A HIGHLAND musician who nearly died from a serious illness was helped on the road to recovery by the work of Scots author Neil Gunn.
Now the music inspired by Gunn’s 1938 book, Off In A Boat, will be performed at the inaugural Dingwall Music and Book Festival this week.
Headlining the final concert will be Mike Vass and his nine piece band who will perform In the Wake of Neil Gunn on Sunday.
The music was written after Vass recreated Gunn’s three-month sailing adventure around Scotland’s West coast recounted in Off in a Boat.
He read the book while recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2013 – 75 years after it was written.
Said Vass: “I had fallen ill in the spring of that year with an unknown illness that quickly progressed to critical illness, an induced coma, a near-death experience and a long recovery.”
He later learned that the infection was neuroborreliosis, a complication of Lyme disease that affects the central nervous system and read Off in a Boat whilst recovering in his hospital bed.
“It was on loan from my dad, a very keen sailor, and I found myself drawn to Gunn’s love of Gaelic music and language, Scottish history and mythology, the supernatural and, above all, the sea and his evocative descriptions of it.”
He felt he had found a “kindred spirit”, nearly a century later and it was a pivotal moment in his recovery.
“I was determined to get well, to get home, to get back to playing music and, most of all, to get back to the sea,” he said. “I grew up sailing on the Moray coast with my family and spent many happy weeks on the West Coast, sailing between the islands, much as Gunn had done nearly a century before.
“I made a promise to myself that if I could regain my strength, I would follow Gunn’s route. Rather than writing a memoir, I would compose music inspired by his book, the recreation of his trip and my own journey from journey from ill health to recovery. And so I did just that and In the Wake Of Neil Gunn was born.”
Vass added: “Despite the dark beginnings of the project, I hope there is light and joy in the music too. The live performance includes film from the original trip, including beautiful shots from inside Iona Abbey, the deck of a CalMac ferry and our incredible coastline, alongside spoken-word excerpts from Off In A Boat.
“The music brings together oboe, flute, piano, bass, guitars, string quartet, electronics and samples to create a new sound world around Gunn’s journey.”
Joining Vass during the final concert will be award-winning Black Isle fiddle player and composer Lauren MacColl, who will lead a two-day workshop exploring The Seer, her acclaimed musical suite inspired by the life and prophecies of the legendary Brahan Seer.
The new four-day festival is being held more than two decades after the much-loved Highland Traditional Music Festival came to an end and another highlight is a return to Dingwall for internationally renowned Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis. The former Dingwall Academy pupil worked for Dingwall-based arts organisation, Fèis Rois before launching her successful solo career.
She will headline the Saturday night concert with Dòchas, the award-winning traditional music band, alongside local Gaelic choir, Eadarainn, participants from the Big Sing workshop with Fionnag NicChoinnich and young musicians from Fèis Rois.
The festival also looks beyond Scotland’s immediate musical traditions with Ando Glaso’s Transylvanian Ceilidh inviting audiences to discover the richness and diversity of Roma music and culture through an evening of live music and dancing, alongside up-and-coming Scottish traditional band, Meallan, featuring Dingwall’s own Anja Maclennan.
In addition, Deiseil: Dancing in Time, is a new show about stepdance, exploring how the dance was lost in Scotland, and about its revival. Historically an important part of Gaelic culture it became virtually unknown in Scotland due to cultural suppression, emigration and evolution into Highland dance and Scottish country dance.
It was preserved by emigrants to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and it was learned in Scotland from their descendants returning to teach here in the 1990s. The show, which was co-devised by dancer Alison Carlyle, musician Amy Geddes and director Gerry Mulgrew, is a collage of live fiddle music, dance, Gaelic song, spoken word and recorded material which blends into an immersive, participative event.
Fiona Dalgetty, Fèis Rois chief executive, said: “With this festival we wanted to showcase Dingwall’s remarkable cultural heritage and musical and literary talent, while giving a new generation the chance to experience the sense of community and celebration that made the original Highland Traditional Music Festival such a treasured part of the town’s history.
“As well as the concerts and workshops at venues across the town, The National Hotel will host a series of free informal music sessions, lunchtime concerts and storytelling sessions.”
The festival is part of Dingwall 800, a year-long programme celebrating the 800th anniversary of Dingwall becoming a Royal Burgh.
Dingwall Music & Book Festival (Fèis Inbhir Pheofharain) takes place from August 27-30. www.feisrois.org
