e-Ceilidh nan Og Launched

Last Friday 29th May saw the team behind the Comhairle’s e-Cèilidh launch e-Ceilidh nan Òg, with a series of broadcasts across Facebook and Vimeo.

Friday’s broadcasts showcased musical submissions from across the Western Isles, highlighting the talent of a wide selection of the island’s young musicians.

Co-hosted by Iain “Costello” Maciver and Penny Burgess, the broadcast featured Gaelic songs and fantastic pieces on fiddle, guitar, accordion and many more.

As well as a selection of performances from young musicians, Friday also saw the broadcast of play along and sing along sessions with Iain Maciver, Rhona Johnstone, Anna Black, Esther Macdonald, and Penny Burgess.

While educating and entertaining the school children of the Western Isles, these sessions were also well received by care homes and the elderly.

Speaking on the success of e-Cèilidh nan Òg, event coordinator Rhona Johnstone said,

"We were absolutely staggered by the response from pupils, parents and teachers who were asked to prepare and contribute items for the e e-Cèilidh nan Òg event. This was so large that we had too much material to broadcast in the one day and as a result we will be running subsequent shorter e-Ceilidh na Og broadcasts in June and August, with the first of these on Friday 19th June, to ensure that all the videos which were sent in to us will be shown. With the overwhelming number of contributions received and over 5000 views online this clearly shows the success of e-Ceilidh nan Og and the strength of support that there is for our Gaelic language and culture."

With hosts Willie Campbell, Iain “Costello” Maciver and Iain Mackinnon, the fortnightly e-Cèilidh broadcasts have racked up a watch time of over 70,000 minutes, with peak live viewers of 440 on the Comhairle Facebook page and viewers tuning in from as far afield as Qatar and California.

This Saturday 6th June at 7.30pm Peat ‘n’ Diesel drummer Uilleam Macleod will be joined by some very special guests as he hosts what promises to be another successful broadcast.