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25th Jan 2012
*** Duncan has written and produced music for a forthcoming BBC Documentary "Castle Commando" which is to be broadcast on BBC2 next Tuesday 31st January at 9pm.
see today's Scotsman (25th Jan) for an article about the programme and Duncan's involvement
12th December 2011
We are gearing up for another short run of Union Hill gigs this week starting off with a concert at Bogbain Farm, Inverness this coming Sunday (18th Dec)
Union Hill is a very enjoyable project that myself, Iain MacFarlane and Marc Clement put together each Christmas. We try for a unique and original blend of music, taking in songs and tunes that we rarely get the opportunity to play. If you get the chance, please come along to see us. We are playing four concerts in and around the Highlands although our gig in Glencoe has already sold out.
The remaining concerts are at Stoer Village Hall on Monday 19th Dec and Achness Hotel, Rosehall on the 21st Dec, will be good to see you.....
21st November 2011
**A fantastic 5 star review in The Herald today for Duncan's concert last Friday night at The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh.**
A copy of this review is available for you to read on our Press Page
4th November 2011
Its a very sunny and cold "good morning" from Denver, beautiful outside if a little on the arctic side. We are now over half way through the Julie Fowlis US Tour and the response has been incredible at all the concerts. I spent my birthday in Washington DC and on a flight to Denver which was eventful. Someone (they are not letting on whom) told the crew that it was my birthday so I had to lead the entire plane in a Highland version of in-flight yoga and serve Pretzels with a home-made crown on my head.......nice!
Today we are playing at the Rialto Theatre in Loveland. This afternoon I am rehearsing tunes with Tony Byrne for the Scots Fiddle Festival, which is fast approaching in a couple of weeks time. Some new material for the new album will be tried out also, so looking forward to that. All details for the Queens Hall concert at The Scots Fiddle Festival is on the Lives Dates Page
23rd October 2011
Duncan will be performing with Tony Byrne at the Scots Fiddle Festival next month. The concert will be at The Queens Hall, Edinburgh and will start at 7pm with a set from up and coming artists "Tyde"
Duncan will then take to the stage to perform music from both Farrar and Canaich as well as a taster of some material from his next album.
All ticket details are now posted on the Live Dates page
27th September 2011
**JULIE FOWLIS US TOUR 2011 - DATES NOW POSTED ON LIVE DATES PAGE**
19th September 2011
The beautiful Highland Autumn is on us again and after a hectic summer of Festivals it is time for a few domestic dates and I am very excited about the diary ahead. There are a number of dates with Julie Fowlis coming up around Scotland and northern England which will be fantastic. This will be a very special Tour as Julie and ourselves will be performing not only brand new material but also lesser heard tracks, rarely performed in concert before. The highlight of the Tour, however, will be us performing the 'Live at Perthshire Amber' Album and it will be a great opportunity for those who have heard the Album, to 're-live' that amazing night last October in Pitlochry!!
All the upcoming Julie Fowlis tour dates are now on the Live Dates page
All Wolfstone's upcoming dates are available at www.wolfstone.co.uk
1st August 2011
A big thanks to everyone who came to see "Duncan Chisholm and Friends" at Speyfest last Thursday evening, we all had a wonderful time.
This week I am off with Wolfstone to Switzerland, but before that I am getting my teeth into the next project.
I have been asked by the BBC to write, arrange and produce music for a forthcoming documentary to be broadcast early in the New Year. Although my music has been used before in documentaries and films, this will be the first time I have written specifically for a project and needless to say I am delighted to be involved.
I will be able to give you more information on the programme over the coming weeks
12 July 2011
The summer is on us !!!!.......well it's sunny today so I suppose that means we are into summer....
....and summer means it's well into festival time which is a happy time for me always.
This year I am very excited about one festival in particular.
This year's Speyfest, located in Fochabers, will feature a "Duncan Chisholm and Friends" evening on Thursday 28th July. I am excited because I was approached to put together an evening of music that would incorporate my solo material but also to feature friends whom I would like to perform with. To this end I asked an incredible line-up of musicians and to my delight all of them agreed to come along.
The line-up for the evening is myself, Tony Byrne (guitar), Allan Henderson (piano and fiddle) Martin O' Neill (bodhran). Special guests will be the one and only Dougie MacLean along with banjo genius Gerry O' Connor.
The material we are working on is sounding fantastic and the evening will be a special one for me as Speyfest always feels like my home festival.
Thursday Nights Concert at Speyfest includes :
The Fochabers Fiddlers
Shona Donaldson
Duncan Chisholm and Friends
Concert Start 19.00 Hrs Ticket Prices £16/£14
Available from The Booth
http://www.thebooth.co.uk/show_events_list.asp?shcode=4438
12th April 2011
Had the first proper rehearsal ahead of the May Tour today, with Allan Henderson. Delighted with the whole day, the two fiddles are working perfectly together and his piano playing is exactly what the tunes are needing.....very excited about the way it is all coming together.
