Barra Feis 25th Anniversary

11 Aug 2005 in Music, Outer Hebrides

Tangasdale, Isle of Barra, 30 July 2005

Arthur Cormack.

THERE CANNOT BE many more romantic venues for an Anniversary concert than a grand marquee on the machair at Tangasdale on the Isle of Barra, especially on a – hopefully – balmy evening in July (give or take the odd midgie), surely?

This was the venue for the 25th Anniversary concert of Feis Bharraidh, the original Feis which precipitated the whole Feisean movement. Entitled “Ceol nam Feis”, the concert was a major undertaking for David Boag of Feisean nan Gaidheal, who was given the challenge of organising the whole evening to be a representation of the work of the Feisean today.

This concert has previously been presented at Eden Court Theatre, but it was decided to bring this celebration to Barra for this anniversary event. Not only did it involve the finding of a venue on the island large enough to hold the hopefully sell-out audience, but also the accommodation, catering, facilities and not least the transport arrangements – more of which later.

The work of the Feisean movement was represented by young singers and musicians from all over Scotland, islanders and mainlanders alike, and was indeed a showcase production – testament to the excellent work being carried out by the Feisean throughout the country, in the encouragement of the young people’s musical and cultural educational development.

It was good to see that Gaelic was used as the first language during the evening with – roughly – corresponding English translations from the two presenters for the evening, Arthur Cormack , Director of FnG, and Fiona Macinnes, Western Isles Regional Support Worker for FnG.

Included in the programme were contributions from the Ceilidh Trailers from Feis an Earraich (Skye), Feis Lochaber and Feis Rois (the latter, incidentally, had the rafters rocking in the Columba Hotel, Inverness, the following weekend, to the delight of a large crowd of Spanish tourists!)

Congratulations to Feisean nan Gaidheal for organising the celebrations and we can only hope that the next 25 years will be just as culturally productive

The impressive professionalism of these bands, established to provide a summer training programme for talented young people throughout the Highlands, was a great demonstration of the success of the work carried out by the Feisean in providing first class tuition and opportunities to these youngsters.

The audience were also treated to a variety of sets from Feis Bharraigh itself, Feis Tir an Eorna and Feis Tir an Mhurain (the Uists), Feis Eilean an Fhraoich (Lewis), led by David Maclennan of Meantime fame, with Iain Angus Macleod on the box representing Feis Eilean na Hearadh, and a mainly adult waulking group from Barra, Bannal Luaidh.

It was particularly encouraging to witness the strength of Gaelic song in the sets, both traditional and contemporary. It is good to know that the Gaelic Song tradition is safe in the voices of such young singers as Michelle Macneill of Barra, Katie Mackenzie of Dingwall, Emma Macinnes of Uist and Ruaraidh Graham of Skye just to name a few.

It was lovely to see well known Gaelic singer Cathy Ann Macphee home on Barra from her exile in Canada, to lead a confident and happy set of songs from a large group of singers from the Barra Feis. Special mention must also be made of the Happy Chickens from Barra, as well as the new Barra Gaelic interpretation of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ story, complete with a contemporary ballet-cum-Highland dance set.

It was also encouraging to see that the Chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Willie Roe, was in the audience and very much enjoyed the whole evening. Congratulations to Feisean nan Gaidheal for organising the celebrations and we can only hope that the next 25 years will be just as culturally productive, if not more so.

Back to the transport issue – due to a lack of accommodation on the island, many of the participants, including all of the Ceilidh Trailers, had to return to South Uist after the concert on a specially chartered Calmac Ferry.

Numbers of passengers were strictly limited to 50 (on pain of a jail threat for David Boag!) which meant that many members of the audience, including yours truly, were consigned to camp on the machair for the night, accompanied by a herd of Highland cattle. We couldn’t really complain – how many concert goers can claim to have the Vatersay Boys songs as a lullaby at the after-Feis dance….

Fiona MacKenzie is the Mairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellow.