Julie Fowlis joins HebCelt Festival line-up

Julie Fowlis is to appear at this summer's Hebridean Celtic Festival with her own film and music 'Heisgeir', based on the history, people and landscape of the uninhabited Monach Islands.

The Gaelic singer's song 'Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A' Chuain (My Love is on The High Seas)' features in the new animated 3D Disney/Pixar film 'Brave' which is to be released in cinemas in June.

Julie will appear on the final day of the Western Isles festival which takes place at Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland from Wednesday 11th to Saturday 14th of July 2012.

Her appearance will be not long after the release of the film and North Uist star's song features in a new TV advert for the film and was premiered during the Oscars earlier this month.

Her project 'Heisgeir' is an hour-long feature film with a musical soundtrack and was inspired by her family's connection to the Atlantic islands off North Uist which were abandoned in the 1940s. Her great great grandmother was from Heisgeir and stories from former residents, including Lachie Morrison, a member of the last family to live there, help tell the evocative story.

Julie explained,"The family connection was one of the reasons I was interested in it. I wanted to learn more about it and it was a very inspiring place to visit. I went there twice in the summer and it was wonderful to try to convey the magic of the place through this project."

Heisgeir started as a music-based work with some film but quickly changed: "Rather than me tell the stories second hand, I really wanted the audience to hear them the way I heard them", Julie added. 2As the film was so powerful it became apparent very early on that it would become a film-based project first and foremost."

She added, "HebCelt is a highlight of the year for me. It's a great place to come back to, especially as the piece we are doing is very much an island project and a little bit different to what we have done before.

"I'm delighted to be bringing it to HebCelt and looking forward to presenting ourselves in a different way this year.

The line-up of music featuring top international artists set against the backdrop of the Gaelic culture and Hebridean heritage includes headliners The Proclaimers, The Waterboys, and Kassidy, plus Roddy Woomble, Skerryvore, Manran, Washington Irving, Sketch, Beoga, Admiral Fallow, Frank Yamma, Heidi Talbot with John McCusker and Ian Carr, Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson, and more.

Many complementary events are also hosted by community groups around Stornaway and the islands of Lewis and Harris catering for a variety of tastes both musical and otherwise. There are also workshops often given by many of the festival's performers, which includes masterclass sessions. Also included are the ever popular Gaelic language tasters, lectures and children's entertainment plus numerous pub sessions in Stornoway and the surrounding area. As well as the music there's also a full programme of family entertainment, as well as a street arts programme with walkabout, workshops and fire shows.

Already early bird tickets have been snapped up by people from across Europe, USA and Canada. Tickets are priced at £70 or £55 for concessions for students and others. To buy tickets, click here.

This year the main site structures will be altered with the main structure slightly smaller and the second stage tent will be larger. There will be food outlets and social areas separating the two stages. In 2012 the operating hours within the main site will be extended on the Friday and Saturday, starting at 2pm over these two days. Thursday will remain an evening opening. The community and outreach programmes both in Stornoway at An Lanntair and around Lewis & Harris will continue.

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