Myself and Tony Byrne will be doing some radio promotion for the tour over the next couple of weeks with appearances on BBC Radio Scotland's "Travelling Folk" on the 21st April. We will also be doing a session on Celtic Music Radio FM very shortly, details to be posted soon.
1st March 2011
What a great weekend has just passed. Friday night saw myself and Tony Byrne playing in Glencoe village to a packed room. Saturday night we were guesting at the Fiddlers Rally in Eden Court Theatre, Inverness where there was also a packed audience and many old friends on and off the stage.
Sunday afternoon came and I was delighted to be at Murrayfield for the Scotland-Ireland rugby international....not so delighted with the score but there you are.....another glorious defeat ! Met some fantastic people though including rugby legend John Beattie, who went on to inform me that he had been to see Wolfstone at the City Halls in Glasgow many moons ago on my 24th birthday and that he is a keen fiddler himself. His son, Johnny Beattie was playing on Sunday and in my opinion had a great game. Doddy Weir popped in later on to say hello but by this time the fiddle was out, Gary Innes had the accordion out, and we were half way through singing "Fairytale of New York"...............oh dear !!
There is no doubt about it, when the Scots and the Irish get together, there is a magic that co-exists between both camps, regardless of the result. Maybe it is a testament to rugby too that both sets of fans easily sit with each other and enjoy the game as well as each others company.........just the way it should be.......and well done Ireland for a good game, well fought !!
8th February 2011
I am in transit today..........off to a place called Atyrau in Kazakhstan..........
British Goverment Advise; Always pack the winter woolies when going to Kazakhstan.....
I have a few moments so I thought I would remind you about some upcoming Scottish dates for your diaries.
Later this month I will be guesting at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness with the Inverness Fiddlers. Myself and Tony Byrne will be performing two 15 minute sets during the concert. It will be a great opportunity to perform some material from Canaich, Farrar and the two earlier albums ahead of our Scottish Tour dates in May when we will return to Eden Court.
During March and after a short break, Wolfstone will perform a few dates in Scotland.
We will be playing the Ferry in Glasgow (March 17), The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen (March18) and finish at The Ironworks in Inverness (March 19). We are all looking forward to the short tour and also to performing some new material that we have been working on, very excited !
2nd February 2011
"Solo Tour Dates Announced"
Today we have announced the Scottish Tour dates for May 2011. I am over the moon with the response so far, many thanks to everyone for their emails. This tour will be the first in which I will perform material entirely from my solo albums, this with the expert assistance of Tony Byrne on guitar and Allan Henderson on fiddle and piano.
The tour was pieced together carefully to take in some of my favourite venues from around the country and we have spread this far and wide, from the Isle of Lewis to Peebles. Tickets for most of the concerts are already available, for purchase details please see our Live Dates page.
26th January 2011
I am delighted to announce an intimate solo concert with myself and Tony Byrne for next month. The concert will be in a great little venue in the west Highland village of Glencoe.
My good friend, David Cooper will be promoting the concert at the "Crafts and Things" coffee shop on the evening of the 25th of February ahead of our Eden Court Theatre appearance on the 26th. I have played this venue a few times before with Union Hill and loved the informal and intimate atmosphere, and in such a beautiful part of the country.
All details for ticket sales can be found on our Live Page now
19th January 2011
What a great day we've had.
The day started with myself and "Chisholm the Younger" heading for Dingwall in what some people would describe as (amazingly enough) almost Spring-like weather. Unfortunately the purpose of our visit (an hour on a bouncy castle and a read of the Press and Journal- the latter being my preference) was unable to be fulfilled due to the place being shut. Unperturbed by this we headed, with the four-legged member of the family, to Reelig Glen, where there are no bouncy castles but lots of massive trees to crane your neck to and shout 'WOW !! at".......and sniff if you have four legs.
Back to the house and mince and tatties all round.....marvelous !!
In the afternoon, a visit to Granny and Granda's, followed by a visit to the other Granny and Granda, all of which usually involves much feeding of the visitors.....marvelous again !!
Throughout the day the soundtrack to our various excursions in the car was the new Julie Fowlis album which was recorded live at the Perth-shire Amber Festival in October. I am delighted to have been involved with this album, Julie's singing on it is exquisite and we all have been touring and working hard over the year so the band is sounding very tight and together indeed.
The new album will be launched on Saturday night, 22nd January, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
17th January 2011
I have just returned from a wonderful weekend at Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow. The concert I was involved with was a celebration of 60 years of The School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh.
The School is and has always been a fascinating place to visit and is extremely important in regards to our culture and our understanding of our music, our forgotten stories and ways of life.
The School was invaluable to me while researching the Kin project.
So it was a great honour to have been asked to perform at such a special evening. Karen Matheson, Julie Fowlis and Margaret Stewart were performing the gaelic element of the show. The Scots songs were covered by Sheila Stewart, Alison McMorland and Scott Gardiner and the instrumental pieces were performed by myself, James Ross, Gary West, Donald Shaw and Ross Martin.
