Scottish trad music legends Shooglenifty bid farewell to one of their founding members this month at a gig on their home turf of Lochaber.
The gig at Ardgour Hall this Saturday, December 9, will be banjo player Garry Finlayson’s swansong after 38 years with the band.
NO-T49-Shooglenifty-2023-Ardgourgig
Global festival favourites, Shooglenifty made their mark over four decades with their
trademark Acid-croft, with beats, basslines and other contemporary influences driving
traditional-stye tunes.
From Sarawak to Stornoway, Bangalore to Bristol, the Kennedy Center to the Kremlin, they have been the ultimate Scottish ambassadors worldwide.
Garry, originally from Orkney, first played with other founding members in Edinburgh-based Swamptrash, before going on to help create one of the most influential bands in
contemporary Scottish music.
Part of the massive acid-croft band sound is inspired by Garry’s Banjax, a uniquely customised electric banjo, boosting as he calls it the instrument’s warp factor.
Garry said: “The adventures have been ferociously good. Deserts, mountains
and rainforests have partied to our music. Maybe I should write a book!”
Ardgour promises to be the perfect setting for Garry’s final farewell – several Shoogles, as fans call them, hail from Lochaber including percussionist James Mackintosh, whose
grandfather famously ran the original Corran Ferry that. mostly,connects Ardgour and the other western peninsulas to the mainland.
Ardgour-based production studios Watercolour Music have been working with the village hall to promote live gigs since 2021, spurred on by the Scottish Government’s Scotland on Tour scheme.
Watercolour Music co-director Mary Ann Kennedy said the gigs are about
bringing the very best live music to the village but much more than that too.
“They’re about helping to build confidence in a community that is in a really fragile state post-pandemic and through our ferry crisis, and it’s about bringing much-needed business to the hard-working hospitality and creative industries in our area.”
This year’s gigs are supported by Creative Scotland, the William Syson Foundation, the
Glensanda Fund and the local Community Council.
Shooglenifty’s gig at Ardgour Hall starts at 7.30pm. It is a standing gig with seating available and a full late bar provided by Ardgour Ales.
Tickets are available from the brewery, or online at www.tinyurl.com/shooglenifty.
Caption; Garry Finlayson has been driving the souped up sound of the electric banjo for nearly 40 years with the band
NO-T49-GaryFinlayson-2023-Ardgourgig