Local farmer and composer Colin Campbell Jnr's 'The Moray Suite' to feature in one-off Speyfest concert
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THE organisers behind Speyfest will host a one-off concert this winter featuring "The Moray Suite" – a local composer's set of songs inspired by the region's land and sea.
Over the last decade, Colin Campbell Jnr, a Mosstodloch farmer and pharmacist, has been working on a number of contemporary songs based around the farming and fishing heritage of Moray.
He has now pulled these together into one entity for a combined music and film performance.
The concert was organised after Speyfest was forced off the calendar for a second year this summer due to the pandemic.
Colin is a former music pupil of Speyfest chair James Alexander. Both musicians have been involved with the Fochabers festival since its inception in 1995.
The festival lull was seen as the ideal time to showcase The Moray Suite ahead of the 25th Speyfest next July.
The Speyfest chief will take to the stage as part of Colin's house band, which also includes other former pupils Ashleigh and James McGregor, and Ian Grigor.
James said: "Colin Campbell Jnr is part of Speyfest – always has been. He's a very active writer of songs and tunes and has had this project in mind for some time.
"It's a suite of songs and tunes reflecting mainly farming and fishing in the Moray area over the years.
"Video footage, photographs and drone footage, from bygone days right up to the present day, will be shown on a big screen at the same time as the songs and tunes are being played."
He added: "One great song that really pulls at my heartstrings, called 'Close The Door', is about an old farmer who has come to the end of his career. He's looking at getting all his stuff ready for the roup and his final closing of the door."
Colin added: "It's only really in the last year that I thought I'd try pulling the songs together under a theme, though some have been around for 10 years or more.
"They are all songs about the land and local farming and fishing. It made sense to link them under the banner of Moray.
"Personally, my favourite is a song called 'Old Tractors'."
Firm Speyfest favourites fiddler Charlie McKerron, of Capercaillie fame, Tim Edey and Marc Clement, will take the stage for the second half of the night.
James, who formed Fochabers Fiddlers back in 1980, added that the Speyfest committee hopes to launch the opening of ticket sales for next year's festival on the night.
He added: "It's been an interesting journey because when we started in 1995 there were hardly any festivals like Speyfest.
"As more festivals have come on the scene we've had to work harder, but there aren't many festivals still on the go 27 years later. That's testament to the fact it's a good thing to have for the community.
"There are a lot of folk who come back to see each other at Speyfest so it's like a date in the calendar now."
An Evening with Colin Campbell Jnr and Charlie McKerron and Friends will be held at Fochabers Institute, on Saturday, December 11. Tickets, costing £15 or £5 for under-12s, are available from Christie's the Chemist in Fochabers or online here.
