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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 and get a bit of craic".
Now, in times like these when you wish to share your misfortune with your pals, you can't deny that deep within the inner reaches of your soul there is a small and sordid part that hopes that things are not going so well for them either. You want them to say something like "Please come quickly !! We're missing you terribly, it's just not the same without you!!!" or maybe even "They've just fumigated the hotel!!, there are dog turds in the dining room, the swimming pool is full of sand and the owner is outside the door sharpening his axe!!".
So it was with a degree of minor disappointment that when the phone was answered in Santa Maria and before Billy was to tell his story to the distressed Wolfstone entourage that all was heard was "That's 40-15, Stevie to serve. This was then followed by a distant splash of water and a roar of laughter, way off in the distance there was definately a chink of glass upon glass.
"How is it for you?" (as if I didn't know !!!!!!!!!!)
"Lovely, what a day we're having, (more roars, more chinks, more splashes........"40-30"), where are you anyway?"
"Doesn't matter, I'll speak to you later, there's a sparrow here I need to discuss theology with, I'll get someone to send on my ashes to you once you've finished enjoying yourself so much. Cheers........!!"
........CLICK!!
Mmmmm,..... thinking about another baguette
6th July 2009
There we have it, yet another Wimbledon finished and unfortunately no trophy heading for Dunblane. However I was thinking I might dust off the old sandshoes myself for next years event seeing as Scots seem to be leading the way in most sporting fields these days, Chris Hoy (Olympic Cycling Champion) John Higgins (World Snooker Champion) Andy Murray (Tennis World Number 3 and Madrid Masters Champion) Duncan Chisholm (Kirkhill Swingball Champion 1977 !!!!!)........oh yes they were quaking in there shoes at the sight of Chisholm and his big plastic bat.
Anyway, congratulations to Andy Murray for reaching the semi-final of Wimbledon, an amazing achievement for a Scottish lad of just 22. Congratulations also Andy for putting up with the drivvel and ramblings of that dreadful bird from Sky News who appears to know so much more than your good self about how to swing a racket..................... making a racket maybe.
The life of an itinerant musician is not an easy one. Our summer days are spent idling around Europe going to various festivals with our pals, having to drink foreign beer and sit in the sun for hours. We’re off to Ortigueira Festival in Galicia this weekend, a fantastic festival in the north-west corner of Spain. The festival usually boasts audiences of 20,000 each night and this year we are on the bill with some great musicians, Michael McGoldrick Band, La Bouttine Souriante and The Battlefield Band (not many drinkers there then). I have to pinch myself sometimes about the job we have, its kind of like being Andy Murray but without all the training and without the annoying bird from Sky News. I love it !!!!
26th May 2009
It’s great to be home !!!
We’ve just had a great tour down in the south of England which ended with a gig in the beautiful city of Bath on the warmest day of the year. Bath might even have an edge on Edinburgh in terms of great Georgian architecture and is just a fantastic city to meander through on a sunny day.
However, it’s great to be home !!! There is no place like the old But n’ Ben in the north of Scotland, albeit home is lacking a certain four-legged who appears to have taken a sabatical in my absence to some far away corner of the Black Isle. Apparently he packed his case with all the essentials, (one tennis ball slightly slevvered on, one half eaten jumbone dug up from below the pansies, one blanket (girlfriend) , one shoe circa 1992) and then headed for the hills shortly after I went south. He’s expected back tomorrow, Lord knows how he’s been getting on and how the blanket is coping with it all.....
Anyway it has been a day of catch-up today with the family......and a million emails to answer. Since I have been away the Blas Festival has been launched and this year it has a fantastic line-up. The highlight for me is going to be Iain MacFarlane’s commission piece, awarded this year by the Blas Festival and quite rightly so. Iain is one of countries finest musicians. Full of creativity and knowledge, he is the perfect ambassador for this years festival. His commission piece (still to be titled) will run from Friday, 4th September until Tuesday, 8th September and will take place in 5 distilleries around the Highlands. All details can be found at www.blas-festival.com
22nd May 2009
I am at present on the road with Julie and the guys doing a few shows around England. The tour has been going very well what with sold out audiences and lots of great craic. Great also to get a few new things on the go from Julie’s forthcoming new album which is to be out in the Autumn.
