4 Star Review in The Scotsman

-Published 9th January 2012, The Scotsman-

Bruce MacGregor, Christine Hanson & Friends: Kissin’ is the Best of A’

Brechin All Records £11.99

Rating: ****

THIS admirable instrumental spree comes from Blazin’ Fiddles stalwart and broadcaster Bruce MacGregor and cellist Christine Hanson, accompanied with unobtrusive skill by pianist Brian McAlpine on piano and Tim Edey on guitar and occasional accordion.

There’s real, infectious zest in much of the playing, drawn largely from traditional fiddle repertoire, including a lissom set of traditional jigs and a pair of energetically driven strathspeys, while a stand-out track begins with MacGregor’s nicely considered interpretation of Scott Skinner’s beautiful fiddle pibroch, Dargai, before skipping through the Sword Dance and into another Skinner classic, the reel Miss Shepherd.

Gentler excursions include the American Sunday River Waltz and the lovely song air Her Mantle So Green and a restrained but wistful interpretation of the old tune Gin Ye Kiss My Wife I’ll Tell the Minister, as well that sadly neglected genre, the slow strathspey.

Jim Gilchrist

Tags: Blazin' Fiddles, Bogbain Farm, Brian macAlpine, Bruce Macgregor, Christine Hanson, Kissin' is the Best of A', Tim Edey

There is no failure except in no longer trying

It is hard to keep cheery this month. Dark nights, freezing mornings, furious storms, and the endless pressure to spend, spend, spend! 

Its been a hard year here at Bogbain. We’ve changed what we do. We had to. It’s taken me a long time to realize but the kids activity centre has not worked. To be honest it never worked. Kids adventure centres have to be huge (as in England) or built indoors. The Scottish weather really doesn’t provide the consistency needed for such a business. You can’t just sit and wait and hope that eventually you are going to have a good season. You also have to like other people’s kids….

Then there’s the other thing you should always consider in business. If you can, then do something you love. Why it has taken me so long to discover that I actually love live music and love putting on gigs and festivals (I now see them as just big parties) is beyond me! I think it’s probably got to do with the popular perception that music isn’t  really  a job. Music and the arts are not seen as careers because its something you enjoy…and in Scotland, that’s just not on!

So this year we’ve started to make the changes and next year it’s going to really take off. I know that sounds rather confident, especially in this financial climate. However I know that if you give 100% and have a goal you will get there.  

There’s a great quote in the Bogbain office/corridor which I look at every time I’ve hit a block, had someone chasing for money or someone just being a bit of a dick…oh yes we do get them. It goes like this

Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes out, so it comes clear in. In business, sometimes, prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

Something like that can really help to reassure you that you are heading in the right direction. I’m also really lucky to have someone by my side who supports me, argues with me, reasons with me, fights with me but most importantly believes in me.

Yvonne is a funny old bird (I’m gonna get a slap for that) full of contradictions and insecurities (bit like myself really!) but also positive, creative and at times, quite brilliant! I’ve never been keen on folk who say “that won’t work, give up” without them offering a decent alternative. If someone can actually say “that doesn’t work because of x,y and z, but this will work because of a,b and c” then you take notice because you know they have truly thought about the situation. That is what Yvonne does best.

I can’t really tell her that to her face as she’s my partner, and the way of the Highlander ensures that you should never really dish out praise to someone you are close to!

So thank you Yvonne; thank you my eccentric parents and thank you for those who have stuck by us here at Bogbain. I am truly excited by next year. I think the festivals (Northern Roots, Inverness Whisky festival and brew at the Bog) we’ve brought together are special. We’ve invested a lot of thought and effort into them and the feedback we’ve been getting so far has been very encouraging.

It’s going to be a special year ….I can feel it in my bones. Maybe thats just the cold getting to them!

Tags: Bogbain Farm, Brew at the Bog, Bruce Macgregor, Inverness Whisky Festival, Northern Roots Festival

New Review: Kissin’ is the Best of A’

The “& Friends” tag can often be applied to album and concert billings to give an impression of informality that turns out to be bogus.  Not here, though, as fiddler Bruce MacGregor and cellist Christine Hanson gather around the studio mics with guitarist-melodeonist Tim Edey and pianist Brian McAlpine to make music that conveys the immediacy of a backroom session – or saloon barroom session in the case of the country-flavoured waltzes – while also achieving the grandeur appropriate to Scott Skinner’s pibroch-influenced Dargai and MacGregor’s own Lament for Captain Simon Fraser.

It’s also a kind of pocket guide to Scotitsh fiddle music history, with the suitably ancient sounding and obviously heartfelt Gin Ye Kiss My Wife I’ll Tell The Minister and a rarely heard slow strathspey included in a programme that captures all four players’ expressiveness and creativity as well as demanding that the furniture gets shoved back for the superbly rugged and exuberant dance set The Rant.

