Learning the Ropes on the Road
 

INGRID HENDERSON reports on the progress of the inaugural Lochaber Ceilidh Trail
 

THIS IS THE first year of a project which allows teenagers the opportunity to train and then work as professional touring musicians for the summer. Seven teenagers are involved this year – Lauren Tait, Hannah Barnes, Andrew MacDonald, and Kirsten MacLeod from Lochaber, Fiona MacAskill and Katie Smith from Skye, and Calum Stewart from Speyside. They play a range of traditional instruments including pipes, clarsach, fiddle and Gaelic song.

 The project began at the beginning of July with ten days of intense training during which the young performers worked with top musicians from the traditional music world to develop their musical and performance skills. Musicians involved in delivering this included Iain MacFarlane (Blazin’ Fiddles), Anne Martin, Dougie Pincock (ex-Battlefield Band), Mary Ann Kennedy (Cliar) and Nick Turner (Watercolour Studios).

 After this intensive training period the three-week tour of Lochaber began with a support gig in Strontian with the Battlefield Band. Since then the gigs have been a mixture of formal concerts, sessions and dances in a variety of venues – village halls, community centres, inns, boats and even ‘big sheds’!. The idea is to give the musicians a real taste of how it is to be a professional traditional musician today; the versatility in gigs, the constant travelling, setting up an area for concerts, presenting material to your audience, and so on.

 Lochaber is the geographical remit of this trail which in theory should be easy to cover, but some parts are fairly inaccessible. Gigs in this last leg include Inverie (Knoydart), the Isle of Eigg and the Island of Muck so rather than planes, trains and automobiles, we will be using trains, boats and landrovers! We are even hiring a high speed rib boat from Mallaig so we will be the fastest band in the West Coast!

 In total the mileage covered by the time we end the Trail will be nearly 1000 road miles, with Kinlochleven, Kilchoan and Inverie being the furthest points apart. The performers are getting to visit some beautiful places they wouldn’t normally get to and in turn these areas are getting the chance to access good, affordable traditional music.

 As part of the scheme Toni Russell has also been employed as the Ceilidh Trail Coordinator and is gaining experience of organising and managing such a project. It’s difficult work which she is doing brilliantly and hopefully learning loads from the experience. (She even knows now that Ardnamurchan is not an island!)

 This project forms part of the steady development of Feis work in Lochaber as is a direct result of the creation of a new post of Lochaber Feisean Development Officer last year. The officer works with the three Lochaber Fèisean – Fèis Lochabair (Fort William), Fèis nan Garbh Chrìochan (Acharacle) and Fèis Eige (Eigg) – to develop new projects and Gaelic youth music provision throughout the area. The Ceilidh Trail is part of a bigger network of three other Trails running in Ross-shire, Sutherland and on the Caledonian Canal.

We would like to thank the Scottish Arts Council Lottery, Lochaber Enterprise and Leader+ for backing this ambitious project. This has not only been a great bonus for the youngsters involved, but also for the Lochaber area, and we would like to thank the venues and local people for their great support in our first year.

Ingrid Henderson is the Lochaber Feisean Development Officer. For further information, call 01397 704132 or e-mail ingrid@feisean.org.

© Ingrid Henderson, 2004

Remaining events:

• Loch Shiel Cruises(ceilidh cruise), Friday 30 July
• Cameron Square, Fort William (session, 1–3pm), Saturday 31 July 2004 
• Kinlochleven Community Centre (dance), Saturday 31 July 2004
• Lochailort Inn (session, 2pm), Sunday 1 August 2004
• Ben Nevis Distillery, Fort William (dance), Sunday 1 August 2004
• Ben Nevis Distillery, Fort William (candlelight concert), Tuesday 3 August 2004
• Big Shed, Isle of Eigg (dance), Thursday 5 August 2004
• Loch Shiel Cruises (from Glenfinnan), Friday 6 August 2004
• Cameron Square, Fort William (session, 1–3pm), Saturday 7 August 2004 
• Kilchoan Hall, Ardnamurchan (dance), Saturday 7 August 2004