We are off to Dorchester today which I believe has a fantastic beach and many fantastic sights, including a Tutankamun exhibition and a dinosaur museum, a veritable jewel in the south coast.
What are we going to do ???
Seeing as it is such a lovely day we thought we’d head to a snooker club for an afternoon in the dark.....what more could a man ask for !!!!
A new baby boy arrived in the Chisholm family on Sunday 26th April. All is well with baby and Mam. Many thanks to everyone for all the good wishes.
Delighted !!
19th April 2009
There is much excitement in the Chisholm household this week as there is a new arrival imminent.....tomorrow in fact !!
Although we are reliably informed that most first babies are "usually late" there has been a couple of "moments" where the expectant father thought he should be boiling the kettle, running for the towels and buying the cigars. Last Friday night we were at a 50th wedding anniversary in Inverness and after the meal the Chisholm’s were sitting chatting and relaxing. The expentant mother, out of nowhere, started with calls of "oh, OH, OH! OH!!!!!". The expectant father was (to say the least!) a bit startled and thoughts were springing up in his head to the tune of (where in God’s name will I get a bucket and mop?) and (how do I get her out of here with no-one noticing and what happens if someone wants him to do the hokey cokey just now?)
Turning to my left however I realised that the impending arrival was not that of another Chisholm but that of a plate of homemade tablet, winging its way to the table with a pot of coffee. The expectant father, I suspect, will be like a hen on a hot plate when the baby decides its going to head south for the summer.
Can’t wait though !!!
(will keep you posted)
26th March 2009
All Box Office details and addresses for the upcoming tour with Ivan Drever are now posted on the live dates page. Also posted are Duncan’s Spring and Summer dates with Julie Fowlis
26th February 2009
While in the supermarket carpark yesterday and listening to the radio I became engrossed in a radio quiz on Radio 4. It involved solving anagrams in one section and I soon found myself writing down anagrams of my name on the newspaper. Cash Munch Lid On, , A Chins Lunch Mod, Human Cold Chins..........its not quite cutting it in the "Oh MY GOD, HOW BIZARRE !!!!!" stakes.
Here however are some quite interesting anagrams of people you may know.....
Christopher Evans - He’s a rich TV person
Alec Guinness - Genuine Class
Nigel Lawson - We all sign on
Virginia Bottomley - I’m an Evil Tory Bigot
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - A Famous German Waltz God
Eric Morecambe - Me be rare comic
Robert De Niro - Error on Bidet
Lester Piggott - Got St Leger tip
William Shakespeare - I’ll make a wise phrase
George Best - Go gets beer
Princess Diana - Ascend in Paris
Rod Stewart - Worst dater
Margaret Thatcher - That Great Charmer
Justin Timberlake - I’m a jerk but listen
William Butler Yates - Sit, write me a lullaby
and then of course there is "Redpoint" - ponder it,
Door of Saints - soft on radios
and Fiddle player - a piddle flyer
19th February 2009
Hello everyone, it is the 19th February and it has been 83 days since my last confession......erm I mean blog, sorry about that.
At the moment Chez Chisholm is getting a makeover, a new bathroom, new paint etc etc. So yesterday I took the opportunity of leaving the grout and plaster behind me and headed south to Edinburgh for the day. Our new Culture Minister at the Scottish Parliament, Mike Russell had kindly invited me down for a meeting to be held at the Traverse Theatre with other bods from the art world.
I enjoyed the experience and met up with some old pals during the brief morning get-together. It did however remind me that a politicians life is one of fair few thanks and one with precious little room for error. Mike Russell is a well educated man with a life-time of experience within the world of arts and literature and I would hope that people within the arts world in Scotland will give him a chance to breathe new impetus into our creative worlds.
Anyway, while I was milling about at the end I found myself chewing the fat with Margaret Bennett, a wonderful lady and a great authority on Scottish ethnology. Margaret has written many books during her life, with for me notably her first "The Last Stronghold", a book written about the Gaelic traditions still found in Newfoundland. As part of the year of Homecoming Margaret is taking across from Newfoundland a group of singers and musicians whose Gaelic forebears (MacArthurs, MacDonalds and MacIsaacs) emigrated from the Isle of Canna, Moidart and Glengarry in the 1800s. They will perform in locations connected to their emigration. This Homecoming 2009 tour will be Scotland’s first cultural event for Newfoundland Gaels and I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone who can catch it.