I return to Celtic Connections on Saturday for The Highland Sessions, and then on Sunday for The Legends Fiddle Competition............what a hoot !!!
29th November 2010
Tomorrow is our big day in Scotland......St Andrew's Day
I have to say. the day usually passes at Chez Chisholm without much of a mention. Not that we are not very proud of our country and its traditions, but to be honest, there is very little in the way of celebrations on our Saints day.
Tonight however I am celebrating our country by watching a recorded programme which was broadcast while I was in Denmark. This is a tribute to Norman MacCaig featuring his friends Aly Bain and Billy Connolly, broadcast on the centenary of his birth. What better way to celebrate Scotland than to share an hour with three of Scotland's finest talents.
I met Norman MacCaig in 1991, at a poetry/music evening in Edinburgh. Since that time I have always wished I had met him later in my life as I was too young to fully appreciate the man I was meeting. He wrote poetry which is timeless. His words were sharp and emotive but never sentimental, Norman MacCaig's fresh eye saw remarkable newness even in the mundane things that surround us daily.
My own favourite is "Small Boy" which is actually quoted in the programme......sheer brilliance !!
Small boy
He picked up a pebble
and threw it into the sea.
And another, and another.
He couldn't stop.
He wasn't trying to fill the sea.
He wasn't trying to empty the beach.
He was just throwing away,
nothing else but.
Like a kitten playing
he was practicing for the future
when there'll be so many things
he'll want to throw away
if only his fingers will unclench
and let them go.
Have a Happy St Andrews Day !!
18th November 2010
Day 14 of the "World Tour of Denmark" and today we have another day off, the last one before home. I woke up today bright and breezy and thinking that there needs to be a mission of some sorts. The mission so far has involved a bit of work on the computer which inevitably leads to a bit of surfing. The good news this morning (which I still have to impart to Mr Drever.....don't know where he is !??) is that Mr Drever junior (Kris) and our good friend Heidi Talbot have both been justly nominated for Folk Singer iof the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in London.......very exciting news and delighted for them both.
There is some serious action around here this morning. We are staying next to a driving school and outside the hotel window I can see poor white knuckled students skidding round a track in big blue lorries. It's not for the faint hearted and I am delighted to be watching said action and not being involved in it.
The gig last night was fantastic. We were in a small village hall, in a place called Koed, very reminiscent of a west coast Highland Hall. We were treated like Kings and made a lot of friends in a part of Denmark we knew not so well. The night ended with a short, hour long drive, listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.........truly magical !!!
16th November 2010
Yet another day of clear blue skies in Denmark and today we have a day off. I'm not sure yet how the day will unfold, however I know that finding a laundry is high on the agenda.
The little things in life mean a lot when your out on the road and as your daily life and belongings diminish to the contents of a 2 foot square suitcase, there is something very satisfying about getting said suitcase in order.
I have spent many years studying this under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Saint (Prof. Saint being the ultimate guru of the tidy suitcase). He has written many books on the subject and also is a world authority on shirt folding. He should be lecturing at Boston MIT at present on the virtues of "hoovering the main road outside your house". However I have him on standby today to give me pointers on how to properly get 8 pairs of socks into the bottom right hand corner of my case without disturbing the boxer shorts that lie beneath...............
This is an official thank you to Professor Saint from the Danish Government for all the invaluable help you are giving Duncan Chisholm on his travels throughout Denmark and also for all your excellent advice on how to "make your livestock symmetrical"
Mange Tak
12th November 2010
Another beautiful morning in Denmark and today we are off to a place called Haslev. We have to cross the big bridge today that connects Fyn to Sjaelland. It is called The Great Belt Bridge and it has an unbelievably long bridge span in the middle, I reckon about a mile between the main structural pillars. Someone told me once it had the 3rd largest bridge span in the world. Whatever the truth it is a quite astonishing bit of engineering and a testiment to Danish ingenuity.
Mr Drever is a man on a mission this morning, he is sitting opposite me on his computer just now trying to find out the latest on the future of Mark McGhee (manager of Aberdeen FC)........(or maybe not any more ???)
Judging by his sighs and troubled expression I would concur that Mr McGhee has been kept in the job for now........poor Dreev, it's not easy being an Aberdeen fan these days!
11th November 2010
It is Thursday and today we have travelled from Tonder to Odense, not a long journey at all. So this afternoon I have a few hours off and am going to take a trip to the house of Odense's most famous son, Hans Christian Andersen, writer of such things as "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling"
Andersen was famed worldwide not only for his fairy tales but also for his novels, one of which I read in my younger days "Only a Fiddler".......quite appropriate I suppose !!!
