Former Wick man Alastair MacDonald to perform live online accordion show with Caithness fiddler Karen Steven
Two Caithness musicians are coming together as part of a live-stream show being performed in Canada this weekend.
Alastair MacDonald, who is from Wick but now lives in Ontario in Canada, is hosting the Facebook Live gig on Saturday.
The hour-long performance of traditional and contemporary Scottish tunes, played on accordion by Alastair live from his studio just outside Ottawa, will be his first online show for a year and a half.
During lockdown, his shows were watched by hundreds of people from around the world.
He will be joined on Saturday by fiddler Karen Steven, who is from Caithness but lives in Aberdeen.
Alastair said: "I moved from Caithness to Canada just over four years ago and like everyone else when Covid hit us we all went into lockdown. I was inspired by the work started by Peter Wood and Martin McLeod who started off Tunes in the Hoose, which enabled collaboration by musicians from across the world.
"Not only did this enable collaboration between musicians but it opened the music up to a much broader audience.
"I started doing live shows and primarily it was a way to keep in touch with friends and family back in Scotland. I would often do requests and some shows were totally made up from tunes requested by the audience.
"It was always nice to do them live because I was able to respond to comments during the show. Often in my shows I would feature tunes composed by local musicians such as Addie Harper or Gordon Gunn.
"On this Saturday’s show we will include a couple of Addie Harper Senior compositions but will also include compositions by myself and Karen as well as tunes inspired by both Scottish and Canadian connections.
"Karen and I started playing together when we travelled, in 1986, with the Caithness Junior Fiddlers, led by Ian Sinclair, to Cape Breton. We have played music and collaborated on and off over the years so it is nice to reconnect with her just now."
Karen added: "The Facebook shows have been great for keeping spirits up, particularly during Covid when no live gigs were happening.
"There will be some of the old classics and favourites, mixed up with some contemporary tunes written by Alastair and myself. We will also include some Cape Breton tunes that folks might be familiar with.
"I taught a couple of online fiddle workshops on Zoom during Covid but this is my first live full set performance, and I'm really looking forward to it.
"Alastair and my playing are well matched. We both have a strong and distinctive approach to playing and a history of shared repertoire from our days playing with The Wick Fiddlers, under the auspices of the late Addie Harper. This and our interest in Cape Breton music is a great grounding for this show."
The show can be accessed at www.facebook.com/alastair.macdonald.14418 and will go live just before 10pm UK time on Saturday.