10th February 2009
Duncan’s upcoming 2009 Spring tour with Ivan Drever is getting close and details of some of the concerts are now posted up on the live dates page with more to follow.
16th January 2009
Duncan’s upcoming gigs at Celtic Connections are nearing and the news is unfortunately you can’t get a ticket for the first one on the 24th of January as The Highland Fiddle Concert at St Andrew’s in the Square is now a sell-out. Tickets are still available for the Julie Fowlis gig at the Royal Concert Hall on the 29th although they also seem to be going fast. Head to the press page for an article by Calum MacLeod of the Inverness Courier as he chats to Duncan about his upcoming concerts and the year ahead.
FARRAR WINS "ALBUM OF THE YEAR" AT MG ALBA TRAD AWARDS 2008
Many thanks for all the messages of congratulation I have received since Saturday nights awards show. I am delighted that the new album has been honoured in this way and would like to thank everyone here at Copperfish Records for all their good work. Of course a big thank you to all of yourselves for the support you have given to me and my solo projects over the past months and years. A final thank you must go to everyone involved with Farrar during the recording process up to the mastering and production. It is a team effort and everyone shares the credit in gaining this award.
28th November
The Christmas season is upon us and I have a run of gigs coming up with Union Hill in the Highlands. This three-piece line-up with Iain MacFarlane and Marc Clement has been on the go for a number of years and we always have a fantastic time playing together. Iain is on fiddle, accordion and whistles with the odd Gaelic song thrown in and of course Marc is on guitar and vocals. All the upcoming dates are on the live dates page.
Another outing for me will be at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow where I will again be playing alongside Iain MacFarlane in the Clunes Collection. This show will be performed on the 24th January at St Andrews in the Square and will involve another great fiddler Bruce MacGregor. Bruce, Iain and myself were all taught by the great Highland fiddler, Donald Riddell and we will be playing his tunes and talking about him and his influences in a special concert. Alongside us on the night will be Rory Campbell on pipes and whistles, Jonny Hardy on guitar and Brian MacAlpine on piano. All tickets can be obtained from the Celtic Connections website www.celticconnections.com
4th November
I’m delighted to announce that my Farrar album has been nominated for Album of the Year at THE MG ALBA SCOTS TRAD MUSIC AWARDS 2008. The award ceremony will be held at the Fruitmarket in Glasgow on Dec 6th where also Julie Fowlis and the rest of us have been nominated for Best Live Act. Julie has also been nominated for Folk Singer of the Year at the Radio 2 Folk Awards for the second year in a row. This is great news after her taking home this award last year.
4th November
This is the first day back at home after an amazing tour around England and Wales with Julie Fowlis and the guys.
On previous English tours we have occupied our minds while travelling by playing a game called pub cricket. The main aim of this game is for Scotland (me and Julie) to beat Ireland (Eamon and Tony) by spotting pubs with animals, birds or people in their titles (anything with legs) and counting said legs. For example The Dog and Duck would give you a total of 6 legs and therefore 6 points, The Red Lion only a total of 4.
Now this is okay for a while and can cause some hilarity and angst while looking for the venue, 6 legs down, half a mile to go and pass a pub called The Legless Centipede (DOH !!!!!!!).
Far better craic however is our current game of finding funny English place-names that we have passed (there are hundreds!!)
Now maybe some of you live by Cheesebottom or indeed Broadbottom and if you do I really don’t mean to offend. But to be honest some of the following would give you serious consideration of a move.
High on our list of places not to move to for fear of muffled sniggering and sitting at number 10 would be Titsey in Surrey, a beautiful place but sadly and ultimately quite a funny name.
Number 9 on our countdown is Cocklaw in Northumberland. We have never been but passed by and decided to keep going.
Number 8 Cowbit in Lincolnshire. I knew someone from Cowbit once. Poor fella eventually moved to a village in Wales not 6 miles from a place called Pant
Number 7 Crapstone is near Dartmoor in Devon. There is an old MOD site there ..........and a post office.