The gig tonight (Dexter) is a short stroll from the Hotel, we haven't played in Odense for many years and it is very good to be back, although the temperature outside in something akin to a polar ice cap (saw a squirrel earlier on throwing himself against an electric fence to keep warm)
9th November 2010
It´s the 9th of November and today I find myself in Kolding, Denmark.
This is the 4th show in my Danish tour with Ivan Drever and what a time we have had so far, just fantastic. The Copenhagen show at Portalen was completely sold out as was the show in Grindsted on Saturday night. Seven gigs in a row now and looking forward to every one.
I just wanted today to express my thanks for all the emails and texts I have received from you all as a result of getting nominated again for "Album of the Year" at the Scots Trad Music Awards. It is a great honour to be nominated and for Canaich to get the same recognition that Farrar received is just fantastic.
27th October 2010
There is a busy weekend ahead of me this week. On Friday I am heading to the Pitlochry Festival Theatre to play with Julie Fowlis as part of the Perthshire Amber festival which is always a great festival. Then on Saturday I am up at 3am to travel to Spain for the VII Magusto Festival in Carbajo, back then on Sunday to bonnie Inverness for some birthday celebrations on the town. 42 is the number............42 !!!!!!!
Here are some interesting facts about 42
- All dogs have a total of 42 teeth over their lifetimes
- The average dormancy of an active volcano is 42 years.
- The fastest speed for a land animal for 1 mile is 42mph
- Greatest recorded distance covered by one jump of a kangaroo is 42 feet
- Duncan Chisholm is 42 this weekend
- The longest lava flow recorded is 42 miles
- The worlds widest conveyor belt is 42 feet wide
- The largest shoes ever sold were size 42 (bought by Ross Hamilton)
- A barrel contains 42 gallons.
- The time it took for one person to eat an entire ox (good Lord!!!) was 42hours (Guiness book of Records, page 492)
16th October 2010
Another beautiful Autumn day in the Highlands and I am working away here in the office 
, only able to glance out of the window at the unfolding patchwork of reds and rusts that make up the woods to the west of where we are. The sky and the firth below are a startling blue and the smoke rises in a perfect vertical line from the distillery in distant Muir of Ord.
It is a day for being in Glen Strathfarrar, fishing off the boat at Monar, a day for bravely teeing off at the 2nd at Dornoch or climbing Beinn a Bha Ach Ard with a full hip flask, but no........this day is spent, (apart from my conversing with yourselves of course) going through accounts and filing things. Once I get caught up however, and before it gets dark I am going to get the fiddle out, try to write something nice. Such a day should not pass without a bit of music.
The music (and craic) has been flowing all week in my home village of Beauly with the Blazin in Beauly fiddle week celebrating its' tenth anniversary.
The week started with a variety night in which I was quizzed in a spoof Mastermind contest by a short and very eyebrowed Magnus Magnusson (Allan Henderson), my specialised subject being "answering the question before last each time"
eg
MM Correct. Theology now….
In the Bible, Mark described it as……“A place where fire is not quenched, where the worm
MM Correct. What are haemorrhoids?
DC Hell
MM Correct…….
DC Swelling and inflammation of the veins in the bottom
etc etc etc
The whole week was a massive success with 120 fiddle students taking part and countless hours of sessions, concerts and dances. All of this and a week of perfect Autumn weather....what lucky people we are !!
14th September 2010
It is only a month now until the 10th anniversary of the Blazin' in Beauly fiddle week, which this year runs from the 10th until the 15th of October. I will be teaching and performing throughout the week and I'm looking forward to it all very much. At the Wednesday night concert this year Iain MacFarlane will be revisiting his excellent Blas Festival commission piece. After this, in the second half, I will be involved in a performance featuring the tunes of my teacher, Donald Riddell. We will be talking about Donald, his life, his tunes and his fiddle making. We have performed this show before at a sold out Celtic Connections evening but it will be great to perform this on Donald's home soil.
All details of the Blazin' in Beauly week can be found at www.blazininbeauly.com
2nd September 2010
The Blas Festival kicks off this week and I will be involved from Sunday night when I will take to the stage at the Culloden Visitor Centre playing music, alongside various Gaelic singers, from the Jacobite era ( that's music from the Jacobite era, not singers !!)
Then, from Wednesday through till Saturday, I will be performing music from my solo albums with Tony Byrne on guitar. The festival concerts take place across the Highlands. We will be performing in Wick, Lochcarron, Rosehall and Nairn (all details on our live dates page)
The Blas Festival is devoted to the strengthening of our Gaelic culture through concerts, workshops, commissioning and outreach programmes and is very valuable addition to the Highland calendar.
So, if you are planning on visiting the Highlands next week, why not take a trip to Wick 
on the 8th, Lochcarron on the 9th, Rosehall on the 10th or Nairn on the 11th.
