Having got Blas 2011 off to the best-ever opening weekend in terms of attendance numbers and range of performances, the festival’s continued success through an packed week has left audiences throughout the Highlands and Islands clamouring for more.From the hugely successful first weekend which was marked by a string of sell-out performances delivered to criticalacclaim right through to Saturday night’s finale in Eden Court Theatre, the audience response to the seventh festivals programme of events has been described by festival organisers as “magnificent”.

Speaking after the Grand Finale, which he hosted, Arthur Cormack of Fèisean nan Gàidheal, who organise the festival said: “There have been a number of notable achievements throughout this week from the opening night with Julie Fowlis’ new commission Heisgeir, right through to today and tonight with the dramatic scenes at the shinty cup final where Fèis Cèilidh Trailers were part of the entertainment, Blas 2011 has been a tremendous success. These are challenging times for arts organisations throughout the Highlands but Blas 2011 has proved that with appropriate levels of support from key organisations such as The Highland Council and Creative Scotland, it is possible to produce a series of events which will command the audience’s attention. We hope we can do it all again in 2012.”

 

Donna MacRae, Director of Blas 2011 added: “This year’s festival has been innovative, imaginative and inspiring. We have involved local suppliers and their food and drink produce at events; provided local talent with a platform to showcase their skills alongside some of the most popular traditional musicians in the world and built new relationships with organisers and 400 volunteers which has seen us stage events selling out at numerous venues from Lochaber to the top of the Cairngorms, from Wick to the waters of Loch Ness. Our opening Friday night in particular was unprecedented with four out of six shows sold out. This is all a great tribute to theartistes themselves, the volunteers who have helped stage everything behind the scenes and indeed to the audiences who have continued to back Blas as a concept which delivers the high quality events across a wide range of venues involving a stellar lists of performers. We are very proud of the fact that we attracted sell-out audiences. It might be difficult to top this but we are up for the challenge of surpassing what we have achieved when we deliver Blas 2012.”

This year’s Blas festival staged nearly 100 cultural events between 9 and 17 September throughout the Highlands and Islands including a comprehensive schools programme organised by Lynn Johnston of The Highland Council.  Traditional music as well as Gaelic language and song are the bedrock of the festival and, for the first time, Blas also featured Gaelic writers, in collaboration with Comhairle nan Leabhraichean (the Gaelic Books Council) and Acair.  Early online responses show that the way in which Gaelic is used at Blas enhances the experience for audience members.

Blas 2011 celebrated the Year of Scotland's Islands with a series of "Island Cèilidhs" and the Julie Fowlis “Heisgeir” commission, showcasing some of the best known Gaelic singers from the islands along with great traditionalaccompaniment. 

The closing weekend of the seventh Blas festival reaches a camanachd climax this weekend with more entertainment than anyone would want to shake a stick at.  And the highlight will be a major day’s cultural celebrations in Inverness when the Scottish Hydro Electric Camanachd Cup Final trundles into town, to set up the evening’s Blas 2011 finale at Eden Court.
 
Shinty’s big day begins at 11.45am when some of shinty’s best youth players take the field in two national U14 Finals: The MacMaster Cup Final between Fort William and Skye, and the Scottish Hydro Development Trophy Final between Milngavie & Bearsden and Lochcarron.
 
Then, marking the closing weekend of Blas 2011, the young stars of the Fèisean Cèilidh Trails will be performing at the ground in the Blas tent from 1pm.  From midday the Shinty Skills School will allow those new to the sport, young or old, to ‘have a go’ at Scotland’s great game, and kids can also be kept entertained at the bouncy castle and face painting stations.
 
The main action begins at 1430 when Kingussie and Newtonmore, Badenoch’s Big Two cross camans to decide the bragging rights for season 2011. All this will come after an action packed Friday night throughout the Highlands and Islands as Blas 2011 thunders towards its closing climax.
 
There’s a shinty connection at Fort William’s Nevis Centre when Blas 2011 comes to town. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Lochaber High School, a group of the school’s illustrious (allegedly) former pupils, who have spread Lochaber’s fame far and wide, are re-assembling to reminisce and rejoice in their collective and individual past.  They will be joined by some of the best musicians to have emerged from Lochaber’s vibrant music scene to provide a heady concoction of wit, repartee and entertainment.
 