Number 6 is The River Piddle which runs through Dorset and through a village called Piddlehinton and where Wolfstone got a parking ticket in the early 90’s.
Number 5 We recently pulled in to Henley-on-Thames for a spot of lunch one Sunday afternoon. Not only was Debbie McGee (wife of Paul Daniels) sitting across from us tucking in to her roast pork, but on the way out of the town we passed Cockpole Green. What a day!!
Number 4 Titty Hill is in Sussex
Number 3 I stayed near Foul End while doing a duo gig with Ivan. It is in Warwickshire and despite it’s name I had a lovely time there. It’s quite close to Botts Green.
Number 2 Almost making it to number 1 is Pratts Bottom in Kent and was my number 1 for many years but was eventually over taken by the clear and outright winner........ and its Scottish !!!!
NUMBER 1 I’m sorry England but Scotland wins again...... Buttock Point!!!!!!!
If you didn’t know, it’s on the Island of Bute
I know it’s all quite childish but I’m glad to have enlightened you on some classic English......and Scottish geography.
Other classic places I have visited outside England are Skitter Creek (West Virginia) Balls Creek (Nova Scotia) Three Cocks (Wales) and Shaggie Burn (Scotland)
10th October It is nearing the end of the Danish tour and we are today in Stovring, a small town in the north of Jutland. It is raining outside and although the offer of another game of table tennis is not too tempting, the other option is to go into the hall and listen to Granny (Wolfstone’s sound engineer) EQ our PA of the day. Given a choice of this or putting my testicles through a mangle, the mangle would win every time, Anyway PA, mangles and table tennis aside, I have managed to find an island of internet activity so that I can bring you a quick news item from Dunc’s world. I am going to be heading home on Saturday for a couple of days with the family, then it is off again for a three week tour with Julie Fowlis. Julie is doing fantastically well at the moment and I was delighted to learn that we are heading into the BBC on Tuesday to record a session with Bob Harris. On Wednesday it is back to the Beeb for an afternoon stint on Steve Wright in the Afternoon and then the tour gets under way with gigs all over England. If you get a chance to listen in then please do. I was also delighted to be asked to perform at the launch for the gaelic channel BBC Alba a couple of weeks ago with Julie and also the following day in Edinburgh with Charlie McKerron and a few other usual suspects. The programming so far has been fantastic. It has been a huge shot in the arm for the gaelic language and long may it continue. BBC Alba has also just announced that the Scottish Trad Music Awards sponsored by MG Alba are to take place at the Fruitmarket in Glasgow on the 5th and 6th of December. The awards are to be televised by MG Alba and as always it will be an invaluable showcase for the outstanding talent north of the border. .All details for the awards are available at www.handsupfortrad.co.uk/tradmusicawards
3rd September
Another ***** 5 Star Review, this time from ROCKnREEL, read it on the Press Page
18th August
It is Monday afternoon and I’ve just been out in the garden soaking up the beautiful sunny day, doing my usual tidying up and listening to a bit of Runrig on the old ipod. Sadly however without the usual dog by my side. I was heading into Gatwick yesterday when I heard the news that "said Spaniel" was off for an emergency operation. "Said Spaniel" had spent the weekend throwing up all over the house and when that wasn’t happening "said Spaniel" was farting with quite unbelievable velocity and ferociousness which was followed by "said Spaniels" rapid exit to the flower bed where "said Spaniel" spent most of his evening with an arched back and a poorly disposition. The little fella was so dehydrated by yesterday that he was shipped off to the vets. After careful examination of his rear end and an X-ray of his vitals it was discovered that not one but two socks were lodged in "said Spaniels" belly.
I am wondering now..... have we in the Chisholm household inadvertantly solved one of the great mysteries of the modern world??? Something that has puzzled me and kept me awake for nights on end. Where DOES the single sock go???, (sounds like a song doesn’t it) .. Could it be possible that the Chisholms’ massive pile of single socks were not caused by a vortex within the tumble dryer (as previously thought) that whisks them to some parallel universe where they are donned by a self-satisfied, two clothed-footed reflection of myself............ It appears not !!!
