Almost 50 members of Nelson’s Celtic Pipe Band will take to the stage at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts (NCMA) to blast tunes for a fundraising concert this weekend.
Organiser Euan Robertson says the event, which is titled Journey and will also feature other Scottish cultural performances, aims to pipe up funds for band expenses including kilts, instruments and practice castle rent at Nayland Primary School.
“There’s tunes that the audience will recognise and very much enjoy, from Scotland the Brave, Green Hills of Tyrol, Highland Cathedral and Amazing Grace,” he says.
“There will be some more complex music played by the pipe band who will then be joined by some guitarists and drummers.
“We also have a couple of very talented local singers involved in the concert as well,” Euan adds.
“One of our members [Helen Gilchrist] is a highland dance teacher and she will have some of her young dancers performing for us.”
Euan says the band had 48 current members who range between eight and 68, and most of them will be performing on the day.
Episode 15 - “I want to be New Zealand’s biggest company.” — The Nelson Pod
“Primarily it is a fundraiser for the band. But what we also hope to do is expose the band so people are aware of what we do and what we sound like, and to create awareness of the learner programme, which is a very strong programme.”
Journey is on at the NCMA on Saturday, 23 September at 2pm. Tickets are available here.
