Just remembered it’s Up Helly Aa today – have got the webcast going, it’s live from 1700-2100GMT, including the burning of the galley! Marwyn’s Shetland ancestry coming out today 🙂

https://www.uphellyaa.com/

A later video here:

Up Helly Aa 2018

Up Helly Aa 2018 – Lerwick's viking festival of fire. In four minutes!All the blazing highlights of Europe's biggest fire festival, and exclusive behind the scenes insights from the Jarl squad. Watch our video here! This is your four-minute tour of the amazing spectacle that was this year's Lerwick Up Helly Aa. Enjoy!

Posted by Promote Shetland on Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Fantastic concert at Celtic Connections this evening. It’s not often you get to see an octave nyckelharpa, or a carnyx, or even duduks, but to see them all in one band – brilliant   The warm-up act, Xabier Diaz from Galicia, was also great. Magnus Holmström is there in the photos …. looking forward to nyckelharpa workshops taught by him again at Halsway in September.

It really was a tremendous concert.

The final step with the keys is to shape them nicely, adding some traditional decoration at the ends, and to make and add the “tangents” which are fitted into holes drilled in the key bodies; this is so the tangent contact points on the strings can be adjusted slightly to fine tune the instrument. Here’s the first quarter-note key finished, with its two tangents.

key and tangents Continue reading

First ceilidh of the year this evening with the Buskers – no photos, too busy playing   A good turn-out – 9 in the band – 3 fiddles, 3 accordions, guitar, keyboard, drums – great sound, great fun!