MORAY IS FAST becoming the place in Scotland to visit for lovers of traditional music – as evidenced by the growing number of top-line performers who are eager to travel to the region.
Further evidence of this has been announced by the organisers of Speyfest which has a record for attracting leading performers that cross all music genres.
For the Festival in July this year Barbara Dickson, Skerryvore and Sharon Shannon have already been revealed as headliners – now highly regarded Celtic ensemble Ceol Oirghialla have been confirmed as the latest additions to an impressive line-up.
The Irish ensemble are all students at the Dundalk Institute of Technology – and as well as performing their music they will be running workshops during the festival, allowing those attending to try out traditional Irish ceilidh dancing and singing.
Ceol Oirghialla co-director Daithi Kearney said: “I think Speyfest is going to be the highlight of the tour for us – we are starting in Glasgow as part of a conference, which will be very formal, but Speyfest will give us the opportunity to do things on top of what we have scheduled.
“We’ll have the craic, join in with the sessions and enjoy other performances at the festival. It’s going to be our first time at Speyfest but we have heard lots about it.
“The committee there are very enthusiastic and we are very much into getting young people involved and developing a community. We’re traditional Irish music but with a bit of contemporary swing to it – we like to have a bit of bass and drumming too.”
Speyfest 2016 will run from July 29 to 31 and tickets can be purchased online at www.speysfest.com or in person from Christies Chemist in Fochabers or Sound and Vision in Elgin.