INVERCLYDE’S ever popular music festival is back with a bang next week as over a thousand talented local performers get ready to strut their stuff.
The annual event is returning for its 97th edition with a host of new classes and trophies – including the return of adult competitions which were put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Singers, instrumentalists, speakers and dancers will all be putting their talents on show when the packed syllabus gets underway on Monday.
The festival’s organisers are also introducing Irish Dancing to the annual gala for the first time, with a group of Inverclyde-based dancers set to perform in the closing concert on February 3.
Inverclyde Music Festival president Isabel Lind told the Tele that she couldn’t wait for things to get under way.
She said: “I’m always excited to see the festival return and we’re really looking forward to it this year, I think we’re in for a good one.
“We’ve got the adults back this year and it feels like we’re moving forward all the time.
“We’ve now building up towards our 100th festival, which we want to be very special.
“The numbers are brilliant so far, for example on the Tuesday we’ve got nine choirs which means over 300 children will be taking part.
“There will be over a thousand at the festival, which is excellent.
“Our final competition will commemorate past president Andrew Cockle, and this year the best instrumentalists will play off to win that prize on the last night.”
Mrs Lind says she came up with the idea to add Irish dancers to the festival while writing a dissertation on Irish migrants in Greenock as part of an MA in local history which she was studying for.
She added: “I’m keen to involve the New Scots in the festival but the Irish were our very first migrants so I thought to myself that we’d better make sure that our first migrants feel that they too can be part of Inverclyde Music Festival.
“That’s why we’ve invited an Irish dance group to perform at our concert on the final night.
“This is part of our work towards 2027 when we’ll have the Irish dancers represented as well as our New Scots from places like Sudan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
“We want all of these people who are coming to be part of Scotland to feel like they have a place in Inverclyde.”
The festival’s committee has also taken steps to ensure that this year’s edition has something for everyone, with several categories focusing on contemporary music.
Mrs Lind said: “On the first day as well as the accordion and Scots fiddle we’ve got hits from the charts.
“We’re going to have rock bands performing at the Beacon on the first Thursday night too.
“When we do the drumming and the guitars we go to the Beacon and draw on their expertise for that.
“We’re embracing modern technology and while we’re keeping the best of what we’ve got we’re also moving forward for the younger ones.
“We’re always looking to see how we can improve and what we can add to make the festival as good as possible.”
To purchase festival tickets visit https://inverclyde-music-festival.org.uk/
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