Ultra Audio records - produces Theme song with Top Scottish Musicians.
Festival breaks ground as artist Calum Martin writes ‘theme’ tune
May 7, 2009
One of the UK ’s best loved festivals is launching its own theme tune, written by one of Scotland ’s top traditional music artistes. It is thought to be the first of its kind in Great Britain .
Called ‘Blue on Green’ the song has been written by Calum Martin, a pioneer of Gaelic rock music, and it captures the anticipation which surrounds the annual staging of the Hebridean Celtic Festival (July 15th-18th) in Stornoway, the Outer Hebrides .
Caroline MacLennan, the Festival Director said: “We’ve been voted one of Scotland’s top five festivals and one of the UK’s top 50, now we have this, our own theme tune. It really is excellent and we appreciate the work Calum has put into ‘Blue on Green’ which we feel really conveys the excitement and anticipation generated by our festival. Inspired by the big blue tent which hosts our main gigs on the Lews Castle green, it is available as a free download from www.hebceltfest.com/backstage/downloads/ and we’re grateful to Calum for making it so freely available.”
Calum Martin said: “When I was first invited to perform at the festival I asked director Caroline MacLennan if anyone had ever written a song or piece of music specifically for HebCelt Festival and she told me no!
“So I thought it would be very appropriate for me in this Year of Homecoming to write a song about the festival itself and ‘Blue on Green’ is my first English song in over 30 years. Hopefully it captures the uniqueness of this special event and especially the big blue tent on the Castle green, in a happy and summery way. This venue has become a bit of an institution during the middle of July for many a year, creating such a buzz and attracting musicians and concertgoers from all over the world.
“Incidentally, I would really love it if other bands and artists would also record and perform their version of the song and play it live at the festival in future years.”
Calum will be performing his much acclaimed show ‘The Megantic Outlaw’ which is about Donald Morrison (1858-1894), a once celebrated figure in the frontier folklore of Québec where his parents settled after leaving Lewis in the early 1800s. For this show Calum has brought together an amazing cast of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic featuring from Edinburgh, Fraser Fifield (Pipes/Sax/Whistles), Graeme Stephen (Guitars), Bobby Millar (Bass Guitar); from upstate New York by way of Nashville Tennessee, Peter Young (Drums); also from Nashville, Scott Neubert (Guitars/Dobro/Banjo/Mandolin); from Lewis, Andrew Yearly (Keyboard/Accordion) and Calum's own daughter Isobel Ann Martin (Vocals).