A Celebration of Scottish Music

HERE'S TAE LOCHABER

By Billy McIsaac

After the success of the compilation CD ‘Here’s Tae Us’ and handing over a cheque for £20,000 to Lochaber Hydrotherapy it was time for a new challenge. In April 2004 Douglas Ross who proposed to make a short DVD for Lochaber Hydrotherapy featuring four tracks from the CD contacted me. He has his own film production company (CELTIC SPIRIT) which is fast building up a reputation for producing quality DVD’s. Lochaber has been used as a location for the filming of many blockbusters including ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ but now it was to have its very own film dedicated to the area - ‘Here’s Tae Lochaber.’

I started thinking about the commercial implications and felt that we would need to include more local material in the film. I then approached Heather Moore who conducts the Kilmallie Singers, Ingrid Henderson who is involved with the Lochaber Ceilidh Trail Band, Margaret McMaster who works with the Lochaber Schools Pipe Band and Sandy MacKenzie, Pipe Major of the Lochaber Pipe Band.

Nick Turner from Watercolour Music in Ardgour spent a day recording them all in a church in Caol.

The Kilmallie Singers did marvellous versions of Highland Cathedral whilst the ‘massed ‘ Lochaber Pipe Bands nearly blow the church roof off with their stirring versions of ‘The Green Hills of Tyrol’, I see Mull and When the battles oe’r.

The Lochaber Ceilidh Trail Band performed two sets which made you just want to dance. It’s always a pleasure to see and hear young musicians especially when they are talented and having such a great time performing their music. I then spent about one year writing and recording more music for the soundtrack and looking for other musical contributions.

I had been an admirer of the great Scottish fiddler Duncan Chisholm and the guitarist Ivan Drever for some years and at last saw an opportunity to include one of their beautiful tunes in the film. They described jokingly ‘Leaving Stoer’ as one of their greatest hits but it really is a stunning piece of music. But it was Lochaber that was to provide the inspiration for the title track of the film appropriately titled – ‘Lochaber’.

After one my many memorable weekends in Fort William having spent a few days up in the hills and a few hours ‘socialising’ in the Lochaber Bar in Caol, I returned to Glasgow ready to take on the world.

As I was approaching Tarbert on Loch Lomond I got a melody and some lyrics in my head – ‘Oh Lochaber I adore you, all your treasures there on high.’ Before I knew it I was nearly up the back of an articulated lorry – inspiration can be a dangerous thing. ‘Lochaber’ turned out to be a bit of an epic as it involved recording Jim Hunter and the Kilmallie Singers in Watercolour Studio in Ardgour and the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band and my band in Mix Studio in Glasgow (over 30 hours recording time in the studio). The end result, which is quite anthemic, provided a suitable finale to the film.

I then got in touch with Nevis Range regarding filming the Lochaber Schools Pipe Band performing the end section of ‘Lochaber’ on the viewpoint on Aonach Mor. After a successful meeting they kindly agreed to provide one hundred free gondola passes and the use of a helicopter to film the Pipe Band on the viewpoint. The children had a wonderful time and also got the afternoon off School. Although Douglas Ross had produced a considerable amount of film footage for ‘Here’s Tae Lochaber’ we still needed another twenty minutes worth including some aerial footage.

I contacted the film archive at BBC and they informed me that they could do it a little bit cheaper for the charity - £550 per minute. I thought – No! I then contacted two of the main film production teams in Scotland – Norman Strachan and Cinecosse and they gave us around one hour of material free of charge. What a result!

A film titled Here’s Tae Lochaber’ would not be complete without a feature on one of its main landmarks – Ben Nevis. I contacted local journalist Ian Abernethy and asked him to write a piece on the ‘Ben.’ Shortly afterwards back home in Milngavie I happened to see Magnus Magnusson in front of me in a queue in R.S McColls. An opportunity not to be missed! He kindly agreed to do the Ben Nevis narration. We also needed more incidental material such as postcards and photographs of the area to bring the film to life.

I have always enjoyed reading Graham Brook’s articles in Lochaber Life and looking at the old Lochaber postcards that are provided by local man John Cameron. I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours with John looking at over four hundred of these beautiful postcards and then selecting forty for inclusion in the film.