There will also be an opportunity to pay tribute to one of the area’s favoured sons and most respected musicians, fiddler Angus Grant, celebrating his 80th birthday. And Fergie MacDonald, “the comeback king” will be offering a surprise for 2012. The compères are broadcaster Hugh Dan MacLennan and self-styled musician and shinty superstar Gary Innes, the Graeme Norton-style counterpoint. 
 
Elsewhere on Friday night, (September 17th) Blas 2011’s resident Band The Outside Track are performing at Portmahomack; the Island Ceilidh series reaches Raasay and the Ladies and their friends, including The Addie Harper Band and Christine Stone will be Cherishing Blas at the Wick Assembly Rooms;  Lochcarron will extend a welcome to one of Gaeldom’s best known families, the Campbells of Greepe, at the Village Hall on Friday 16th, before they head a home to Dunvegan on Saturday 17th.  Kenna and Seumas Campbell, Mary Ann & Wilma Kennedy and Maggie Macdonald belong to this remarkable family of Gaelic singers who, between them, have won 7 Mòd Gold Medals.
 
The other Friday night highlight will be a special performance of “Hallaig”, a musical celebration of the poetry of Sorley MacLean directed by Kenneth Thomson featuring compositions by Stuart MacRae, Mary Ann Kennedy, Eilidh Mackenzie, Marie-Louise Napier, Allan Macdonald, Blair Douglas, Donald Shaw, Allan Henderson and Kenneth Thomson.
 
Hallaig marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sorley MacLean, in conjunction with Urras Shomhairle. Performers at Inverness Cathedral on Friday September 16 and Sabhal Mòr Òstaig on Skye on Saturday 17th September include Dingwall Gaelic choir, Kirsteen MacDonald, Brian McAlpine, Gordon Gunn, Dougie Pincock, Jenna Cumming, Rhona MacKay,  Alasdair Whyte, Mary McCarthy, Jack Evans  and Su-a Lee.
 
“The best-ever opening weekend in terms of audience numbers and performances” was how Blas 2011 began a week ago, after a hugely successful first weekend which was marked by sell-out performances delivered to critical acclaim throughout the Highlands and Islands.  
 
The 2011 Blas festival will have delivered nearly 100 cultural events throughout the Highlands and Islands before it ends on Saturday September 17.  Apart from events in Inverness, The Outside Track will have reached Poolewe Village Hall; the Island Ceilidh will be in Strathy Village Hall, The Campbells will be coming home to Dunvegan and Hallaig will be at one of Sorley MacLean’s spiritual homes, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Skye.
 
But it is the Grand Finale at Eden Court Inverness which will bring everything to a fitting fling, if anyone has any energy left after a challenging and demanding week of the best of cultural celebration. Cherish the Ladies, Dàimh, Mànran and the combined talents of Fèis na h-Òige and Fèis a’ Bhaile will tie up the loose ends with a final Blas(t)!  And if that’s not enough revellers can take part in a late night informal session at Bogbain Farm following the Eden Court event, when Bruce MacGregor will host the Blas Festival Club.  Roll on 2012!
 

Fort William’s Nevis Centre is the venue to be on Friday, September 16 when the Blas 2011 Festival and Lochaber Gold comes to town. A whole new meaning will be applied to the famous historical rallying call “Lochaber no More!” when some of the High School former pupils and VIPs and a stellar cast of musicians get together – with a surprise guest appearance or two into the bargain. All of the music being played and songs sung will revolve around Lochaber, with the performers and all the tunes coming from the area itself.
 
As part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Lochaber High School, Blas festival organisers have invited a group of some of the school’s illustrious former pupils, who have spread Lochaber’s fame far and wide, to reminisce and rejoice in their collective and individual past. >From the world of politics and sport they will arrive, with no super-injunctions to protect their identities. They will be accompanied by some of the best musicians to have emerged from Lochaber’s vibrant music scene to provide a heady concoction of wit, repartee and entertainment.
 
Amongst those joining the list of celebrities will be Catherine Macleod, who was media adviser to Alister Darling (former Chancellor of the Exchequer), Donald Park of the SFA, Charles Kennedy MP, footballer Duncan Shearer and a glittering array of local musical talent which will feature, along with others, the Lochaber High School pipe band. Find out all you ever wanted to know about them!
 
