Blas Festival 2017 secures sponsorship

The Blas Festival takes good quality traditional music events to venues in communities large and small and there will be concerts and cèilidhs across the Highlands as well as in venues in Argyll and the Western Isles.

Organisers of this year’s Blas Festival, which is taking place this autumn from September 1st to September 9th, are very pleased to have secured sponsorship from the world’s leading seafood company, Marine Harvest, the largest producer of farmed salmon.

Marine Harvest Business Support Manager, Steve Bracken, said: “As a company we are rooted in the Highlands and Islands, so we’re delighted to support this year’s Blas Festival whose locations so closely match our own.”

“We have up to now supported shinty, together with some other ad hoc cultural events and activities, so supporting Blas is a new adventure for us.

“We’re very much looking forward to seeing and hearing this great range of traditional music in early September.”

Blas 2017 will feature special events celebrating the 80th birthdays of four icons of Gaelic Culture - Kenna Campbell, Fergie MacDonald, Morag MacLeod and Finlay MacLeod.

The 2017 Blas Commission - Dìleab Uilleim - explores the Gaelic song legacy of Rev William Matheson, one of Scotland’s foremost collectors and authorities on Gaelic song.

Those shows will feature introductions to the songs by Jo MacDonald and performances from Robert Robertson, Rachel Walker, Ross Wilson, Alasdair Whyte, Eilidh Cormack, Linda Macleod, Allan MacDonald and Christine Primrose.

There will also be performances by new Gaelic song trio Sian [Ceitlin LR Smith, Eilidh Cormack & Ellen MacDonald], Duncan Chisholm, The Mischa Macpherson Trio, Breabach, Skipinnish, Skerryvore, Sharon Shannon, The Angus Nicolson Trio, Donald Black Band, Ireland’s Fidil and Canada’s MacIsaac & MacKenzie.

The full festival programme and ticket information is available at: website