24th August 2010
After a hectic but fantastic weekend in Spain we find ourselves (Wolfstone that is) back at the Tonder Festival in the south of Jutland, Denmark this weekend. I cannot give this festival enough praise and I always recommend it to music lovers whenever or wherever I meet them. It is a festival that has grown organically over some few decades and, as all great festivals, the attention to detail is quite astonishing. What makes this a great festival however is not just the organisation, it is not even just the music, although it would have to be said that the music is always so varied and so very wonderful. What makes this a great festival is the feeling you are part of the family as soon as you arrive. It is the meeting of old friends and new, and I am very much looking forward to getting back. If you love music, do yourself a favour and one year go to Tonder, you will find yourself booking next years flight and tickets as soon as the final curtain goes down.
Tonder Festival www.tf.dk
10th August 2010
On August the 10th 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, having sworn allegiance to Spain, sets sail from Seville for what he hoped would be the first successful circumnavigation of the Earth. Magellan, however, did not complete this voyage.
On August the 10th 1990, some 471 years later and 20 years ago today, NASA's Magellan spacecraft, having looped round the sun arrived at Venus and swung into orbit 23 million miles from Earth. It then started to send us images of the surface of this violently scarred planet ......how far we have come!!!
On August 10th 2010 on a hillside in the Scottish Highlands, a man tried unsuccessfully to fit a baby car seat into the back of a Honda CR-V...........how far we still have to go.......
3rd August 2010
On Saturday I was at the Cambridge Folk Festival with Julie Fowlis.
As usual the festival threw up its' usual heady mix of eclectic music to tickle the eardrums. Highlights for me were "The Burn's Unit" (a brilliant Scottish line-up), Natalie Merchant who performed beautiful music in the evening and Salsa Celtica who were playing with a changed trad line-up of Jarlath Henderson, Megan Henderson and Dermot Byrne......fantastic !!!!
Cambridge is rightly still seen as the "Jewel in the Crown" of English Folk Festivals, it has an almost American feel to the proceedings and the way people are. Thy are true music lovers and it feels like a great community spirit over the weekend. For me these festivals are about meeting friends as much as the music and as well as a great Scottish contingent this weekend there were friends there from all over England, Denmark and the US.
Listen in on Wednesday night to Mike Harding's programme on Radio 2 for some highlights of the weekend including Julie's set from Sunday (without me as I was playing with Wolfstone that evening).
Alternatively on Sky Arts there will be a broadcast very soon of our set on Saturday afternoon on the main stage.
28th July 2010
It's Wednesday morning and I'm in the office catching up with a few things. Someone's put on Bob Marley and the office is filled with joyful sounds. For the second time in a week I am listening to the great man. This is no coincidence, When I heard we were to be sharing the bill with The Wailers at next week's Belladrum Festival I delved into the record collection at Chez Chisholm and after some meanderings (always happens when looking through the LP's) I at last found "Legend", Bob's greatest hits album.
Now, this morning, I am not concentrating.... I am transported....to Gran Canaria and the Atlantica Festival in 1998, where we shared the bill with Rita Marley, (an amazing woman herself) on a roasting hot summers night, at the beach playing to 20,000 people.........fiddles, pipes and reggae, what a night !!!!!!
Belladrum is going to be great fun, not only is it the closest festival in the world to Chez Chisholm (approx 2.5 miles) but it has such an eclectic mix of music (fiddles, pipes and reggae for example). We are on at 5.30 in the evening and play for 50 mins so not a heavy day by anyone's standard. We will spend the next few hours enjoying the music and maybe wander across the fields home.......then stick on Bob before bed....
www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
6th July 2010
I had a fantastic day on Saturday in a sun drenched Edinburgh, which is always a fantastic place to be. I was playing tracks from and signing copies of Canaich for a short while at Coda Music on The Mound. Coda is a great shop to go for traditional music and I was delighted that so many people came along to listen and to wish me well with the new release. I had Ali Hutton along playing some exquisite guitar and together the two of us managed to squeeze ourselves on to the corner stage (corner shelf) and play to the assembled masses. Many thanks to everyone who made it along and to Coda for supporting my music and for the odd glass of wine that was projected in our direction....lovely!
18th June 2010
More excellent reviews have come in for Canaich. Read them now on our Press page
9th June 2010
Duncan will be appearing at Coda Music, The Mound, Edinburgh for an in-store signing on Sat 3rd July 2010. He will also be performing some tracks from Canaich. More details to follow.
30th May 2010
The first review of Canaich appeared in the Scotland On Sunday Review section today. Norman Chalmers has given a glowing endorsement to the album. Read the review on our Press page
25th May 2010
Duncan will be appearing on The Radio Cafe, BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow, Wednesday 26th May, just after the news at 1pm. He will be talking about Canaich and the inspiration behind the album as well as playing live.
canaich is available NOW !!!! from our Store Page.
The album will be on general release in Scotland from June 1st.
UK general release and available from itunes June 21st.
17th May 2010
I would like to talk a bit about Glen Cannich. It has been the focus for my inspiration over the past 12 months and in preparing for the album "canaich" I have learnt a lot about the place and its' people, it's landscape and it's history.