Rob Adams, Sunday Herald, 27 November 2011

Awards season

We are really lucky to have been nominated for a few awards recently -

Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards -

Best Visitor Experience (Bogbain Farm)
Young Highland Ambassador of the Year (Yvonne Murray)

Scots Trad Music Awards 2011 -

Venue of the Year – Bogbain Farm
Live Act of the Year – Blazin’ Fiddles
Community Project of the Year – Blazin’ in Beauly

The Tourism Awards take place on 18th November and the winner is chosen by a panel, but the Trad Awards take place on 3rd December and the winner is chosen by a public vote!

So, we’d be over the moon if you’d vote for Bogbain, Blazin’ Fiddles and Blazin in Beauly by clicking on the link:

VOTE HERE!

 

Kissin’ is the Best of A’ – Album Launch

More extensive details coming soon, but for now:

KISSIN’ IS THE BEST OF A’ ALBUM LAUNCH

Bruce MacGregor, Christine Hanson & Friends

Wednesday 14 September 2011

To celebrate the launch of Bruce MacGregor and Christine Hanson’s new album, a luxury Highland Banquet will be served at Bogbain Farm from 6.30pm with a Highland Piper followed by return transport to the absolutely stunning surroundings of Foyers Church.

The concert includes an exclusive preview of the album’s tracks from legendary fiddler Bruce MacGregor along with Christine Hanson on cello, Brian McAlpine on piano and Matheu Watson on guitar.

Also featuring in the concert will be classical music from pianist Dr Andrew Dunlop and friends, who will explore the life and work of Gaelic song collector, Marjory Kennedy Fraser.

Tickets are £30 and include dinner, welcome drink, return transport from Bogbain to Foyers and concert. There will no doubt be a session at Bogbain afterwards too so bring your instruments! Limited tickets available – book now to avoid disappointment!

info@bogbainfarm.com
01463 772800

For a sneaky preview of 2 of the tracks from the album:

Tags: Blas Festival, Bogbain Farm, Brian macAlpine, Bruce Macgregor, Christine Hanson, food, Foyers Experience, Kissin' is the Best of A', Tim Edey

Wild West Fest

The Wild West is coming to Scotland! Celebrating 200 years of Bogbain Farm, all budding Cowboys, Cowgirls, Mexicans, Tequila Slammers, Indians, Rednecks, Line Dancers, Rockabilly Hillbillies, Whiskey Drinkers, Rum Ravers, Carnivores and Teuchters are welcome to come and celebrate with us from 29-31 July!

Featuring superb live music – Ragtime, Bluegrass, Rockabilly, Americana, and good ole’ Country & Western; dancing girls; sizzlin’ steaks on the BBQ; Karaoke; Tequila & Bourbon Bar; Grand Ole Opry; Bar Brawl re-enactment; Shoot-outs; outdoor activities – archery, clay pigeon shooting, quad biking; FREE camping; face painting; line dancing and lots more.

Friday and Saturday night concerts are £10 each but entry to the Festival and all of the fun and games through the day is FREE providing you dress up accordingly. Friday night features the amazing Hot Seats, and Saturday night is a Grand Ole Opry with tributes to Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash and more!  You will be held to ransom for $1000 and held in our very own jail if you don’t make the effort! 

Still need convincing? Well, as well as the free camping and festival entry, to celebrate Bogbain’s 200th birthday – and believe me, you have never seen a 200 year old looking so “hawt” before – I have an amazing drinks promotion for you:  The first 200 pints of American beer are FREE!

It’s going to be a big one, so get in touch and let me know if you’re coming so we can plan the campsite accordingly.  Tickets for the two concerts (which are going to be flamin’ fantastic) can be booked by emailling us direct. 

VISIT www.wildwestfest.co.uk

Bogbain Radio

We have launched our Bogbain Radio feature! As many of you’ll know, I’m lucky enough to be presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s flagship folk programme, Travelling Folk, and you can read about what happened to another programme I presented on Radio Scotland, The Music Cafe, here. So, we’ve set up our own at Bogbain…ok, maybe it’s not really a radio station and more of a podcast, but hey, we’ve got to start somewhere!

Our AudioBoos (podcasts) are available at the bottom of Bogbain’s homepage or you can view the library at http://audioboo.fm/bogbainfarm – they’ll feature promotions, live music from our gigs, interviews and features! Our first one is a free download of The Highlander’s Revenge, and look out for the 2nd one at the weekend.  You’ll soon be able to find the podcasts on iTunes.

Let us know if you have any ideas for us – we’re always keen to try something new!