Alastair Ness also kindly provided old postcards of Lochaber. Whilst speaking to Donnie Munro about his composition – ‘Queen of the Hill’ which is featured in the film, he informed me that it told the story of an old woman that used to come to his house. She was one of the ‘Travelling People.’ After some ‘detective’ work, I traced some old photographs of the Travelling People to the Folk Museum in Kingussie – they look fantastic!

Douglas Ross and I wanted some good footage of the Lochaber Pipe Band in a local setting. Sandy Mackenzie suggested the Glenfinnan Highland Games would be perfect not least because it included a march that signifies the start of the games that was led by the Games Chief, Sir Maxwell Macleod of Fiunary.

Fortunately on the day the weather was fantastic and Douglas Ross captured the event to perfection. Fortune smiled on me once again when I bumped into the bass drummer of the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band (they have been World Champions nine times in a row) and he let the rest of the band hear my tune – ‘Song for Shona’ which is on my CD – ‘Here’s Tae Us.’

They asked if they could include it in their medley at the 2005 World Pipe Band Championships. I thought what an honour for a person who had spent half of his life writing pop songs and only a few years composing tunes in a traditional style. We then recorded their version and used it as a dramatic start to the film.

The film was nearing completion after nearly two years but we still needed to promote it. I thought why don’t we have a Film Premiere and get some extra media attention after all if it’s good enough for Braveheart and Harry Potter it’s good enough for ‘Here Tae Lochaber.’ Highland Discovery Centre Limited kindly agreed for us to use the Fort William Studio Cinema for the Film Premiere, which took place on Wednesday 29 March 2006. The DVD was released on the same day.

Here's Tae Lochaber’ has taken two years two complete and has been a massive undertaking. I would like to pay tribute to Douglas Ross of ‘Celtic Spirit’ and Kenny Mitchell who have dealt with filming, editing and postproduction of Here’s Tae Lochaber’ over hundreds of hours. It has truly been a magnificent effort and behalf of Mr Mark McCann JP (Chairman of Lochaber Hydrotherapy) and myself; I would like to offer our thanks. Our gratitude also goes to the many ‘locals’ who have contributed to this project.’(Billy McIsaac)

Local Contributions

‘HERE’S TAE LOCHABER’ features music from some of Lochabers finest musicians – Lochaber Ceilidh Trail Band (under the direction of Ingrid Henderson), the Kilmallie Singers, the Lochaber Pipe Band and the Lochaber Schools Pipe Band (under the direction of Margaret McMaster). Mr Cambell and his Teachers at Lochaber High School kindly organised their pupils for the finale on Aonach Mor by supervising and transporting them to the location. The Ben Nevis Race Association in conjunction with Mr Volverk provided us with excellent footage of the Ben Nevis Race. The title track ‘Lochaber’ features many ‘locals’ including Annie Grace (whistle) Jim Hunter (vocals) and once again the Kilmallie Singers under the direction of Heather Moore. Nick Turner did part of the recording at Watercolour Music, Ardgour.

John Cameron and Alistair Ness supplied old postcards of Fort William while Alex Gillespie supplied some classic photographs of Lochaber and Ben Nevis some of which are featured on the DVD and Video cover, posters and also this web site. Once again Nevis Print have provided posters, film premiere invites, DVD and Video covers. The narration is by Magnus Magnusson who relates historical information and anecdotes about Ben Nevis provided by Ian Abernethy. Billy would also like to thank Highland Discovery Centre Limited for the use of the Fort William Studio Cinema for the film premiere. Nevis Range provided us with the facility to film the finale of the DVD on Aonach Mor. Mark McCann and Shirley Sen have been involved throughout giving much welcome assistance.

A special Thankyou to the Lochaber Area Committee of the Highland Council for making the film premiere of ‘Here’s Tae Lochaber’ such a spectacular event.

Back to top

S.F.F Records Limited – Company No. 261272
S.F.F. RECORDS was established in December 2003 by Billy McIsaac to raise funds for Lochaber Hydrotherapy, a charity that is building a Hydrotherapy Pool in Fort William.