It appears that "said Spaniel" has been guzzling them on a regular basis. Whenever he can’t get his chops around some other dogs poo, or chew on a bit of gravel it seems he is more than happy to head for the sock drawer or even better the laundry basket for a ripe old sock or two.
Anyway he is home tomorrow, all sorted..... and I can’t wait to see him
6th August
I opened the curtains this morning and was met with a cold, grey, damp Scottish summer morning. Took my bleary eyes and fuzzy head through to the kitchen where I stubbed my toe on the utility room door for the second time in a month and then proceeded to burn some toast. The onlooking spaniel with the puzzled expression shook his head and made for the sanctity of between the table legs. I boiled up the kettle, ground some coffee and made for the office where surely things would improve. Opening my email (it has to be said, with a certain degree of trepidation) my heart rose and my toe was forgotten. Songlines, the world music magazine has put Farrar in their top 10 new world music releases and are about to put a track from the album on a compilation Cd with the next issue. I took a bite from my burnt toast, looked out onto the beautifully wet garden where the spaniel had now perched his wet behind............and life was good.
30th July
They say you must never meet your heroes, you’ll only be disappointed.
Well they are very wrong. Last week I spent quite a bit of time in the marvelous company of Shane McGowan who I was gigging with in Dublin and London. I had met Shane on a few previous occasions but to be honest he probably wasn’t in too great a state to remember me. In London the other day however a lucid and thoughtful Shane met us at the door of the hotel in the afternoon. We chatted for a while until an elderly lady was seen struggling with a heavy bag coming up the steps. Before I had a chance to take a breath the said Mr McGowan was down the stairs, grabbed her case and strode up the steps with it for her.
The gig was good but the craic backstage was fantastic. We had a few drams with the great man and a few tunes. In return he regailed us with tales about Celtic, Celtic Park, drinking with Jinky Johnstone, Irish history, The Dubliners, Tipperary and much more.
Shane McGowan is an interesting, generous and thoroughly decent gentleman and it was a great pleasure to be in his company. So go out and meet your heroes, they’re not all bad.
15th July
So for the next couple of weeks it is "Planes, Trains and Automobiles... and Ferries". To be exact 7 Planes, 3 Trains, 1 Ferry, 4 Buses and 8 Road Trips which will take me to Stornoway, Dublin, Wiltshire, Portsmouth, London, Gateshead, Edinburgh, Beauly, back to London, Inverness, Lisbon and La Coruna. (Ferry is to Stornoway, not Lisbon)
In order not to go .......Feckin Mental.!!!.... on these trips I now have an ipod which is tuned into some of the finest music around.
I will today give you a rundown of "Dunc’s ipod" as it is known and its’ 10 most played albums of the moment;
In no particular order;
1. Pete Murray "Feeler"
2. Kris Drever "Blackwater"
3. Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson "Partners in Crime"
4. Michael McGoldrick "Wired"
5. The Lush Rollers "Who’s Driving?"
6. Oasis "Don’t Believe the Truth"
7. Primal Scream "Give Out, But Don’t Give Up"
8. Tom Waits "Mule Variations"
9. Lau "Lightweights and Gentlemen"
10. Chris Stout "First O’ The Darkening"
13th July
Another 5 Star review for Farrar.
Read "The Scotsman" review on our Press Page
3rd July
I know it’s not very Rock n’ Roll but early morning yesterday was spent cutting the grass at home. Now the usual proceedure involves heading into the Chisholm shed, taking the strimmer out first, donning the ear-muffs and visor and getting down to an hour of frightening the dog, ripping the wellies and waking the neighbours. The Chisholm visor and muffs are not exactly High street chic, the wellies leave a bit to be desired and I think I may have pushed the boundries of style with my "I 
Bagpipes" T-shirt but hey! who’s caring? I once saw Phil Cunningham strim my grass with a crash-helmet on.
So its off to the shed for the first injury of the day.
For those of you out there that have a clean and tidy shed I know this type of injury will be hard to comprehend. Somehow however I have come to expect the worst when I go to the shed these days. I fear that sometime in the future as they are lowering me six feet under someone will be saying "what a tragedy, if only he had cleaned the shed". Anyway I put the visor on and I am hunting for the muffs. Unfortunately the visor is in a similar state to the shed and I am struggling to see out of it. As I bent down to see if the muffs had fallen behind the two sets of golf clubs in the corner I put my right peg down on the rake. WHACK !!!!! a swift blow to the right ear resulting in partial blindness, some chronic swearing and a badly damaged shin as I scraped it along the throttle lever of the mower to my left.
