Posts for May, 2024

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
Live at Glenbuchat Hall
Saturday 1st June 7.30pm
Entrance £15 under 16s £10
To reserve tickets in advance
01975641303
events@glenbuchatmusic.co.uk

The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, “the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling”, and brilliant Californian cellist Natalie Haas spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 20 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.

Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who’s who of the fiddle world including Mark O’Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.

This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra. The duo’s debut recording, Fire & Grace, won the coveted the Scots Trad Music “Album of the Year” award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record five more critically acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.

cutting-edge fiddle and cello explorations of Scottish and global music

” … you would think they’d been playing together for centuries. While his fiddle dances, her cello throbs darkly or plucks puckishly. Then [Haas] opens her cello’s throat, joining Fraser in soaring sustains, windswept refrains, and sudden, jazzy explosions. Their sound is as urbane as a Manhattan midnight, and as wild as a Clackmannan winter.”

— Boston Globe

“As many gigs as they must have played together over the past decade or so, there remains a striking spontaneity about Fraser and Haas’s music-making. He has tonal variation and attack to spare, but what makes them so consistently absorbing is the responsiveness each shows to the other. Haas is more than a cellist: she’s the rhythm section who uses the percussive chip’n’chop of her bowing and the double bass-like pulse of her pizzicato playing to great effect. The accompanist’s role moves so fluently between them, building tension all the while, and then they’ll slip into unison and it’s like floodgates opening. ”

— The Herald

“Fraser, one of the most respected of all exponents of the Scots fiddle, would look long and hard to find a more appropriate cellist as a partner…A positive joy.”

— The Scotsman

Paintings, photographs, textiles, ceramics, glass and jewellery created by local artists.

‘Rise, winds of autumn, rise; blow upon the dark heath! Streams of the mountains, roar!’

Join a walk to explore the importance of the oral tradition in the Highlands and learn how everything is connected to our landscapes. Experience Ossian’s bardic tales in their natural environment. Listen to history, tales, and Ossianic poetry, while looking at the scenery that surrounded the bards and storytellers. Think about the concept of Dùthchas, a feeling of belonging, understand, how the Ossianic stories generated a fascination with our Highland landscapes far beyond the Scottish borders and why all these stories still matter, today.

On this walk, you will hear stories and have a chance to share your own. You will also be encouraged to participate in a dialogue about our understanding of landscape, culture, and belonging.

There will be ample opportunities to express your understanding of the land in creative photography.

Children: Children are very welcome to join. Please make sure, they are comfortable with the physical demands of the walk and are accompanied by an adult at all times.

Dogs: Friendly dogs are very welcome on these walks and they will at times be in the company of our Landscape Lore dogs, who usually come along on the adventure (If this poses a problem for you, please get in touch, so we can arrange for a dog-free walk).

Meeting Point: Glen Banchor, Newtonmore. The nearest bus stop is 25minutes walking distance away from the meeting point, or you can access it by bike or car. The exact meeting point will be shared with instructions and a pin on google maps after booking.

Route Description and Accessibility: These walks usually cover approximately 2-4km and an ascent of 100-200m. Parts of the route can be very boggy and there are some short, steep sections. We will walk through the foothills of the Monadhliaths and enjoy the views of hills, glens and valleys.

Please be aware that you will need sturdy footing and footwear, as the paths we take can be uneven, steep and rocky in parts.

At an average fitness level, these walks would take about 1 hour, however, I always plan with some extra time, as we will be taking breaks to chat, take photos and share stories.

In case of severe weather conditions, we reserve the right to change the route of the walk or cancel the event.

What to bring: Please bring waterproof clothing, as well as sturdy shoes, and be aware that sections of the path can be rather boggy. We recommend some additional layers, as the weather in the Highlands can change very quickly and be unpredictable at times.

Please also bring a protective cover for your camera, if needed and some snacks.

‘Rise, winds of autumn, rise; blow upon the dark heath! Streams of the mountains, roar!’

Join a walk to explore the importance of the oral tradition in the Highlands and learn how everything is connected to our landscapes. Experience Ossian’s bardic tales in their natural environment. Listen to history, tales, and Ossianic poetry, while looking at the scenery that surrounded the bards and storytellers. Think about the concept of Dùthchas, a feeling of belonging, understand, how the Ossianic stories generated a fascination with our Highland landscapes far beyond the Scottish borders and why all these stories still matter, today.

On this walk, you will hear stories and have a chance to share your own. You will also be encouraged to participate in a dialogue about our understanding of landscape, culture, and belonging.

There will be ample opportunities to express your understanding of the land in creative photography.

Children: Children are very welcome to join. Please make sure, they are comfortable with the physical demands of the walk and are accompanied by an adult at all times.

Dogs: Friendly dogs are very welcome on these walks and they will likely be in the company of our Landscape Lore dogs, who usually come along on the adventure (If this poses a problem for you, please get in touch, so we can arrange for a dog-free walk).

