In the spirit of the occasional bulletins Nigel sends out, I report on a great night of music that took place last night in the small Highland Perthshire village of Birnam.
The occasion was the annual 'just-after-Ne'er-Day' dance which has now become a highlight of the Bella MacNabs' calendar. The dance is a real community affair with people of every age and type, and plenty of young folk in evidence. It always takes a while to get going, with people drifting in up until 9.30 or so, but once it takes hold it goes like a fair. One of the high points is always the Broon's Reel which plenty of people in that part of the world know as well as the staples you'll get at dances the length and breadth of the country. One of the things that sets this event apart is the quality of the turns who perform in the band's breaks. Previous years have seen musicians like Rod Paterson, Pete Clark and the Critton Hollow String Band from West Virginia give a tune or a song (nobody does more than one or two). This year's was no less wide ranging: Simon Bradley, the fiddler with Asturian mega-band Llan de Cubel; Fin Moore and Cape Breton step-dancer Kelly MacDonald (daughter of Mary Janet); Cathy Goode and Louis Kaplan from Boston, and California fiddling wiz Laura Risk, all of whom just happened to be in the vicinity. A potent combination of the global and the local - and the band weren't bad either. A Guid New Year to one and all David Francis Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