In 2008 when I had completed the "farrar" album, I felt a huge sense of satisfaction. My intention had always been to paint a musical picture of Glen Strathfarrar, and in particular the mountain Beinn a' Bha' Ard, Each tune was given a scene in my head. Like my own internal film, the album took the form of a journey, to the top of the mountain and a quick descent to home. It took months to write or find the right combination of tunes for each scene, but ultimately we succeeded and it is an album I will forever be proud of.
I always knew that "farrar" was going to be the start of a bigger project and it was at the start of 2009 that I had decided that Glen Cannich would be the focus of my next album. This journey would take me westward from the village of Cannich to the old township of Craskie and on to the wild and unpredictable waters of Loch Mullardoch. Each scene again was figured out long before the studio sessions and the running order was completed before a note was recorded.
Craskie
I see Craskie as it was, in my minds eye that is. It is where the Chisholm side of my family came from. If you were to visit Craskie now you would see a scattering of buildings, a ford across the river which flows into a small loch. It has been farmed for centuries. It is south facing and I remember it only bathed in sunshine.
The ancient Chisholm clan lands are pretty much devoid of the family name now. We survived the clearances at Craskie because of one woman, Mary Chisholm. When Alexander, The Chisholm died in 1793 he left his widow Elisabeth and their daughter, Mary, the rentals to a handful of townships, Craskie being one. Although thousands of Chisholms were sent from their homes, some burned out to make room for cheviot sheep, Mary never wavered in her loyalty to her clans people and my family were allowed to stay at Craskie.
22nd April 2010
Very exciting news !!!!
The first shipment of "canaich" albums arrived at the Copperfish Office this lunchtime.
It was to the great glee of everyone that the carrier arrived on time and the first box was officially opened along with a short speech by yours truly and much more exciting......... a bottle of some fancy fizzy stuff.......(thank the Lord I was there!!...........hic!)
The album is everything I had hoped for in the way it sounds and in the way it looks, it is something I am very proud of indeed.
I hope you all enjoy it.
The release date for "canaich" to be announced at www.duncanchisholm.com very soon,
19th April 2010
Last night, primarily to make my Sunday night a little more exciting I did an IQ test (never before attempted at Chez Chisholm) which I downloaded onto my ipod as an application. I tend to feel you should probably leave these things well alone, for fear that you depress yourself by finding you have an IQ less than Geri Halliwell....or George W Bush. The test was a bit tricky in places, 40 questions to be answered in an hour. There were lots of number puzzles of the ilk "If I had 3 potatoes and Jack had three carrots, how many plates of soup would Jill make by Christmas??!"
I have to say the spaniel was appearing quite troubled as the clock ticked by, the language began to deteriorate and there were cries of "who really cares ??!!!??" and "why, soup, why !!!"
Anyway I managed to finish it. Modesty forbids that I reveal my actual IQ to the world but suffice to say I was higher than Miss Halliwell and the now retired US President.....happy enough with that !!
8th April 2010
I have to admit I have an air of trepidation now that election fever has taken hold..........well I wouldn't say fever.....more like a mild pain in the left temple. I cannot get enthused about any of it I'm afraid. Daily announcements about this and that, the next thing….and then the next thing,...
One announcement I am pleased about however is that yesterday the line-up for the 2010 Belladrum Festival was made public. It is our local festival here at Chez Chisholm and on most festival nights so far we’ve been out in the garden enjoying the waft of whatever eclectic sound comes up the valley. Gin and Tonic in hand on a balmy summers night listening to some glorious sounds…….what better !!
Well this year I’m going to have to put the gin away in the fridge (till later!), because to celebrate our 21st anniversary Wolfstone are going to be playing our local festival right here at Belladrum in the heart of the Highlands on the evening of Saturday August 7th. This will be 21 years almost to the day since we kicked it all off at the Highland Traditional Music Festival in Dingwall. We’ll be joining Amy MacDonald, Feeder, The Levellers and a host of others over the weekend.
6th April 2010
I'm sitting at home just now, a rainy lunchtime to myself contemplating.
Young Chisholm junior is upstairs taking his lunchtime nap.
The spaniel at my feet has himself also been contemplating for the last twenty minutes, contemplating whether or not he is going to be allowed to get up onto the couch. This intense contemplation however has now been replaced with an intense interest in his rear end, in fact he now seems more interested in his rear end than anything else in the world ( no scrap that, the shortbread sitting next to the cup of tea on the table has now taken precedence over the rear end....and the couch)
Outside the first signs of a Scottish Spring are sprouting through the Highland soil, no doubt spurred on by the today's downpour.
I love the Spring rain and the effect it has on the garden, everything coming to life at once.
This however lies at the heart of my contemplation, the crux of the issue that is encircling my being this lunchtime. Something that will keep me awake for many an hour over the next fortnight, that no amount of gigs or heartfelt playing or recording of albums or travelling the world could ever prepare you for.