I am now wondering if it might be better to head inside the house, curl back into my bed and have a fresh go later on. That’s what the sensible people in this world would do. They would take the hint, think about it carefully and decide that this is not the day for them to be around machinery. They would put the kettle on, hit the Skyplus button, watch last nights Big Brother and laugh at their misfortune later on over a nice cold beer. What did I do???...........
I spent 6 hours strimming, swearing, sweating, getting bitten alive in the roasting sun (I forgot to mention my severe lack of sun-cream) and burnt the head off myself.
Anyway in the end the garden looked amazing. It was like Centre Court, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the playing fields of Eton had nothing on this.......beautiful!!!!!!
I was so pleased that I thought I would just run over one more time around the border of the front lawn, just to get rid of any little strands I had missed.
So here you would think ends the tale of my day yesterday. No, not quite. The end to my day was not a perfect one. As I caught the very last strand of grass my fecking mower threw out a stone that went right through the patio door shattering it in a million pieces. A million pieces I should add that needed to be picked up and bagged.
Did I mention the midges?
Midges (noun) small but vicious creatures (bastards!!!) who prefer to attack when their prey is on a low ebb, especially when picking up a million bits of glass with a roasted head, bleeding shin and a cauliflower ear
2nd July
Last week I was invited to the hills above Beauly for a BBQ and to play to a group of Romanian youngsters over in Scotland for a fortnights trip. These kids are all HIV positive (21 in all) and they were invited to come to Scotland by a fantastic charity set up in the Highlands called HIV Mission Possible. The kids were all between 15 and 17 and showed a fantastic spirit and zest for life as well as some wierd and wonderful Romanian dancing.
Congratulations to Dotty Grant and all her volunteers for a great job well done.
2nd July
The Highland News give Farrar its first review !!!
Read the review on the Press Page
30th May
The tour with Ivan has now almost come to a close and it has been a fantastic four weeks of travel and craic. Mr Drever is in fine form and we have been very much enjoying returning to places we have not been in many a long year.
The highlight of the tour for me so far has been the return trip to the Orkney Folk Festival. The festival has been re-jigged (pardon the pun) this year as a new group of festival organisers took hold of the reins. Stromness always has a great buzz when you land at festival time and with the noon sun blazing down, tunes already spilling out of the pubs and a multitude of old friends greeting you it is just great to be back.
Off to the festival office we went to sort out our various itineries to be greeted by Fraser, Bob and Lorraine. "Do you know anything about plumbing????!!" came the cry from the three of them as we went ankle deep in something or other. I would have loved to say "yes" but I am not the best with the old plunger and bucket and I am suspecting that Mr Drever has not seen the underside of a sink in some time.
Time for a quick exit. "Is that someone shouting for us Dreev??"
"I think I heard something Dunc"
We have an hour in Stromness and it is spent chewing the fat with various pals outside the Ferry Inn before heading off to Hoy for the evenings entertainment. The boat is full of musicians, Geordie and Allison MacIntyre are as entertaining off stage as they are on and I get stories of Selkies and sea monsters while we plough through the sparkling surf. Breabach are all on board also, a fine bunch who have in their possesion a hacky-sack, something that fills me with a degree of fondness and dread........how will my knees hold up???
Hoy is a beautiful place and we are made to feel very much at home. When we arrive at the hall (a venue in the past for the likes of Vera Lynn and host to King GeorgeVI and Winston Churchill) it is Fergie MacDonald who’s smiling face greets us. Fergie, his son John, his daughter Morven and drummer John are all in, set up and looking forward to their mince and tatties.
I love Fergie’s company, stories of dances, craic and a whole lot of mince munching, stories of bread and butter pudding made the old style........ ah lovely !!!
The evening is a heady mix of drams, music, craic and dancing. The Orcadians are fantastic dancers and there are many moves we’re not sure of, but un-fazed myself and Joanne go for th