Keeping all of this in line will be two compères, also former pupils: Hugh Dan MacLennan and shinty superstar Gary Innes. Both have a well-known shared interest in shinty and have combined to head up an intriguing mix of nostalgia and fun the evening before the 2011 Camanachd Cup Final which this year links up with the Blas festival.
 
Hugh Dan MacLennan said: “We know our former school colleagues will have tales to tell and who knows we may have a surprise or two up our sleeves.  We are particularly pleased to confirm that we will have two special guest appearances from the great fiddler Angus Grant as he celebrates his 80th birthday and Fergie MacDonald, who isn’t 80, but will be making one of his legendary comebacks following a successful operation earlier this year. I suspect they will show the young guns a thing or two before the night is out.” 
 
Gary Innes’ role as musical director of the show will make up for his lack of playing involvement in the Camanachd Cup Final at Inverness the next day. He said: “I have no doubt that the work done by the Fèisean movement in Lochaber has been the driver which enabled us all to discover our roots and offer us the opportunity to develop our talents as musicians. Some of us don’t go so far back in the history of the school as others, but we are all part of it and this will be a great tribute to the school and what has gone on the area. This promises to be a cracking evening’s entertainment and I am so proud to be appearing on stage with so many important and wonderful people.”  Gary will now be having his tongue removed from his cheek!
 
Lochaber Gold is just one of a range of top quality musical events being staged by the 2011 Blas Festival organisers celebrating the rich heritage of the Highlands and Islands in the year of Scotland’s Islands.  Blas is now firmly established as the premier Gaelic festival celebrating Highland culture.

“The best-ever opening weekend in terms of audience numbers and performances” is how Blas 2011 organisers have described a hugely successful first weekend which was marked by sell-out performances delivered to critical acclaim throughout the Highlands and Islands.  And the response of audiences to a string of events which are singled out for special praise is set to further enhance the reputation of the Highland’s premier cultural festival.
 
Blas 2011 was opened in spectacular fashion in Beauly with a new commission – Heisgeir – from Gaelic singing sensation Julie Fowlis in the Phipps Hall, on Friday evening and then Torridon Village Hall on Saturday. Both were sell-outs and proved a major hit with audiences.
 
Donna MacRae, Director of Blas 2011 said: “The show Julie Fowlis produced through the new commission was superb.  It was technically challenging given that it was a Gaelic performance sub-titled in English, using film and a live band.  The audience in Beauly was simply stunned and we have already been approached by a number of people who have asked whether we could have the whole thing turned into a film.  It was visually and musically brilliant and the reception it has received is testament to Julie’s well-deserved reputation as one of the most accomplished and talented performers to have emerged in generations.”
 
The Beauly audience was also treated to a veritable feast of local produce and catering which is a developing innovation at the festival with events selling out at numerous venues from Lochaber to the waters of Loch Ness.
 
Donna added, “Friday night in particular was unprecedented with shows at Roy Bridge, Beauly and the Ptarmigan restaurant on Cairngorm sold out.  On Saturday night there were very healthy audiences in Portree and Inverness.  This is all a great tribute to the artistes themselves, the volunteers who have helped stage everything behind the scenes and indeed to the audiences who have continued to back Blas as a concept which delivers the highest quality of events across a wide range of venues and involving stellar lists of performers.  We are very proud of the fact that whether it be in a village hall or in the splendour of Eden Court, the top of Cairngorm or the middle of Loch Ness, we can attract very good audiences.  It’s a great start and we now look forward to the rest of the festival and further highlights.”
 
This year’s Blas festival will deliver nearly 100 cultural events between 9 and 17 September. The second of the two new commissions to feature at Blas 2011, Balach na Bonaid (The Boy and the Bunnet), will be premiered at Eden Court on Tuesday 13 September.  The performance has been described as the folk world’s answer to “Peter and the Wolf”.  Gaelic writer Aonghas MacNeacail has reworked into Gaelic the adventure story “The Boy and the Bunnet” by celebrated Scots award-winning novelist, James Robertson.  Newly commissioned music by Caithness pianist James Ross adds to the production which has as characters a stag, selkie, a craw and a cat.  The performance uses traditional Scottish instruments and musical styles to tell the story of a brave young boy who gets into danger when he goes out on an adventure.  The Narrator is Wilma Kennedy.
 
