Glengarry Community Hall, Invergarry, 14 September 2011

EVENTS like this one fully exemplify that the Blas festival’s strapline of Moladh na Gàidhealtachd – Celebrating the Highlands – is much more than some glib branding exercise.

Staged in his local village hall – in the area that his father’s side of the family have called home since Culloden – before a sellout audience largely comprised of friends and neighbours, the show paid fitting tribute to left-handed Lochaber legend Aonghas Grant, both as an iconic exponent and an inspirational teacher of the West Highland fiddle style.

Aonghas Grant and Paul Connolly (image © Reaaz Mohammad, courtesy Blas Festival)

His broader legacy to subsequent generations was represented by strong sets in each half of the show from the young Scottish/Canadian/Irish five-piece The Outside Track, who were clearly both delighted and honoured to be sharing the stage with Grant. Signalling the direct passing-on of skills and tradition emblematised by his signature red tassel – which he makes himself and awards his best students, to hang from the scroll of their instruments – was a surprise appearance by three such alumni, Ewen Henderson, Louise Mackenzie and Corrina Campbell, who joined him for several tunes.

A cake for Aonghas (image © Reaaz Mohammad, courtesy Blas Festival)

Taking place the night after he turned 80, the event’s other festive aspects included a mass rendition of “Happy Birthday” in Gaelic and English, a large cake iced with a picture of a suitably be-tasselled fiddle, and a nip of Glenmorangie or sherry for everyone present to raise a toast. The audience were also treated to a mouth-watering selection of home baking at the interval, thanks to the lady members of the hall committee, plus tasty venison nibbles supplied by Scottish Natural Heritage: truly Highland hospitality at its best.

As well as the long-seasoned, laid-back fluency of Grant’s playing, with its smooth bowing, bagpipe-influenced ornamentation, Gaelic-derived inflections and intensity of expression, what also came though loud and clear was the music’s integral place within its culture and landscape, many of his own tunes having been written for particular people or incidents – and here being prefaced by their associated stories – just as the traditional ones commemorated Jacobite battles and bygone dignitaries.

Accompanied by his similarly veteran pal Paul Connelly on guitar, accordion and concertina, Grant also displayed his decades of experience in playing for dances, imbuing the uptempo material with all the sprightliness he himself retains, together with unerring rhythmic poise, while several of the airs and slow waltzes were sweetly and resonantly underscored by many in the audience humming along. The man himself seemed modestly in his element, deeply touched by all the affection and full of mischievous wisecracks; a veritable national treasure who will hopefully be with us for years more to come.

© Sue Wilson, 2011

Links

• Blas Festival
• Aonghas Grant
• Sue Wilson