Hi folks, sorry for the lack of updates recently. Here’s what’s been going on over the last wee while.
I was fortunate enough to be involved in a project by Aidan O’Rourke called “The Well”. This was a commission by An Tobar, the arts centre in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, as part of their 10th Year Anniversary. The other musicians involved were Martin Green on Accordion, Phil Bancroft on Sax and Catriona McKay on Harp. We spent a few days rehearsing the music and then performed it for the first time to an invited audience in An Tobar. We performed it the following day also, as part of a festival by ColmCille, and then spent 2 days recording the music which will hopefully be released on CD at some point.
Dochas were back on the road for a couple of gigs in Argyll. The concerts were a preview of the Glasgow International Piping Festival, Piping Live. We started off down in Campbelltown and onto Dunoon afterwards. It was great to catch up with the girls and make plans to do a bit more with the band next year. We’ll be out on tour this October and full details will be posted on the tour page above and over @ dochas.co.uk too.
The end of June was pretty full on. I started off flying to London to play a gig with Neil Yates‘ New Origins band. Gig went great and all the lads were on good form. Next morning I had to catch an early train to get across to Glastonbury, where I was playing with my great friend and amazing singer Julie Fowlis. Now, when people joke about bringing your wellies (I now realise that’s no joke :-), you’ve no idea how much mud there is. We had to drive onto the site and all the way through most of the crowd to get backstage and God only knows how we never got stuck in the mud. I managed to acquire a pair of wellies which I needed to just go between the dressing room and stage. The band were rockin and Julie sang and played a blinder.
From Glastonbury I headed to Galway, or at least I thought I was flying to Galway, until I boarded the plane and was told that the flight was being re-directed to Knock because of airspace restrictions around Galway Airport. Turned out there was an air show on in Galway. Got a bus from Knock to Galway, then taxi to Rossaveal, where I got the ferry to Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands. I was out teaching for a week at Craiceann, the bodhrán summer school. This was my first time on the Island and it was just amazing. There were over 100 bodhrán players signed up for the week. I had a brilliant time and got to meet loads of interesting people from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. I hope to make it back next year. And for anyone that’s interested in signing up for next year, you’ll have to be quick as it will be first come, first served due to the increasing numbers.