angus Mackenzie<\/strong>, will lead an adults workshop, teaching tunes from the new Coigach & Assynt Collection on the 10th<\/sup> September; a children\u2019s Puirt a Beul workshop with M\u00e0nran singer, Kim Carnie<\/strong>, also takes place on the 10th<\/sup> September as well as an opportunity to learn some of the music from Chlo\u00eb Bryce<\/strong>\u2019s commission, The Summer Walkers. All of the workshops are taking place online and are free of charge, but must be booked on the Blas website.  In addition, F\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal has organised music sessions and drama performances in Highland primary schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blas, which means \u2018taste\u2019 or \u2018sample is organised by F\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal in partnership with The Highland Council with funding from Creative Scotland, B\u00f2rd na G\u00e0idhlig and the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cllr Calum Munro, Chair of the Highland Council Gaelic Committee<\/strong> said: \u201cThe Council is delighted that the Blas Festival is returning in full swing, after the pandemic restrictions. The online programme is extremely exciting as it includes many events which will be live-streamed, workshops, and Gaelic song sessions. A number of the events will be taking place in halls and centres across the Highlands from Kilmuir to Boat of Garten\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will be great to see so many talented musicians and artists performing live in venues and also virtually. I hope the performers receive warm greetings from audiences from both across the Highlands and internationally, I also look forward to seeing some of you at the festival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shona MacLennan, Ceannard, B\u00f2rd na G\u00e0idhlig,<\/strong> said: \u201c<\/strong>The Bl\u00e0s Festival is a highlight of the Gaelic year and this year\u2019s programme demonstrates the range and quality of musicians and artists working in Gaelic. We recognise the importance of Gaelic song and music in attracting people to the language and to increasing the use of Gaelic through enjoyable events, and the contribution that these make to people\u2019s wellbeing after the challenges of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cF\u00e8isean nan G\u00e0idheal is to be congratulated for organising such an attractive programme and for creating opportunities to participate in a packed programme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full programme of events can be found at www.blas.scot<\/strong><\/a> along with details of how to purchase tickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s top musicians will tour the Highlands & Islands with Blas Festival, 2-10 September The Highlands & Islands will see a flurry of musical and cultural activity from this Friday (2nd\u00a0September) until 10th\u00a0September as the Blas Festival hits the road for the 18th\u00a0year, visiting village halls and concert venues across the region, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-newsletter","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"simon","author_link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/author\/simon\/"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcv15g-4mL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16789,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16787\/revisions\/16789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/handsupfortrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}