Traditional music as well as Gaelic language and song are the bedrock of the festival and, for the first time, Blas will also have a strand featuring Gaelic writers, organised in collaboration with Comhairle nan Leabhraichean - the Gaelic Books Council.
 
In a culmination of a very special synthesis, Blas 2011 is celebrating the Year of Scotland's Islands with a series of "Island Cèilidhs" showcasing some of the best known Gaelic singers from the islands along with great traditional accompaniment.  Amongst those still to appear are Paul MacCalllum, Linda MacLeod, Iain MacKay accompanied by Oban-based accordionist Sìleas Sinclair.  In the style of the wandering minstrels of bygone generations, the Blas islanders will give everyone a taste of what it’s like to be at an island cèilidh in Eigg, Mallaig, Raasay and Strathy.
 
For the first time, the 2011 Blas Festival has its own band in residence.  Now with a world-wide reputation, The Outside Track play a fabulous mix of Scottish, Canadian and Irish music and song and feature step-dance. Hailing from Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton and Vancouver, its five members are united by a love of traditional music and a commitment to creating new music on its foundation.  They bring to Blas 2011 a unique blend of boundless energy and unmistakable joie de vivre – in anyone’s terms, the recipe for a real Highland Hooley.  The band features Mairi Rankin from Mabou in Cape Breton on fiddle, vocals and step-dance; Canadian Traditional Singer of the Year nominee Norah Rendell on vocals, flute and whistle; BBC Young Trad Finalist Ailie Robertson on harp and step-dance; BBC Fame Academy Winner Fiona Black on accordion; and Cillian Ó Dalaigh of Trazz on guitar, vocals and step-dance.

American-Irish supergroup Cherish the Ladies will be making their only Scottish appearances in 2011 at Blas.  They will appear on Wednesday 14 September in the new school at Acharacle which has recently been kitted out with raked seats, staging, PA and lights.  They will then go on to Ardgay and Wick before taking part in the Grand Finale at Eden Court on Saturday 17th along with Dàimh, Mànran, Fèis na h-Òige and Fèis a’ Bhaile.
 
High on the list of events still to come is “Hallaig”, a musical celebration of the poetry of Sorley MacLean featuring compositions by Stuart MacRae, Mary Ann Kennedy, Eilidh Mackenzie, Marie-Louise Napier, Allan Macdonald, Blair Douglas, Donald Shaw, Allan Henderson and musical director Kenneth Thomson.  

Hallaig is being staged to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sorley MacLean, in conjunction with Urras Shomhairle.  Performers at Inverness Cathedral on Friday September 16 and Sabhal Mòr Òstaig on Skye on Saturday 17th September include Dingwall Gaelic Choir, Brian McAlpine, Gordon Gunn, Dougie Pincock, Jenna Cumming, Rhona MacKay, Alasdair Whyte, Mary McCarthy, Jack Evans and Su-a Lee.

Another remarkable family, the Campbells of Greepe, will be appearing at Lochcarron Village Hall on Friday 16th before a homa gig at Dunvegan on Saturday 17th.  Kenna and Seumas Campbell, Mary Ann & Wilma Kennedy and Maggie Macdonald belong to this remarkable family of Gaelic singers who, between them, have won 7 Mòd Gold Medals.
 

Pupils at a Highland primary school will take part in a cultural exchange of music and dance this week (Friday 9 September) when a troupe of Kenyan Maasai Warriors visit Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis.

Organised as part of the Blas schools 2011 programme, the visiting troupe called the Osiligi Maasai Warriors regularly visit the UK in an effort to raise funds for their families and for improvements to their home village.

The purpose of the troupe is to benefit their community and the families in their village of Kisamis, situated approximately 30 miles southwest of Nairobi. Money is raised by a series of UK tours during which the troupe performs their tribal song and dance and spreads the word about their culture.

The troupe will perform tribal songs and dances plus their celebrated jumping. Children at the Bun-sgoil will be invited to take part in a question and answer session about Maasai culture.  Also by way of cultural exchange, some of the pupils will perform traditional Highland music and dance sets for the Maasai troupe. Highland dancers at the school will wear their kilts to show the Maasai visitors their traditional dress.

