A Night To Remember

Hello,

What a weekend I’ve had! As mentioned in my last post, I went to a Tide Lines concert in Ullapool village hall which was only the beginning of a jam-packed few days. My boyfriend and I faced the treacherous roads from Inverness to Ullapool on Friday afternoon. As the passenger, I got to enjoy the beautiful, yet rainy, scenery of snowy mountains and herds of stags. Whereas, the man in charge was challenged with trying to find what was left of the road amongst the pot-holes. Highland roads are renowned for being in terrible condition which is the bane of every local’s life. The concert was phenomenal! The atmosphere in Ullapool Village Hall was brilliant, with a packed crowd and plenty of drinks flowing.

I am, and always have been, very engaged with music as it is a strong part of the culture of the Highlands. Throughout primary school, children are encouraged to mainly play sports and learn an instrument. The majority of pupils from my primary and secondary school play at least one instrument or tried a few when they were younger. Between the ages of 7-12 years old, I tried piano, guitar, fiddle*, penny-whistle, the chanter*, the clarsach*, and of course the recorder. I’m not entirely sure why but I think every child in Britain was made to learn the recorder at some point in their primary school years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for encouraging the arts from a young age…but why the recorder? You don’t hear of any inspiring, famous recorder-ists…so why is it such a staple childhood instrument!? Forever a mystery to me.

For those of you who are unfortunate enough to be unaware of the West Highland band ‘Tide Lines’…I shall explain. First of all, broaden your taste in music by listening to a few of their tunes (they’re great, I promise). I would recommend Another Day or Far Side of the World because the lyrics are very truthful about Scottish culture such as ceilidhs and landscapes – these songs always make me visualise and think about home.

Secondly, I would compare Tide Lines as being like the One Direction of the West Coast. An all boy band, very popular, and Robert Robertson isn’t a bad looking lead singer ?

Tide Lines play a genre of music which is becoming bigger in Scotland – I would describe it as Modern Trad. There are aspects of their music such as instruments (e.g. the bagpipes) and language (e.g. Gaelic) which are traditional. However, they have electric guitars and a drum kit which are more modern. They also have been known to do covers of pop songs by Taylor Swift and Walk The Moon. Tide Lines have a huge fan base, which I think is rooted from the most well-known member of the band, Robert Robertson. He formerly was part of another Traditional band called Skipinnish. Skipinnish are much more strongly traditional but still write their own songs. I imagine it would be VERY difficult to find someone from the North and West of Scotland who hadn’t heard of Skipinnish. They are one of leading bands in their genre, and rightly so. They have headlined many events and festivals. Robert used to sing and play guitar for them but decided to leave the band and soon after established a more modern sound and younger fan-base with Tide Lines.

As I mentioned festivals, Tide Lines AND Skipinnish are on the line up for HebCelt, the Hebridean Celtic Festival, this year. HebCelt is an amazing festival held in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis. I have unfortunately only been to the festival once, in 2014. That was the beginning of it all. No summer has been the same since. Now every year I go to festivals. 2018 has Tiree and Belladrum lined up for me. I was hoping to go to HebCelt too however a family holiday to the south of France got in the way…what a bummer. Guess I’ll just have to make do with basking in the sun, sipping on cocktails, and endless amounts of crepes. What’s a girl to do?!

Honestly though, I think a good Scottish summer is hard to beat. The bright green, grassy fields, glowing, golden mountains, shimmering water for swimming, sailing or fishing in. I couldn’t live without it. Scotland is renowned for having constant rain, and its sometimes hard to believe that stereotype can be broken. But when it does…you can forget about trips abroad in search for a beach to lie on. Coincidently, most of my favourite music festivals are held at this glorious time. After going to TMF, Tiree Music Festival, last year I discovered that it’s popular among students (that can’t afford many luxuries) to volunteer at such an event and in return you receive a free ticket as part of the payment. This was quite an exciting finding for me, so I was quick to apply to be a volunteer this year. Tiree is a beautiful, little island off the West Coast from Oban. It’s been called the ‘Hawaii of the North’. And when the suns shining, you can see why. Long, white sand beaches and stunning scenery looking out to sea.

I love how our tradition of music in Scotland has evolved to include, inspire and encourage young people. These festivals are more than just sticking glitter to your face with Vaseline (which is a handy tick btw – you’re welcome). These festivals showcase up and coming musicians, artists, drama companies, dancers etc. It benefits so many people and I believe is only a win, win situation. Festivals such as TMF, HebCelt, Belladrum are very small in comparison to British ones such as Glastonbury or T in the Park. But I believe a more intimate event, not only removes dangers, but also creates better socialisation, appreciation and a friendlier atmosphere. Its not uncommon to bump into artists around the festivals too, which is definitely not something that happens often elsewhere. I also think these festivals and the way Scotland looks at music is fantastic. We respect and uphold our traditions with ceilidh music etc, then we engage new generations by putting modern spins on it (like Tide Lines and many more), but we also try to appreciate all genres, cultures and walks of life. For instance, Paloma Faith is headlining at Belladrum but she is alongside huge amounts of Scottish acts – traditional and temporary. I love that we have been taught to appreciate everyone’s cultures and traditions, as well as being proud of our own.

Next week, I will be finishing my photo-shoots for the Photography course I am taking at school and will show you a few of my photos and how where I live has influenced them.

Enjoy listening to Tide Lines and Skipinnish in the meantime!

x

*Fiddle – Scottish name for violin when used to play traditional music

**Chanter – part of the bagpipes which you begin learning before being moved to the full set

***Clarsach – a traditional Scottish instrument, similar to a harp