Rachel Walker Band
Item Posted: Monday 13th October , 2008
TOURING GAELIC BAND PLAYING STRACHUR
Western Ferries are supporting Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop in bringing top Gaelic singer Rachel Walker and her band to Cowal. The event has been arranged especially for a Sunday afternoon to enable visitors, and those who are travelling, to be able to bring their families, and is especially geared to non Gaelic speakers. Rachel will guide us through each song, and give us the history behind each one so that ‘the language speaks to us through all barriers. We feel the grief, the heartbreak and the longing… you will leave feeling you have experienced a real part of Highland culture.’ More than anything else you will detect that all that is on Rachel’s agenda is a wish to share her love for these exquisite songs, many of them her favourites, and a desire to convey their joy, humour and sadness as honestly as possible.
I very much like the way Rachel combines mainly acoustic with occasional electronic instrumentation – it succeeds every time.
Unusually for a top flight Gaelic singer, Rachel is not a born Gael, having been brought up in Salisbury! In 1996, Rachel was accepted as one of the first students on the brand new Scottish Music course at the RSAMD where she studied Gaelic song under the tutelage of renowned Gaelic singer Kenna Campbell. During this time Rachel was asked to perform at the Dingwall Highland Festival and formed Ḍchas for the occasion. With them Rachel played throughout Scotland as well as festivals in France, Spain and Ireland, latterly helping to win a prestigious Danny Kyle award at Celtic Connections. Rachel has appeared on numerous television programmes, most lately the BBC’s award winning series on Gaelic song, Aig Cŕdhe ar Ciùil. Rachel launched her second album, Fon Reul Sholas, in June 2006 coinciding with a successful tour of the Highands and Islands with her own band. ‘Her crystal-clear voice notwithstanding, Rachel Walker shows a continuing respect for the Gaelic language and a growing understanding of the nuances and complexities of Gaelic song. A brightly shining example !’ Margaret Stewart - Gaelic Singer.
For this UK tour Rachel has brought together an exceptional line up. Ewan Robertson won the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition in January. As guitarist and backing vocals he is also is a member of the band Breabach, with whom he has toured in Canada, Spain, Germany, and throughout Scotland, performing at festivals such as Celtic Connections. The band won a nomination as Best Up and Coming Band at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards in 2006. Jenna Reid, on fiddle, has performed in Cowal with her own band, who has, in her own right been nominated as the ‘Best Up and Coming Artist’ and ‘Best Instrumentalist’ at consecutive Hands Up for Trad Awards. Angus MacKenzie grew-up playing the pipes and speaking Gaelic in Mabou, Cape Breton Island, and went on to win many of the most prestigious competitions in North America, both as a solo piper and as Pipe Major of the St. Anne's Gaelic College Pipe Band.
For a great afternoon of song, guitar, pipes and fiddle, come to Strachur Memorial Hall on Sunday 26th October at 3.00 p.m.
Thanks to support from Western Ferries ALL SCHOOLCHILDREN are admitted FREE (Adults £10.00). Tickets in advance from 01301 703504. More info on www.fiddleworkshop.co.uk