Scottish Trad Awards - Gaelic Singer of the Year

When my friend Roberto came over from Dundee for a few days in October (he originally comes from near Algeciras in Southern Spain), we took a road trip out to Mallaig, calling in at Glenfinnan to watch the steam train pass by and to watch the waves when we hit the west coast at the smaller viaduct that you drive under.  A trip out west isn't complete without a wander through the sand dunes to Camusdarroch beach and on the way home we put some music on and sang at the top of our voices.

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As Roberto and I can't sing in Gaelic, we chose the Robert Robertson song in the link below. It seemed a good idea to introduce Roberto to Scottish music via his Scottish name sake and as he is a bit of a romantic,  the rather cheesy video is right up his adopted Scottish street, as dancing with a Highland girl where the skies reach out for miles was all he wanted to do after our trip........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzbzMRyinyE

Scottish Trad Awards - Instrumentalist of the Year

Saturday nights used to see my sister and I taking the floor in a small space in the house, listening to the radio and trying to squeeze in Canadian Barn Dances and Gay Gordon's.  A generation later the cheery voice of Robbie Shepherd has been replaced with the cheery voice of Gary Innes and without doubt, a gentle, gradual modernisation of Take The Floor.  A Lochaber man down to his ex-shinty playing toes, he won the above title of 2017.  Below is a video taken from the drivecam on his homeward bound journey on the A82 at it's most iconic point, to his own tune of The Road to Lochaber.  I get a little travel sick, so if you do too, you might need to stand back from the screen, or just listen. (to the sister who used to whirl about to Robbie Shepherd - you'll need a sick bag.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q50g8NJlI3s

The 2nd video is his song-writing - not his winning instrumental skills - and the voice of a further winner of this years awards.  But I love the song and the video as although one might not call it a romantic part of highland life, it's an undeniable part of the culture, which links people up and down the highlands, the lowlands and even across the world and to my mind, that IS part of the romance of a strong connection between people.  Even enemies on the field, are linked by their playing of the game. That's the essence of the song and the video also features Gary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyt74s-9J6o

Someone will need to write The Caman Woman as these women are a whole other level altogether.............