Stornoway and HebCelt
Photos & stories from several of our visits to the great music festival
I hope you enjoyed the article last week about the HebCelt (Hebridean Celtic) Festival held each summer on the Isle of Lewis. We’ll visit there again, with more photos from various times that we visited, but first let’s set the stage.
On our way from the standing stones of Callanish, on the west coast of Lewis, to the main town of Lewis (and of the Outer Hebrides as a whole), Stornoway, we saw some beautiful sights, and one intriguing view was of peat cuttings. Below on the left, you can see some large stacks of peat that has been cut and carefully stacked in triangular formations so as to best dry them out before using them for heating fuel.
In the middle and on the right are a couple of views of the town of Stornoway, one from in town, and the other from across the river from the side where the festival is held.
Perhaps you know the famous song “Lovely Stornoway” by Calum Kennedy? Here’s a recording of Calum singing it (the track concludes with a snippet of another song Kennedy liked to sing, called “Bratach Bana,” as played on fiddle and accordion by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham).
I mentioned last week about the opening of the HebCelt Festival, led by the Lewis Pipe Band gathering followers in town, like the pied piper, leading them across the little walking bridge, and up the path to the Castle Green.
On the left, below, you see some of the pipers, with Lews Castle in the background. Lews Castle also is seen in the middle photo, above a row of food and craft tents at the festival.
Lews Castle was built in the mid-19th century as something of a fantasy castle by Sir James Matheson, using his enormous wealth from the opium trade. The castle was bought and renovated at the end of World War I by Lord Leverhulme. For several years, Leverhulme attempted to entice the residents of Lewis to stop their old ways — enjoying their crofts, animals, fishing, seasonal hard work, seasonal play, fresh air, etc. -- and instead, to move into city homes he promised to build for them if they would become his assembly line workers. This was what he considered “modernizing” life on Lewis. He was astounded when they said No Thanks, and protected their way of life with well-organized opposition to his plans. By 1923, he’d given up his grand schemes for Lewis, donating Lews Castle and a huge swath of land to the public. You can read the whole dramatic story in a book called The Soap Man (of Lever Brothers fame).
Today the castle contains a very interesting museum about the Outer Hebrides, as well as a floor of luxury self-catering apartments, and function rooms for weddings and other events.
On the right is the castle ballroom. If you look closely, you can see my wife Laura Scott, who couldn’t resist trying out some dance steps on the beautiful, spacious floor.
Below is a photo of the festival grounds before things got going. You can see the main performance tent with the double peak, and the small one that was used for the kids’ performers. On the right are the merch and beer tents, and on the left, a shelter tent with hay bales for people to sit on to eat or drink or relax. (Volunteers also used some of the hay bales to keep the grounds by the tents from getting muddy if it rained.) This shot was taken from near the red tent you can see on the right, which was the secondary performance tent. The festival always alternated the starting time of the main acts, so people could catch part of one act and then move over to another at the other tent if they wanted.
The photo in the middle is of a bench carved to look like one of the famous 12th century Lewis chess pieces that were discovered in 1831. The real pieces, mostly carved from walrus tusks, are the size of normal chess pieces, but it was fun to see this bench with the magnified replica carved into it.
Once the events get going, the place is crowded but always seems manageable. The huge tents are standing room only, though there’s a special area reserved for those who need to sit down.
A huge variety of music is on offer, by stellar bands. Many of the bands have their own lighting designers to match the music. In my interview with the Elephant Sessions band, I mentioned how totally synchronized their lighting designer was with their music; it was an exciting part of their performance. To the side of the stage, there’s a large screen so that the crowds can see closeups of what’s happening on stage.
Below are some of the lighting displays during the concerts. The band at bottom center is Blazin’ Fiddles, and to the right of them is Julie Fowlis’s band during a quiet moment.
One thing I didn’t mention in my magazine article (last week’s post) was that in 2015, the festival invited my son Neil and me to perform at the Acoustic tent. This is another tent, opposite the red tent, where smaller groups using acoustic instruments perform. At the far end of the tent are some great gin and whisky tasting stations. I suppose that makes the crowd happier!
One of our travelers took a video of us, and you can see a still from it at left below. (If you haven’t heard Neil’s amazing piano playing, you’ll enjoy Neil’s earlier post about his album, where you can read about and hear the whole thing, with improv based on old Scots Gaelic song melodies.) During the day, we got a call that HebCelt wanted us to play that night at An Lanntair, a beautiful concert hall, restaurant and bar in downtown Stornoway, where the festival had its afterparties, featuring performers from during the day. Before our show, we got to hang out with another band, a very fun Danish band called Habadekuk, which features fiddles, horns, rhythm and more. Check them out!
Three years later, the festival again asked Neil and me to perform, this time including my daughter Lillie, who plays fiddle, piano and dances in our Highland Soles Trio (HST). Below, next to the photo from our previous duo show, is a flyer about the Cape Breton stepdance workshop Neil taught, with Lillie on fiddle. The actual workshop is at right.
As you can tell, throughout our music and walking tours, I arranged for great musicians to join us along the way for private chats and performances. The HebCelt Festival was no exception. I usually found time when one of the festival performers could join us for a special get-together.
In 2018, our special guests were fiddle-cello duo Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. At left below, you can see them informally speaking about their music to us.
On the right is a photo someone took of Alasdair and Natalie during their night-time show at An Lanntair, during a number when they invited Neil, Lillie, and me to join them on a beautiful slow air followed by a couple of other tunes that Lillie stepdanced to.
I recommend you take a look at the HebCelt festival website to get an idea of the scope of the event. It includes great music, food, crafts, extra events in Stornoway and around the island, and lots of community support. They have also won awards for their environmental awareness.
The festival lasts several days. After the second day, we took an early morning ferry from Stornoway back to the Scottish mainland, and said goodbye to the Outer Hebrides.
Below are a couple of shots from our boat as we came to the end of our crossing of the Minch, the waters between Lewis and Ullapool on the mainland. Of course, some of us took out our instruments and played the great hornpipe “Crossing the Minch” while we were actually crossing it!
We’ll end with a video of Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas playing “Crossing the Minch.” Before they get to that tune as their exciting finisher, they start the medley with a great strathspey and reel. Enjoy!
This concludes our tour of the Outer Hebrides. Stick around as we begin our final tour, where we’ll take a look at the music and captivating scenery of northern Scotland, including Caithness, Orkney, Shetland, Aberdeenshire, and Morayshire. Until then!