Hier eine kleine Zeitungsmeldung anläßlich des bevorstehenden Auftritts von Donnie in Inverness.
Donnie's back - in new venue
Published: 27 July, 2006
IT'S hard to believe one of the Highlands' most popular voices hasn't been heard in its capital for seven years.
There was a time when Donnie Munro's vocals were part of the uniquely Highland sound that lifted Runrig to international Celtic rockstardom. The band regularly could be heard in some of the biggest venues the city had to offer.
But these days, after a move into politics and as an ambassador and advisor for Skye's college Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Donnie Munro as musician has become a much rarer sight.
Not that the music has ever been out of his life, Donnie revealed this week in the run-up to his return to the live scene with a date next Friday (Aug 4) at new city venue The Ironworks.
"I didn't leave it behind, no, not at all," he explained. "The whole political experience I felt strongly about and I put a lot of effort into and enjoyed tremendously, then I became involved with Sabhal Mor Ostaig and working on development with them and working directly in the Gaelic language, culture and arts. For me, it was a shift of gear into that area."
And there was a change in his music too.
"It was the first time I had the opportunity to work on ideas I had wanted to work on on my own.
While I was in Runrig, it was difficult to work outside that. But there was no point when I wasn't working on music, albeit not upfront. I was always writing. I had a long-term relationship with Chris Harley who produced all the Runrig albums and we have been working on Skye in the studio, but in a different way."
New album Heart of America has been inspired by the country, and Donnie's experience travelling there at the start of the Iraq war left him thinking about the whole idea of America as the family drove across the country.
"I remember one morning as we drove when it seemed every verandah you passed had a flag out. I myself had a dilemma about the war and was opposed to it personally and politically and then found myself in this country where people were so supportive of the people involved in the action.
"It made me think about America as a country, what it represented to people throughout the world.
"You can caricature its politics. But for a lot of people, America over the years has represented freedom and hope and an escape from oppression. And I was thinking about all that and wondering 'What really is the heart of America?'."
The album also sees Donnie and his band joined by lots of special musical guests on the songs. Skye musician Blair Douglas, fiddler Duncan Chisholm, singer songwriter Vivien Scotson and Stereoglo guitarist Richard Macintyre are among them.
"When I started working on writing all the material, I was aware of Richard and his band. And in a casual way, we decided to get together to work on the track Love Will Never Die."
Working solo was not something Donnie had done before: "A duo was the smallest number of people I'd worked with at any time in my life before. Since then I had always been part of a band and I always see myself as being part of something, I like the sense of sharing ideas and the possibilities of other ideas - and it's my comfort zone as well," Donnie laughed.
"Runrig itself was the entity that we all strived to create. We went on as part of Runrig.
"Now I go onstage as Donnie Munro, with my own songs and people playing with me. That feels different."
Donnie plays Speyfest next Thursday (Aug 3), before his date the next day at The Ironworks.
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A Gaelic Voice with a Memphis smile
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