Welcoming the cultural exchange at Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, Leader of The Highland Council, Councillor Michael Foxley said: “This is the fourth year that the Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Service has organised an exciting range of events to inspire and involve young people to get involved in Blas. I am certain that Osiligi Maasai Warriors will be an awe inspiring experience for our pupils at the Bun-sgoil and I am sure that they will do us proud by sharing our Highland culture with their Kenyan visitors.”

Councillor Bill Fernie, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Committee added: “In addition to the Maasai Warrior visit to Inverness, the Blas Schools Programme is packed with acoustic concerts, the Travelling Gallery, drama, step dancing, ceramic art, a Jacobite Clansman event at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, and Countryside Ranger interactive events.”

The Blas education programme assists schools and teachers in achieving the experiences and outcomes required for the expressive arts and Gaelic areas of the Curriculum for Excellence by providing opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding of culture in Scotland and the wider world.

Other events in the Blas Schools Programme include: the Outside Track (Canadian/ Scottish/Irish song and dance band); drama in Lochaber; step dancing workshops; The Pipers Trail; clay modelling workshops; Live literature with Dr Fred Freedman; traditional tales/ storytelling; and Gaelic drama workshops.

Further information on the Blas Festival events are on the Blas website at www.blas-festival.com.

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For further information about the Blas Schools and Community Programme and other photograph opportunities please contact: Lynn Johnson, Arts Link Officer, The Highland Council, Education, Culture and Sport Service, tel: 01463 732651 e-mail: lynn.johnson@highland.gov.uk

Full details of the Blas Schools Programme are available at this link:

http://www.blas-festival.com/uploads/1/1/3/4/1134031/blas_schools_programme.pdf

For further information on the Osiligi Maasai Warriors please see:  www.osiligiwarriors.co.uk/index.html

An extravaganza of piping and much more besides is guaranteed when Blas 2011 takes over Eden Court Empire on Saturday, September 10 on the opening weekend of the festival.
 
Blas 2011 organisers have assembled a huge a huge variety of top-class performers, enabling them to further enhance the reputation  of what has become a notable fixture in every festival-goers’ calendar.
 
In “Celebrating the Regal pipe”, Blas 2011 has assembled a stellar cast of top-class pipers with two of the MacDonald brothers of Glenuig, Allan and Dr Angus, in their own inimitable style, leading the charge with panache.  Their supporting cast features Mairearad Green, Seudan and the prodigious talents of Oban High School Pipe Band, who were crowned World Junior Champions in 2011.  No surprise there then as their tutor is none other than one of the world’s best himself, Angus McColl, Silver Chanter winner and no stranger to Eden Court and championship piping having yet again annexed the prestigious Clasp at the most recent Northern Meetings at the start of the month.
 
Blas 2011 is a key part of the Year of Scotland’s Islands initiative and on the opening evening, Friday, September 9, will feature a new commission – Heisgeir – from Gaelic singing sensation Julie Fowlis in the Phipps Hall, Beauly, as well as a series of Islands Cèilidhs featuring some of our best-loved Gaelic singers performing in village halls across the Highlands.  “Heisgeir” will open Blas 2011 in the Phipps Hall, Beauly, on Friday 9 September.  Thereafter Julie and Co will move to Torridon Community Hall on Saturday 10th, Dornoch Cathedral on Sunday 11th and St Mary & St Finnan’s Church in Glenfinnan on Monday 11th.

Lochaber’s opening Friday night will feature a real Highland Cèilidh in Roybridge with the Glenfinnan Cèilidh Band  - Iain MacFarlane, Ingrid Henderson, Dougie Hunter and Colm Ó Rua – along with young Gaelic singer Robert Roberston and a group from the local Fèis Lochabair.
The Seedboat will sail into Strontian on Saturday 10th.  “Bàta an t-Sìl” will feature Gaelic singer Maggie MacInnes from Barra and Colum Sands from Ireland in a show recounting the amazing story of a vessel that used to ply between Ireland and Scotland.  Joining them at Àrainn Shuaineirt will be the Glenfinnan Cèilidh Band and Fèis Lochabair.

