One For The Road

As we head into a new season of summer sunshine, lockdown life is easing, and we're embracing the chance to get away from our screens in the evenings.

Our musician friends also relish the prospect of finally hearing live cheers and applause as their non-virtual gig diaries begin to fill up once more.

With all this in mind, we're winding down our virtual Harris Ceilidh events for the summer so we can go out and enjoy some great music, food, and drink in the real world!

So, this weekend we invite you to join us for one last digital dance before the dark nights draw in once more. As ever, your hosts will be Iona and Calum from the storytelling team, and they've gathered a great group of island guests for your listening pleasure.

Hailing from our neighbouring Isle of Lewis, we welcome Mischa Macpherson to the session. Mischa is a very accomplished Gaelic singer with several awards to her name, including the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2014 and MG Alba's Scots Trad Music Award Gaelic Singer of the Year.

Her success has taken her worldwide, performing across Europe, Australia, Canada and now she's ready to grace the virtual Harris Ceilidh! 

We're also delighted to finally bring the wonderful Iain MacIver, better known as 'Costello', to the party. Iain is a singer/songwriter and music teacher based here in the Isle of Harris and is certainly no stranger to an island ceilidh.

A regular entertainment fixture in the local hotel, more recently, he has taken his music online, delighting audiences from across the globe with his songs on Facebook live.

Iain has recorded several albums in his time, and we look forward to hearing a taste of his musical talents on Saturday evening! 

Finally, we round things off with young musicians Ali Levack and Laura Wilkie.

Ali is the winner of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award 2020. Winning accolades for his competitive piping from an early age, he's also a master of the whistle and his unorthodox technique as part of band Project Smok has been getting him noticed in recent years.
 
Laura Wilkie is also a rising star of the Scottish music scene, in demand for her intuitive, dextrous, inventive fiddle playing and deft arranging skills. Her Highland folk music traditions may be rooted in Ross-shire, but her travels overseas have allowed her to appreciate a diverse range of global music styles.

Together, we're looking forward to making Saturday's ceilidh a very memorable one as we have one-for-the-road.

Meantime, we want to thank you all for your continuous support over the past nine months of Covid constraints, and an extra special thanks to all the brilliant artists and musicians who have taken part.

We will be back with some special events later in the year, and remember our Harris Cèilidh bottle is always on hand for those of you that want to keep the party going...

"Thigibh a chèilidh!"

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