Definitely Not Forgotten

And the music? Particularly satisfying was the meeting of the Gaelic and Scots cultures in, say, Willie Brewed a Peck o’ Maut, where Jim Malcolm, Allan MacDonald and Calum Camshron embodied the trio of lads sampling the moonshine, in more ways than one. Add to that voices of the quality of Karen Matheson, Sheena Wellington, Maggie MacInnes, Anne Lorne Gillies herself and James Graham, and the all-round talents of Anna Massie and ex-Vale of Atholl piper Ali Hutton, and you had an old-fashioned celebration of Burns’s songs.

Later in the evening we had An Audience with Burns from Edinburgh Castle with dressed-down compere Gordon Kennedy linking events. It was a hit and miss affair - to be expected - but highlights included actors Gary Lewis (Billy Elliott’s dad in the movie) and Dawn Steele (Monarch of the Glen and the new Suzi Kettles in Tutti Frutti) who recited Burns’s poetry and convinced this writer that they knew and fully understood what they were talking about, and could put it across.

Less convincing were the attempts of Eddi Reader, Roddy Woomble and Paolo Nutini - though full marks for attempting a straightforward, energetic version of A Man’s a Man for a’ That recorded from his stage show. Elaine C Smith was entertaining as always, as was Sanjeev Kohli, and Karen Dunbar’s much abridged Tam o’ Shanter couldn’t fail with such a script. But it took only a short couple of minutes of My Luve’s Like a Red, Red Rose from the peerless Aly Bain on a fiddle Burns himself had played to show that there’s not much need to alter what we’ve been handed down.

In all, a fine evening’s entertainment on BBC2. And where was Scotland’s other channel? It was showing The Bill, followed by Where’s My Pension Gone?, followed by Kate Middleton v the Paparazzi. This from the one that calls itself Scottish Television?

Niel Gow Festival

Next month will see the 200th anniversary of the death of Niel Gow, the Strathbraan-born fiddler, composer and collector, who, along with his four sons helped to develop the popularity of Scottish fiddle music in the 18th and 19th centuries and is largely responsible for turning folk-fiddle playing into a professional art.

The 2007 Niel Gow festival will be held in Dunkeld and Birnam on the weekend of 16 - 18 March and will include the usual very popular recitals, concerts, workshops, sessions and a ceilidh dance.

Among the artistes appearing over the festival will be three times National Fiddle Champion Alistair McCulloch from the band Coila (and the fiddler on the soundtrack of the hit BBC children’s programme Balamory); Aonghais Grant; Douglas Lawrence;

Douglas Montgomery; Christine Kydd & Just Singin’ Birnam; Duncan Dyker; Dunkeld & Birnam Strathspey & Reel Society; George Smith; Iain Fraser; pianist James Gray; Marie Fielding; Patsy Reid; local hero Pete Clark; Ross Thomson & Marc Duff; the Tayside Young Fiddlers and the wonderful Wendy Weatherby.

Tickets and information from The Taybank, Tay Terrace, Dunkeld PH8 OAQ or phone (01350) 728920 or 07734 886631 (Open 9am - 5pm) or email: admin@thetaybank.com or visit the website www.thetaybank.com

Helen T MacMillan

And finally, harking back to Gaelic affairs, as Aberfeldy and District Gaelic Choir prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, it’s sad to mark the passing of a lady without whom it might not have seen this momentous event.

Helen T Macmillan (pictured) died at the end of January in her hundredth year. A native Gaelic speaker from Dervaig on the Isle of Mull, she was the Choir’s Gaelic tutor for many years. She won the Premier Competition - the Ladies’ Gold Medal for singing - at the 1931 National Mod held in Dingwall.

I was fortunate to be a member of the Aberfeldy & District Gaelic Choir which accompanied Helen T to Dingwall sixty years on for the 1991 National Mod. She was feted from beginning to end of the week, was interviewed on television and received a special presentation from the Mod Committee.

As a Gaelic tutor she was respected at all times but the stern schoolmarm more often than not revealed a sly sense of humour. Probably her happiest moment was when she received special commendation for her work when the Choir won the ultimate competition - the Lovat and Tullibardine Trophy - at the National Mod in Glasgow in 1988.

Not only is Aberfeldy & District Gaelic Choir in her debt; she will be missed by all who were privileged to meet her.