Meeting Point: Kingussie (accessible by public transport), more details will be provided after booking.

Route Description and Accessibility: These walks usually cover approximately 5-7km and an ascent of 200-300m. We will walk through the foothills of the Monadhliaths and enjoy the views of hills, glens and valleys.

Please be aware that you will need sturdy footing and footwear, as the paths we take can be uneven, steep and rocky in parts.

At an average fitness level, these walks would take about 2 hours, however, I always plan with some extra time, as we will be taking breaks to chat, take photos and share stories.

In case of severe weather conditions, we reserve the right to change the route of the walk or cancel the event.

What to bring: Please bring waterproof clothing, as well as sturdy shoes, and be aware that sections of the path can be rather boggy. We recommend some additional layers, as the weather in the Highlands can change very quickly and be unpredictable at times.

Please also bring a protective cover for your camera, if needed and some snacks.

Come and join us every Friday and Saturday in May for live music and a good craic! Check out out facebook page for any updates to the line up.

BERNARD BUTLER, NORMAN BLAKE AND JAMES GRANT are three of the most renowned and respected musicians in Britain. Bernard; songwriter-producer, Norman; a centrifugal force in TEENAGE FANCLUB and James; songsmith supremo of LOVE AND MONEY. They will play a selection of each other’s songs and will preview the first new material written together from their forthcoming album.

Kris Drever originally comes from Hrossey in the Orkney Islands. Over the years, he has taught himself to be a songwriter, guitarist and singer of note (and sometimes many notes).

As well as creating award-winning original songs and instrumental pieces with the trio Lau, he has had a fruitful solo career exploring the cracks between classic and modern songwriting and the traditional music that he comes from.

Those of a certain age will remember the popular 1960’s TV programme “Dr Finlay’s Casebook”. The stories of the colourful rural practice seem like a bygone age. In many ways they are but even today some GPs are modern-day Dr Finlays, working alone or with little support at the heart of their communities.

Now a major new exhibition in Braemar will take a close look at that history and trace the substantial changes in the provision of remote and rural single-handed general practice over the past 25 years.

”Dr Finlay I Presume?” has its roots in 1999 and a collaboration between the Royal College of General Practitioners and Dundee University. That resulted in the publication of ‘Single-Handed’, a book containing black and white photographic portraits of 46 single-handed GPs from throughout Scotland from Shetland to Stranraer with a written description of their background and experiences.

The exhibition includes some of the material from 1999. It traces how general practice / primary care services are now delivered in a number of remote and rural areas in Scotland which were originally featured in the book. It also revisits some of those doctors first interviewed in 1999 and asks where are they now.

Image credit BBC

Blair Castle in the heart of rural Perthshire is the stunning background to our annual Christmas Fair. Join us inside the Banvie Hall, the beautifully atmospheric ballroom and outside will be our tented Christmas village on the forecourt in front of the castle.

Beautiful art and crafts will tempt and delight with individuality and flair, wood work, metal work, antler art, textiles, art illustrations, pet snacks, decadent cushions, throws, ceramics, silk scarves. Locally designed jewellery featuring silver, beads, gemstones, resin and glass. Differing styles of art, exquisite wood turning, children’s clothes and exquisitely beautiful knitwear. Organic and vegan soaps & skincare, candles, reed diffusers and wax melts and a host of bee products – all lovingly created in Scotland.

A glorious selection of tempting foods awaits you at the Blair Christmas Fair. Fabulous confectionary from Kilted Fudge and delightful home bakes from Rabbit Hole Cakes. Delicious preserves from Spice Harmony and charming pickles from Zingy Tingy Beetroot and together with fresh game in the form of steaks, pies or sausages, appetising salmon and seafood and a wonderful selection of cheeses we have enough we hope to entice all foodies.

Our alcohol producers include a spectacular range of gins, rums, vodkas, craft beer and liqueurs.

Nae Bad with their delightful horse box will be in attendance with hot and cold refreshments, pancakes, paninis and cakes, Seasonal Flavour will be bringing their tasty range of artisan street food suitable for all ages, Henderson’s fine food has their spit roasted pulled pork and Auld Smokey with their range of wood fired pizza.

A full list of exhibitors will be available on social media prior to the event.

Credit Paul Booth

For almost 200 years, the Braemar Gathering has been a highlight of the sporting calendar in Scotland. Nestled beneath bucolic, heather-strewn mountains, it is the most prominent and well-attended Highland games in the world, drawing vast crowds from across the globe.

Held at The Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park each September in the beautiful Cairngorms village of Braemar, it is the proud continuation of an ancient tradition of Gatherings here — one that can be traced back to the time of King Malcolm Canmore, over 900 years ago.

The Gathering has been run in its present form since 1832. Queen Victoria attended in 1848, and since then it has been regularly attended by the reigning Monarch and members of the British Royal Family.