Capers for a Ceilidh!!

Knowing nothing about music, other than I like it or I don't, I was actually really pleased to find myself at an exclusive preview of music for an upcoming ceilidh in Ballinluig, near Pitlochry, in Scotland. For the benefit of my overseas friends, 'ceilidh' is pronounced rather like 'kayley' and is taken from the Gaelic word for 'a visit'.

On the 30th January at 7.30pm in the Ballinluig Hall is a fund raising ceilidh for the Mid Atholl Hall and Community Fiddlers. It's going to be an informal concert, with great music, friends, merry making and a bit of food as well. It sounds fantastic and just the ticket for that post-Christmas 'what shall we do now' lull. The musicians are all local and amazingly talented!! Wayne, Liam and John are one of the wonderful local bands, but there will be others as well... it's going to be a great night!!



The ceilidh band is the heart and core of the ceilidh. A simple and obvious statement, I mean clearly without the band there is no music to dance to... but nor is there a rhythm for your soul to sing to, nor a beat for your heart to follow or for your laughter to echo!

Poetic nonsense? No, absolutely not. The boys played several pieces, none of which I'd heard before and I didn't know the stories behind them but every one had me spellbound. You had to be there I suppose, but oh what an amazing sound!



Ceilidhs have a huge long history. Originally used for people to gather and visit, to tell stories and make merry, amazingly the ceilidh still does all that today! The music that I heard on Sunday told me stories of love, of reminiscences, of longing, and, when you think about it, of lives that are still the same even after centuries of technological innovation and progress.

Our mode of transport has changed, our community centres and village halls have changed and the way we cook our food. We may use clubs and discos more often than the ceilidh, but still we meet, we sing, we dance, we love, we laugh, we cry, we reminisce and we break our hearts. Are we really so different from our ancestors? Are we really so different from our any of our friends overseas?

Wherever we are, whoever we are... we meet, we sing, we dance, we love, we laugh, we cry, we reminisce and we break our hearts.



Even in the days of Cromwell when singing and dancing and frolics were banned, people still did it. It's in our nature and we can't crush it, even with the strongest oppressive forces. Even in times of war people still meet, fall in love, dance in secret, cry, reminisce and break each others hearts!! I know nothing about music, and I know even less about the performance of it, but I know how it makes me feel.

I am useless at playing any kind of instrument, I can't sing, I can't dance... in fact, the only time I will ever sing is if I'm in the car by myself and I'm on a motorway where there is no chance that anyone will hear it, and as for dancing, trust me, it's not pretty and it's not clever!!

So, I'm about as musical as a big bag of spanners but I do know when I like something, and I do know when my heart is lifted or a song makes me drift off into my memory, or my dreams and imagination... and the music that I heard last Sunday did just that. The boys were spectacular!



There may be a large age gap between the eldest and the youngest, but there was no skills gap that's for sure!!

The guys played their hearts out and my toes were tapping in spite of themselves; I almost started humming along as well but managed to control the urges so as not to destroy their harmonies, and boy, my smile was bone deep!!

That smile came from right down inside and is still with me now when I look at the photos and feel the music again. We were in Wayne's kitchen, it was impromptu and cramped (from a photographer's point of view, I mean it's a lovely kitchen from a cook's point of view!!), but it was so much fun and so uplifting. Good luck at the ceilidh boys, and thank you for such an entertaining day out. Wow!!!!

Rebecca, x

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/