The Blas “House Band”, The Outside Track, will kick off in Ullapool on Friday 9th where Fèis Rois will join them.  Featuring Mairi Rankin from Mabou in Cape Breton on fiddle, vocals and step-dance; Canadian Traditional Singer of the Year nominee Norah Rendell on vocals, flute and whistle; BBC Young Trad Finalist Ailie Robertson on harp and step-dance; BBC Fame Academy Winner Fiona Black on accordion; and Cillian Ó Dalaigh of Trazz on guitar, vocals and step-dance, the band will be busy throughout the time of Blas.  They will also be appearing in Portree, Invergarry, Ballachulish, Portmahomack and Poolewe.

Increased ticket sales are setting organisers up for one of the busiest festivals ever and one of the festival’s annual success stories where a limited number of tickets are still available is “The Highland Voyage”, set on the famous Jacobite Queen, which has as its regular route the dramatic setting of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. The voyage and monstrous party which ensues is a wonderful evening’s entertainment with a Para Handy theme. Devised and performed by Allan MacDonald from Glenuig with guests Ian Macleod and Russell Hunter, the annual cruise down Loch Ness on Friday September 9, with an appropriate level of culinary excellence provided by The Red Poppy, is always a must-have ticket for Blas aficionados.
 
Only 40 tickets are available for the cruise in total and should be purchased as soon as possible.  Allan has written a new piece of music especially for the evening entitled “The Jacobite Queen” which will have its first airing on the cruise.
 
This year’s Blas festival will deliver nearly 100 cultural events between 9 and 17 September in venues across the Highlands ranging from community halls to Inverness Airport, The Jacobite Queen cruise boat and Eden Court Theatre.   Traditional music as well as Gaelic language and song are the bedrock of the festival and, for the first time, Blas will also have a strand featuring Gaelic writers, organised in collaboration with Comhairle nan Leabhraichean - the Gaelic Books Council.

The culmination of the equivalent of nearly half a century of work by the Fèis movement in two key Highland areas will be celebrated from one of the highest points in the land as part of Blas 2011 which begins this weekend.
 
Festival fans can join Fèis Spè and their friends on the evening of Friday 9 September as Blas 2011 gets under way in celebrating 21 years of inspiration and opportunity with the highest gig in Blas!  Part of a remarkable evening’s entertainment involves a scenic train ride up Cairngorm to the Ptarmigan Restaurant to see Fèis Spè participants, past and present, showcase their outstanding achievements.  
 
On the guest list are the exotically named Cairngorm Cèilidh Trailers and The Bear Creek Reelers, The Mhairi Hall Trio, Ewan Robertson and the fantastic Charlie McKerron.
 
Meanwhile, another fabulous concert celebrates 25 years of Fèis Rois and highlights the influence that Fèis Rois and the wider Fèis movement has had on a generation of young musicians from the Highlands.  With 25 performers on stage the event, on Sunday 11 September in the Strathpeffer Pavilion, promises a very special evening of traditional music at its best.
 
The stellar line-up in “Roots & Shoots” includes Patsy Seddon, Corrina Hewat, Fraya Thomsen, Eilidh Mackenzie, Rachel Walker, Kirsty-Anne Macfarlane, Louise Mackenzie, Gillian Stevenson, Lauren MacColl, Dougie Pincock, Mairearad Green, Mike Bryan, Ruairaidh Campbell and Colin McLean, as well as 10 young musicians from the present Fèis Rois cohort who will also get in on the act.
 
Fèisean nan Gàidheal’s Chief Executive, Arthur Cormack, said: “It is clear having worked with them for many years that there is a plethora of talent amongst those taking part in the Fèisean.  This is especially true of those who receive regular tuition and choose to keep learning their instrument, or singing, over a number of years. We have been fortunate, too, that many of Scotland’s best musicians and singers have been willing to teach at the Fèisean and festival goers will have the opportunity to see the outcome of the Fèisean, in the company of some of those who have been involved, in these two special Blas events.”
 
Fèisean nan Gàidheal was established in 1991 as the independent umbrella association of the Fèis movement  Today, around 13,000 young people annually participate in activities supported by Fèisean nan Gaidheal, 6,000 of which take part in the Fèisean themselves.