Tags: BBC Radio Scotland, Bogbain Farm, bogbain radio, Bruce Macgregor, music cafe

Why tractors have feelings…

The Big barn at Bogbain is a truly inspiring room. Its got a character and “feel” that is so difficult to find in modern buildings. This weekend past, we had an 18th birthday girl using it as a  ceilidh room, two great pop bands followed on Saturday night and then Scottish Opera used it on Sunday lunchtime.  It is very basic – just huge big stone walls, wooden rafters and very old worn doors but its just got “something” special – just like the whole farm – its got age and history attached to it.

Im so glad I managed to convince my old man to vacate it three years ago for the first Northern Roots festival. He’d been using it to fix cars. Well in truth he’d been using it to start to fix cars and then start on other old things. It was an amazing workshop for him. Enough room to fix enormous tractors, and with a hoist he took from his old garage in Haugh Road allowing him to potter away underneath cars and vans, he could be posted missing for days in there! 

He said a very funny thing to me one day. I asked him why he kept adding more and more vintage machinery ( “rusty rubbish” according to my mother) to his “collection” . He just turned round to me and said “But where else would it go, who would look after it?” He was being completely genuine!

He does have a real passion for machines and engines. Many of the old tractors round here look like they’ve had better days – Fordson Major’s, Davie Brown’s, Fordson Dexter’s, Massy Fergusson’s, International’s – some are so rusty it is difficult to work out the names. However if he spends an afternoon with one of them, you’ll normally hear a lot of swearing, clanking and minor explosions, you can almost guarantee that the machine, will be put-putting around the farm that evening. His interest lies in the engines, the machines working and operating; their looks are unimportant and really aren’t the challenge he’s looking for. Whilst the rest of the world demands that everything on show be aesthetically pleasing and “nice”, I find it rather comforting that he has no interest in this superficial world of perfection (ok, I’ll admit it, it is also bloody frustrating when you are trying to run a business from the same spot, but that’s life!).

The funny thing is, the closer you look at these old machines the more you realize they are things of beauty without being painted and tarted up. The rust and the years have taken their toll, but basically, these metal horses have a story all of their own. They’ve had  people who cared for them, people who have abused them, they’ve had breakdowns and punctures, but they’ve also had glorious days in the sun, harvesting and ploughing. They are part of our heritage which should be celebrated.

The musical celebrations at Bogbain are ongoing but I’d love to be able to do something substantial with the agricultural and social history tale that needs to be told. One day…..

Man and machine at Bogbain

Tags: Bogbain Farm, Brian MacGregor, Fordson Major, heritage, Massey Fergusson, Northern Roots Music festival

3rd Northern Roots Festival

Can’t believe our Festival is now 3 years old! Bogbain is undergoing redevelopment and a new era is upon us but we are delighted to bringing little gems like Northern Roots along with us.

Visit www.northernrootsfestival.co.uk for details on tickets (they are available from Eden Court)  - here is this year’s lineup.

Friday 3rd June ~ 7.30pm in The Barn

Lorraine Lucas

Dan Cassidy & John Hickman

 John Taylor

The Bonfire Band

 Lorraine Lucas has performed at the last two NR Festivals and this year she’s opening our 3rd for us! Dan Cassidy and James Hickman are a newly formed transatlantic folk duo.  Hickman was raised in England on a diet of Bluegrass music and Cassidy was raised in America and discovered Aly Bain in the 80s.  Dan’s fiddle playing can also be heard on the recordings of his late sister, Eva.  John Taylor is the star of last year’s open stage and The Bonfire Band are a band about to explode onto the folk scene – definitely not a night to miss!

The Bistro Festival Club

10.30pm ~ Licensed till 12.30am

Saturday 4th June Afternoon ~ ’You’re havin’ a laugh!’ ~ 2.30pm in The Bistro

A selection of the festival guests together with local artistes singing comedy songs

hoping to get you laughing and joining in the choruses!

——–

Saturday 4th June Evening Concert ~ 7.30pm in The Barn

 Mainline North

Edwina Hayes

The New Rope String Band

 

Mainline North are a brand new band comprising of Cameron Kellow, Alasdair Taylor and Euan Smillie – Cammy and Alasdair were once the car park attendants at Northern Roots and this year they’re kicking off our Saturday night.  They learnt their trade with the Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail.  Edwina Hayes is quickly making a name for herself and is best known for her recording of Randy Newman’s Feels Like Home being used in the Hollywood blockbuster, My Sister’s Keeper.  A superb singer songwriter, her album is absolutely fantastic and the Northern Roots Festival is excited to have her.  The New Rope String Band - Once seen, never forgotten: combining superb musicianship with side-splitting comic genius, NRSB are legends!

The Bistro Festival Club

10.30pm ~ Licensed till 12.00am

———

Sunday 5th June (Afternoon)

‘Bob Dylan 70th Birthday Tribute’ Concert 

A selection of the festival guests together with local artistes paying tribute to probably

the most influential folk singer/songwriter of the twentieth century!

