Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We don’t place enough emphasis on the young, that in this day and age is an intolerable act that will come back to bite other generations hard, by reducing vital services down to the bare minimum we are sending out the message that they mean nothing to us, that we don’t want them to succeed and pass on their knowledge in years to come. We are not considering their welfare, we are not contemplating the knock on effect and it is a powerful enemy we as children of the Baby Boom years and the so called Generation X have allowed to sit and fester in their own brooding shell.

It is therefore something of a delight when a collective group comes together to bring music to the attention of those who might otherwise forget to engage with them; this offering of beauty, of high spirits and magnificent contemplation is such that Lews Castle College UHI’s Naed Nan Ceoladair (The Musician’s Nest) is a dream of a performance, nurturing, Gaelic right down its core and uplifting in its delivery.

It is a collective endeavour that deserves fulsome praise and one that each student from the college who appears on the album has strived to bring to the attention of the listener and without the concern of being seen as promoting just a single piece of art; it is the collective thought that runs through the album and one in which future artists such as James Duncan Mackenzie, Robbie Grieg, Hecla, Trail West, Tide Lines and Canach’s work and ideas will become appreciated even more.

In songs and charming depositions, of authentic unique quality, tracks such as Smelling Fresh, Chase The Ace, The Ale Is Dear/The Steampacket/Marion Campbell of Benbecula, Mist on the Moors/ Awakening/ The Laird’s Dance and Here We Go Ab Reels have the effect on the soul that opening your to the voice of the young should have, one of stirring passion, of understanding and the evidence before our eyes that we should be conserving this talent and allowing it to breathe deeply.

Naed Nan Ceoladair is a wonderful collection of Gaelic and Scottish Island music, one in which is an absolute credit to Lews Castle College UHI.

Ian D. Hall