Yes, sometime during the next couple of weeks, he (me) is going to have to walk "The Green Mile" to the shed, He again, will be that penitent soul, who on opening the shed door will ask for forgiveness in the hope that he can get the mower out without serious injury. He may even find himself nursing his own rear end as a result......let's hope not !!!
So light a candle or say a couple of words for me, think of me in your prayers. I will get the mower out come what may, and if I lose a leg I'll know it was for the greater good.
27th March 2010
I have managed to escape the confines of the studio for a few days and now am spending the weekend listening to the Canaich album ahead of the final mastering. I am delighted with the outcome. It is a colourful and vibrant album, chock full of great musicians playing their hearts out.
I am also delighted that the album retains what I had always anticipated as the correct feel for such a place as Glen Cannich. There are always great surprises when you bring in a dozen or so musicians to record an album with you and indeed there were many interesting musical roads travelled over the last two months. It is now almost complete and after some painstaking editing and mixing we have come up with an album to be very proud of.
The official release for Canaich has yet to be finalised but a limited number of the albums will be available during the upcoming Scottish tour with Ivan Drever.
A big thank you to the many people who have emailed the Copperfish Office to wish me well for the project, your constant support is very much appreciated,
Duncan
17th February 2010
Finally D-Day has arrived and I'm off into the studio tomorrow to start the next album which will be called Canaich. We start with James Mackintosh recording percussion for the first two days and myself doing bits and pieces here and there. The album already has a name, a running order, a cast (of which I am delighted to be working with) and an overall objective to create an album equal to and better than its predecessor Farrar.
I spent a fantastic day last week with my father up at Glen Cannich (Canaich being the Gaelic word for "place of the bog cotton") learning stories and enjoying the sheer beauty of the landscape there. It is where my father was born and where my ancestors lived and worked.
The Glen itself runs a dozen or so miles west past Craskie and Carrie to Loch Mullardoch where a hydro electric dam, built in the early fifties, looms high above the loch. It is within the wild and unpredictable waters of Loch Mullardoch that Cozac Lodge lies submerged. Cozac is the house that my father was born in.
There is an almost austere feel about the Loch itself, an unnatural menacing presence it has within the natural beauty that surrounds it, or maybe it is just because I know its history.
This is the landscape that has inspired me on my next musical journey. A place of great tranquility at Craskie contrasting with a place of great darkness at Mullardoch. This for me will forever be the enigma of Glen Cannich, making it a fascinating subject to reflect upon within an album.
I have spent the last six months either writing or unearthing tunes to put into Canaich and I am very excited at the prospect of finally getting into the studio to record it.
As well as James MacIntosh on percussion I will have help from Phil Cunningham on piano, Tony Byrne on guitar, Patsy Reid on viola and cello, Rick Taylor on brass and Ross Hamilton on bass.
I will let you all know how the project is progressing. The release date is scheduled for the Spring.
31st January 2010
On behalf of everyone here at Copperfish, we would like to thank the many people who attended Duncan's sold out show at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow last night.
For a run-down on the evening we have posted the first review of the concert by Tim Bray up on the Press page.
31st December 2009
I hope you all had a peaceful, happy Christmas and I would just like to wish everyone a fantastic night tonight and hope that 2010 is a great year for you. I'm very excited with the upcoming shows for next year and hope that many of you will make it to my Celtic Connections show at St Andrews in the Square, Glasgow on the 30th Jan or indeed to the Wolfstone show at the ABC on the 22nd.
Happy New Year !!!!!!!!
4th December 2009
The much-loved Union Hill Christmas concert series kicks off in just over a week's time at Bogbain Farm, Inverness on the evening of Sunday 13th December. Duncan, Iain and Marc will also be travelling to Biggar to play the Clydesdale Folk Club on the 17th, Clashmore Hall on the 19th and to Glencoe village on the 20th.
3rd November 2009
There are only a few tickets left for tomorrow's night's performance of Kin at Perthshire Amber Festival in Birnam. All tickets available from www.perthshireamber.com
30th October 2009
Duncan has just been confirmed for a Celtic Connections date on the 30th of January at St Andrews in the Square in Glasgow. This will be first concert ever to feature purely material from his 3 solo albums to date and will also feature tracks from his forthcoming solo album also. All details for the concert and information regarding ticket sales are available at www.celticconnections.com
23rd October 2009
I am very much looking forward to the first Kin performance in a while at Dougie MacLean's Perthshire Amber Festival on the 4th of November. A couple of years ago during the festival I performed with Dougie and his band at Blair Castle on a very memorable night for me. He had arranged ahead of the concert for me to play Neil Gow's fiddle which has stayed in a glass case in Blair Castle for a number of years. So it was with great pride and in front of a packed audience that I played the famous "Neil Gow's Lament for his Second Wife" on probably the same fiddle it was written on 200 years before.
The whole festival is packed with great talent and of course Dougie is always in fine form. It is one for sure not to be missed.
