Spirits high for Scottish whisky culture festival

The entertainment line up for Scotland’s inaugural whisky culture festival Spirit of the West is almost complete with new acts recently announced.  The announced acts for the event, which is part of Homecoming Scotland 2009’s Whisky Month in May, join an already impressive list of world famous Scottish food & drink brands and celebrity chef Nick Nairn. World famous bagrock sensation the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, folk singer/songwriter Robin Laing, Argyll Homecoming Gaelic Choir, the golden voice of Islay Norma Munro and pipes & drums tribal group Clann an Drumma are the latest acts to be announced for Spirit of the West which will celebrate west coast whisky culture at Inveraray Castle this May. Opening the show on Saturday, May16 at 11am are the Red Hot Chilli Pipers who have made their global mark, wowing audiences all over the world with their unique mix of traditional Scottish bag pipe music with well known rock songs including We Will Rock You and Smoke on the Water.  The group are winners of the BBC One primetime show ‘When Will I Be Famous’ and were voted ‘Live Act of the Year 2007’ at the Scots Traditional Music Awards.In addition to the music line up, family open air activities have also been added to the entertainment list including crowd pleaser Big Rory, Ochi & The Giant Seagulls and sheepdog & duck display team Drakes of Hazzard, as seen on Blue Peter.The event is set to be popular amongst foodies and lovers of the dram.  Celebrity chef Nick Nairn joins the event on Sunday, May 17. Across the weekend over 20 local food producers will serve dishes from stovies to venison stews.  Sixteen whisky distilleries will join the Dram Room and the Whisky Theatre will hold 12 whisky masterclasses with key industry figures.

1 May 2009 - Felicity Murray