The Farewell Concert ~ 7.30pm in The Barn

Mainline North

Archie Fisher

Kieran Goss

The Paul McKenna Band

 Mainline North are back to open up the Sunday night proceedings! Archie Fisher needs no introduction to any self respecting folkie.  A singer, songwriter and broadcaster, he has been making his mark on the music scene for nearly 50 years! His songs have been covered by Fairport Convention, Eva Cassidy and John Renbourn, to name a few and this will be a rare chance to hear him again in Inverness.  Kieran Goss is a Northern Irish singer songwriter with a country music influence.  His affable on stage persona is partly down to the openness in his songs.  Songs of love and loss, triumph and experience – a recipe for a beautiful evening of music.  Paul McKenna Band are combining their love for traditional and folk music as well as original songs and tunes and have been playing to audiences throughout the UK since 2006.  With a contemporary approach to songs, although not straying too far from their roots, their arrangements are both fresh and innovative. Their exciting sound is created through outstanding vocals, driving Guitar and Bouzouki, intense Fiddle playing, a warm pairing of Flute and Whistles and dynamic Bodhrán and percussion.

The Bistro Festival Club

10.30pm ~ Licensed till 12.00am

Food @ The Whisky Festival

I’m so excited about this Festival – I really hope we get a good turn out so folk can see what great things we can do, not only at Bogbain, but in the Highlands. The press launch went really well and we had the mighty Dougie Maclean come along and present us with a VERY special one off bottle of his own Caledonia Whisky.  He’ll be coming along to the Festival with his fiddle and his whisky – so why don’t you join us – have a dram (there’s plenty wine and beer too!), sit back, enjoy the music and let your tastebuds get carried away with this lot…

Check out the food that’s going to be served at Bogbain during the Whisky Festival and is INCLUDED in your ticket price! Yep, buy a ticket to the Festival and not only will you be able to try unlimited whisky, you’ll get this sumptuous food served to you by our lovely volunteers!

TICKETS ARE LIMITED AND THERE IS ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT TO BUY YOURS! VISIT WWW.INVERNESSWHISKYFESTIVAL.CO.UK FOR MORE INFO AND TO BOOK!

Here is some more info on who will be providing it and what you can expect! We think you’ll agree that it’s first class!

Chocolate goes extremely well with whisky and the 1st Inverness Whisky Festival will be supplied with beautiful chocolates by award winning Lewis business, Hebridean Chocolates. A community interest company that offers job opportunities for adults with additional learning needs.

Good Highland Food takes its name and inspiration from the exceptional natural larder found in this spectacular corner of the world. With a diverse repertoire of culinary styles and a passion for fresh, local, seasonal produce, Good Highland Food has achieved a reputation as the finest private caterers in the Highlands and will be preparing all the food for the Festival.  How cool is that?!

Lunch

Feather Fowlie, or
Cullen Skink
served with Oakbank Organic Crusty Bread

Dinner
West Coast Herring Fillets in Oatmeal
& served with Clapshot

Highland Mutton Hotpot
served with Buttered Parley Potatoes

Highland Tasters
served at different points through the day:

Brown Trout Terrine in a
Hebridean Oatcake Canape

Three Highland Cheese Tartlets
with a Homemade Red Onion & Redcurrant Relish

Chocolate & Drambuie Mini Tartlets

Sam Carswell, a professional chef of over 30 years, is the creator of one of the most exciting menus Scotland has to offer within the walls of Biadh @ MacSorley’s, a great pub in the city centre of Glasgow.  A Masterchef winner that’s worked alongside celebrity chefs such as Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffman, we are very excited to be introducing his style of cooking to Inverness.

Sam Carswell – Biadh @ MacSorley’s Menu

Whisky in the Jar
“A one-off and better than Thin Lizzy’s! A giant fishbowl stuffed with fresh salmon, squat lobster tails, cucumber, dill, lime, cherry tomatoes, Abhainn Dearg Spirt, macerated, then hickory smoke added for service with heather honey vinaigrette.”

Guga Canapes
“Guga (the Gaelic for Gannet), a rare Scottish delicacy from the most North Westerly place in the British Isles. Hollowed out baby potatoes stuffed with meat, and skin from the bird, served with milk. A very salty, fishy, oily, duck textured canape…”

Whisky Caviar
“It just pops on the tongue!”

Abhainn Dearg cured venison
Exactly what it says on the tin. Venison cured in the first Spirit to come out of the Outer Hebrides in nearly 200 years.

 

Tags: Bogbain Farm, food, Good Highland Food, Hebridean Chocolates, Inverness Whisky Festival, MacSorley's