<< Back
Starts: 19:30
Bagpipes and bluegrass might seem unlikely musical bedfellows, but for Scottish piper Fred Morrison they form a wholly natural alliance
Sunday 4th December
FRED MORRISON
A solo performance from one of Celtic music’s most profoundly skilled and audaciously inventive exponents. Scottish piper Fred Morrison is justly famed for his passionately expressive style, rooted in the Gaelic traditions of his father’s native South Uist, and enriched by influences from far and wide, which has seen him dubbed “the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes”.
Equally accomplished on the great Highland bagpipes, Scottish smallpipes, whistles and the Irish uilleann pipes, he has featured in the seminal Scottish bands Clan Alba and Capercaillie, and is also a record-breaking champion on the competitive piping circuit.
Start time 7:30pm (doors 7:00pm), tickets £10 (under 18s £8) available online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/glenuighall
Fred Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, but it’s the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father’s native South Uist, in the outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style. His out
standing technical prowess saw him winning many top competition prizes while still at school, meanwhile being inspired by pioneering acts like the Bothy Band and the Tannahill Weavers. Although his first-love instrument remains the great Highland bagpipes, over the years his mastery has expanded to encompass whistles, Scottish smallpipes, (or reelpipes) and Irish uilleann pipes. He was also one of the first Scottish artists to forge dynamic links with his Celtic cousins in Brittany and north-west Spain, adding further to his repertoire of influences and tunes, and has long been renowned as an outstanding tune composer.
During the 1990s Morrison was a member of both the landmark Scottish supergroup Clan Alba and contemporary Celtic stars Capercaillie, featuring with the latter in the Hollywood movie Rob Roy. He has since pursued a diverse array of collaborative and solo projects, and recent career highlights range from his record-breaking seventh victory in the 2004 Macallan Trophy competition at Brittany’s Lorient Festival to the world première of his first orchestral composition Paracas: Rhapsody of the Gael – a 90-minute work performed by over 100 musicians – as the opening concert of Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival in 2005.