Love Letter to the Fèis
In the Beginning
The year was 2007, and I was 27 years old. On a whim, I decided to buy myself a fiddle from the music shop in Tain. A gift to myself, or so I thought. Little did I realise then that the act of becoming proficient at playing it would be an act of labour, love, and patience, and not just my own. The tutors that have taught me over the years have shown equal amounts of encouragement, support, and top tips to make my playing better and sweeter than how they found it. This is why I am constantly amazed by the sheer array of talent in our region, and in Scotland more widely. I’m also slightly saddened that the value we place on the arts to create community bonds, to inspire artistic excellence, and to develop inquiring and creative minds, is often overlooked. But this is not a political statement. This is about what binds people through the arts.
About the same time as I realised that owning a fiddle did not a fiddler make, I came across the well-known and junior fèis stalwart, fiddle tutor, Alpha Munro of Foulis. I trundled up the road faithfully every fortnight for about two years, to break the back of the early years’ practice, inflicting insults on tender ears and feeling horrendously self-conscious by every bum note or scrape of the “e” string. But eventually, frustration gave way to pleasure, and I while my adult self was painfully aware that my beginner renditions of Paddy’s Leather Breaches, would win no mod comp, Alpha directed me to one of Scotland’s finest gems in the trad scene, Fèis Rois.
Team Fèis
Led by the indomitable Fiona Dalgetty, her team’s commitment and energy to bring all parts of the trad community together through events, classes, and ceilidhs is boundless. My love affair with The Fèis had begun, and I spent most of the next decade modestly progressing my session abilities or trying out new workshops in step dancing, Gaelic singing, or whistle playing.
But I am also a realist, and coming late as I did to trad music, I learned to restrict my efforts in this lifetime to very average, yet enjoyable (for me) fiddle playing and leave the multi-instrumentalism to the exceptionally talented youngsters, and time-served professionals of the fèis movement. They are, after all, what keeps the traditions alive.
Ullapool
This May bank holiday weekend was no exception. Once again, I made the annual pilgrimage to Ullapool for the adult fèis, an event so spectacular in its simplicity, as it is in the talents and good craic of tutors and participants alike. For three wonderful days and nights, participants are treated to a wild display of talent, and teaching, and if anyone comes home feeling anything less than uplifted by the spirit of trad music, then their soul must have got up and left the building.
It always begins for me the moment I turn the key in the ignition and set forth westbound along the A835, letting others take care of my responsibilities at home or on the croft for two of the three days the fèis takes place on. The drive towards Ullapool brings me great pleasure – the narrow winding roads from Conon to Garve, the vast open expanses of the Dheerie, before spotting the safe haven of Lochbroom, where I try to calculate if I have enough time to make it to the school to pick up my wristband for the weekend.
Full of anticipation for the days ahead yet savouring the quiet moments before it all kicks off tomorrow, I spend the evening with family hosts and enjoy the delights of a homecooked “Seafood Shack” recipe for monkfish curry. See here for yourself. We swap the stories of our lives since last spring, what’s new, and what’s not, over a glass of something red and delicious.
A’ Chiad Latha/Day One
Then boom, the classes begin. First up, it’s an upper intermediate (UI) class with a tutor new to me. Step forward Mr Charlie McKerron, renowned fiddler with Capercaillie and Session A9 to name just a few of his many accomplishments. Clearly, and deservedly, he has a following among the participants of the class, and I can see why, light-hearted and witty, he made the UI class fun and enjoyable for everyone. We shared notes on the brilliance of Gordon Stevenson’s fiddle-making and he even made my fiddle sound better, although that was more down to his playing it than anything he managed to teach me!
A well-earned lunch break took me to An Talla Solais to listen to Mairearad Green and Kim Richards, who flawlessly duetted their way through tune after tune in the intimate art gallery setting. What a great addition to the fringe programme for this year.
Back to class, where cheeky chappy John Carmichael led us through the tunes in a “playing for dancing” class. I swear I hope to be as happy at my work as this man when I’m an octogenarian (he’s not a lady, so I can mention his age). He entertained us with stories between every set of tunes, showed us cheat-sheet intros for Canadian Barn Dances and Strip the Willows, and had a smile on his face so broad, you couldn’t help but mirror it back.
There are some years when I might have snuck off for a quick norag after class to get ready for the session later on, but not this year. No visit to Ullapool is complete without a visit to a bookshop, or a wee deoch at the Ceilidh Place, and the warm spring sun made it the perfect way to unwind after the first day of learning. One of the things I love about the fèis is that you often get the chance to speak to people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet. Here I met two hardy women from the north of England who were heading up to Clachtoll to camp for a few days. They were amazed by all the musicians stotting around the village and most disappointed when they learned that the evening’s concert was sold out. No matter, they, too, will be back next year, they told me.
Shortly after a warming brandy from the Ceilidh Place, I collect my order from the Seafood Shack – I buy not cook their delicious recipes – a haddock wrap (there is simply no better fancy fish supper than this) and a trout salad for my more health-conscious cousin to set us up for the evening ahead. I’ll be glad of this later I tell myself.
It’s 7.30pm by now and we’re in the MacPhail Centre, adjacent to Ullapool High School, waiting for the evening’s instalment of talent. Props here to Blas Festival for selecting Chloe Bryce as their latest, very worthy recipient of their annual commission. Bryce and her band tell us a generous, warm-hearted, and fascinating tale of the Summer Walkers, the last known travelling folk of Easter Ross to make a true summer pilgrimage around the north coast of Sutherland to earn their money by tin-smithing and horse-trading.
She tells us of the marvellous Essie Stewart, and her family, as they made their journey northwards. To hear recordings of their Gaelic was really quite something. Hearing it for the first time made me happy yet, sad too, at the loss of the dancing tongues and forgotten ways of the Highland travelling folk’s East Coast Gaelic. To say this commission deserves a wider and ongoing airing would be an understatement.
The second part of the concert was brought to us by Olivia Ross, well known for her role in the band The Shee. A voice like clear honey and commanding starts to each song that captured our attention from the get-go with the experience and grace of a seasoned performer.
Not content with delighting us throughout the performances, the sessions continued aplenty all across the village. The Arch Inn and the Ceilidh Place for me until the wee small hours before hoofing it in the dark up the road to Braes for a few hours kip before doing it all over again.
An Dàrna Latha/Second Day
A slightly bleary-eyed start to the morning but no less than two great workshops with Charlie and John once more, before submitting to the journey home to pick up the reins of life once more. I might have managed to slip in a visit to the merch stand and picked up a copy of Amy Geddes’ album “Messing” to keep me company across the Dheerie. Track 3 Lisardo Lombardia of Asturias by Fred Morrison kept me captivated as I reflected on all that is magnificent about the Scottish trad scene.
For those able to stay for three wonderful days and nights, the tutor concert on the Sunday tonight brings all of this talent and more to one stage in a delectable display of trad delights par excellence. On top of FOMO, I am green with envy at those who would have heard nothing short of brilliance in what surely must be a one-of-a-kind event.
A Final Word
There are of course many more artists, staff, volunteers and venues to mention that I couldn’t do justice to, but that’s the beauty of it, because this trad family will be there again next year with a new programme of events and tutors to discover.
All that remains to say, is that if you haven’t ever been and felt the spirit and traditions of this community, it’s high time you did. I’ll content myself for now with the memories and a last laugh when, delightfully exhausted by all the learning and the fun, I reached for the eye make-up remover late last night before falling into bed, realising just in time that the bottle I’d lifted off the shelf was in fact nail varnish remover – and that, perhaps more than all the gushing words above, is a sign of a great weekend!
