On Saturday, July 22, the Windsor Tavern will be hosting an evening of Scottish music performed by Montreal folk-rock group Mariner’s Curse. Accompanying the band is Craig Weir, a Scottish piper from Dundee. This concert, which begins at 9 p.m., will begin the group’s tour around Montreal, The Old Port, and the West Island.
This tour will also mark the debut of “The Highland Road,” a song written by St-Eugene resident Chris Brown to celebrate Eastern Ontario and its Scottish heritage.
When Craig Weir first came to Ontario, he was amazed to see how vibrant and alive Scottish culture was among these communities. After attending the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, where he was able to demonstrate his considerable piping skills alongside Mariner’s Curse in the main tent on the Friday night, he continued to marvel at the impact and influence the Scots have had and still have both in this area and throughout the world.
And driving down Highland Road in Maxville, last summer, really brought it home. Weir felt compelled to celebrate his native Scotland and the cultural influence it has worldwide, by joining forces with his friend, Chris Brown, in writing a song called “The Highland Road”.
Brown, who has lived in St. Eugene for the last 28 years while working as a teacher in the Theatre Department of John Abbott College, in Montreal’s West Island, retired from teaching two years ago. Since then he has used his free time to indulge in his love for writing poetry. So, as Craig and Chris drove down that long, straight road in the blazing Ontario sunshine between the waving cornfields, it seemed natural that Weir should ask Brown if he would pen a poem that could be set to music, inspired by Maxville, Highland Road and the Canadian/Scottish “story”.
Brown gladly obliged and the poem and subsequent song The Highland Road was born.
Originally it was written as a poem for two voices, which Craig imagined would be spoken by himself and another member of his Celtic-Rock band, Gleadraich, back home in Dundee, but on reading the poem, Craig wanted to take it further and underscore the worldwide influence of Scottish artists and musicians that was at the heart of the piece. So Craig sent word out to some of the many celebrated friends he has made during his piping career, asking them if they would be interested in participating in the project by adding their voices.
The result is The Highland Road, performed by Craig Weir and his more folk based band from home, The Cabalistic Cavalry and featuring a haunting mix of voices from 21 celebrated personalities, among them television, stage and film star, Alan Cumming, Brian May of Queen, and AC/DC bassist, Mark Evans.
For more information on the Windsor Tavern performance, call (613) 678 2122.
