Hebrides or Hollywood dilemma for Ross singer
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AN in-demand Ross-shire-based singer is putting Hollywood on hold so she can head for a remote Scottish island.
Last week, the Ross-shire Journal revealed how Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis had been showcased to a global audience after one of her songs was picked up to plug forthcoming Disney Pixar film, Brave.
Now it's been confirmed that the Gaelic singer is to appear at this year’s Hebridean Celtic Festival with her acclaimed film and musical work, Heisgeir, based on the history, people and landscape of the uninhabited Monach Islands.
Julie, one of the first inductees to the HebCelt Hall of Fame and an ambassador for the event, will perform at An Lanntair on July 14, the final day of the four-day flagship event.
The show will be staged shorlty after the US release of Brave, the new animated 3D blockbuster by Pixar, which is set to turn the North Uist star into a global sensation.
Julie’s song Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A’ Chuain (My Love is on The High Seas) features in a new TV advert for the film and was premiered during the Oscars earlier this month.
Ahead of the film’s release, and the expected media frenzy, Julie is waiting to give birth to her second child in the next few weeks - but plans to be back on stage by May.
She said: “HebCelt is a highlight of the year for me. It’s a great place to come back to, especially as the piece we are doing is very much an island project and a little bit different to what we have done before.
“I’m delighted to be bringing it to HebCelt and looking forward to presenting ourselves in a different way this year.”
Heisgeir is an hour-long feature film with a musical soundtrack and was inspired by Julie’s connection to the Atlantic islands off North Uist which were abandoned in the 1940s.
Her great great grandmother was from Heisgeir and stories from former residents, including Lachie Morrison, a member of the last family to live there, help tell the evocative story.
The work, which also features acclaimed musicians Éamon Doorley, Ross Martin and Duncan Chisholm, was commissioned for last year’s Blas festival and was completed in three months, during which time Julie made her first visit to the islands.
It was backed by the national Gaelic development body Bòrd na Gàidhlig, while Creative Scotland is helping take the show to HebCelt as well as to festivals in Gigha, Skye and Uist in 2012.
Now in its 17th year, HebCelt will be headlined by The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy.
Tickets can be bought online at www.hebceltfest.com
