I spent the night before Burns Night in the company of my fellow band members in Bella McNab's as we played to a packed house at St Bride's in Edinburgh. The gig was the debut of our new piano player Fiona Moore (Hamish's daughter) and it was a great night altogether. Mairi sang the Lea Rig, and we threw in a few Burns-related tunes for the dances. Haggis was taken.
Burns Night proper was spent at the Scottish Young Traditional Musician competition at Celtic Connections which was won by the impressive young Gaelic singer, James Graham. Like most people, I'm a bit ambivalent about these competitions, but the previous winners have all seized the opportunity and done well for themselves. It'll be interesting to see how someone who sings entirely in Gaelic is going to market himself to a wider traditional music audience at home and abroad. David Francis (44) (0)131 669 8824 Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