The Kin performance will take place at The Birnam Arts Centre on Wednesday 4th November with an 8pm start
All details for Perthshire Amber are available at www.perthshireamber.com
Hope to see you there !!
29th September 2009
I was delighted this morning when the post arrived and the new Julie Fowlis album "Uam" popped onto the doormat. Ignore the fact that I'm on it, when I say that this is a class album. It is very rare that an artist can constantly build in creativity and confidence year after year, album after album, but Julie is doing exactly that. As well as having a beautiful voice Julie has an incredibly fluid creative mind and along with her husband Eamon, who has been meticulous in the production of Uam, they have crafted yet another beautiful album of music.
We are about to start a short UK tour to promote Uam ahead of its' release date, all details of the tour are on the "live dates" page now
Uam will be released in the UK on the 26th of October. Pre-orders can be made at www.juliefowlis.com
25th September 2009
The "Blazin in Beauly" fiddle week is almost upon us again. Blazin in Beauly is run by Blazin Fiddles and is a great event in the fiddle calendar, certainly a major event for the small town of Beauly in Inverness-shire which every year opens its arms to almost a hundred fiddlers from all over the world. This year I am going to be involved, appearing on the Monday night but not quite as myself. Now some of you may say, "I've seen him many times not quite himself" but this year I definately won't be. On the Monday night this year there is to be the "Fiddle Grandmaster Play-off Competition", which will be held at the Phipps Hall in Beauly. This will involve 4 of the grandmasters of fiddle, vaulting out of their graves and appearing in in a once-only competition. The four grandmasters are James Scott Skinner (aka Bruce MacGregor with a bald wig and a false moustache), Neil Gow (Iain MacFarlane with a pair of tartan trousers and a half-bottle) Captain Simon Fraser of Knockie (Alastair Fraser without a beard and a hoping for the partisan Fraser crowd in for the night) and of course myself............William Marshall.......with all of the above, tartan trousers, false wig, moustache, a big velvet waistcoat and a half-bottle to slip to the adjudicator....who by the way will be the one and only Angus Grant (played by himself, no false moustache required ........and always keen on a half bottle). The whole show will be presented by the one and only Robbie Shepherd (aka Allan Henderson, lilting away the Doric twang in a dapper suit and standing on a box).
The idea is that all the Grandmasters must play 2 sets of their own tunes and in-between times avoid any punch-ups in the toilets at the back of the hall. If there is any trouble then no doubt it will be Marquis of Queensberry rules out in the car park after the concert.....or maybe even pistols at dawn on the Tuesday outside the Co-op.
Whatever the outcome, William Marshall will always be the king for me with his beautifully elegant Airs and Strathspeys.
It's going to be a night and a half for sure !!
Blazin in Beauly runs from the 19th -23rd October 2009
For information on tickets and events at Blazin in Beauly go to www.blazininbeauly.com
9th September 2009
Music from the Farrar album has been utilised to great effect in Rory Bremner's moving documentary "Rory Bremner and the Fighting Scots" which will be broadcast on BBC4 and on the BBCiplayer over the next week. The programme documents the history of Scottish soldiers and their contribution to the nation down through the centuries.
8th September 2009
I have just started working on the follow up album to Farrar which will be recorded in January and released in the Spring of 2010. I am going to spend the next few months writing and arranging the pieces that will make up the second album in the trilogy that has started with the Farrar album. The as yet untitled album will draw on and expand on musical ideas and moods thrown up in Farrar but will have its own definable stamp. I'm very excited at the prospect of this next studio album and starting the creative process again. I'll feed through more information to you all as it develops.
24th August 2009
The festival season is almost at an end and it has been a great summer of travelling. Last week was an interesting journey. I played two gigs in Barcelona and Madrid with Julie Fowlis, two fantastic cities and two fantastic concerts.
From Madrid I had to fly to the Azores where I was going to meet up with the rest of Wolfstone for a festival on Santa Maria island. The rest of the lads were already on Santa Maria as I was travelling in on the day of the gig.
The day was an endless one. The clocks in the Azores are 2 hours behind Spain and I had to travel fourteen hours from Madrid through Lisbon and out across the Atlantic. Fourteen hours of time to kill on your own usually culminates in you thinking of yourself as Billy No-Mates, no one loves me, poor me.... etc etc. Such was the case in Ponta Delgado airport, The Azores on a balmy August evening. Billy No-Mates was sitting by himself eating his third cheese and ham baguette of the day, watching a sparrow who had somehow managed to find his way into Departures and wondering how the rest of the band were coping without him. Above him is a yellow neon sign that says Santa Maria.............Atrasado, he knows Atrasado is not good news, he can feel it in his water. He is suspecting Atrasado means he is going to be spending the night alone on an airport bench with nothing but the crumbs of his fifth baguette and a sparrow for company.
"I'll call them" I thought, with little disregard as to the cost. "I'll call them a