Ceilidh Caleerie trip to Spain

Ceilidh Caleerie – Trip to Spain 2009 by Myles Lobjoie

The cellist with Ceilidh Caleerie, Sue Sellar, had been invited by her friend, Hafida Latta, to bring other band members to Spain to play ceilidhs/concerts, in aid of the cerebral palsy charity Aspropace. A contingent made up of members of Ceilidh Caleerie, Sarah Northcot’s Tuesday morning class, four dancers lead by Fiona Campbell, and master pipers Glyn Norris and Norrie Mackenzie flew out on Thursday 11 June and met up at Barcelona Airport with a few who had arrived a day or two earlier.

A large tour bus took us to our very nice apartments in Alcossebre which is a holiday town that appeared to be used mainly by the Spanish themselves and described in the brochure as “Paradise amidst the mountains and the sea.” We all received a full colour leaflet of each of the planned three concerts and also the local newspaper which had an article in Spanish and English written by Hafida all about the coming events.

The next evening we had our first performance on the esplanade of the castle at Peniscola. Amplification and staging were provided by the local authorities’ at all three locations, and we were also being sponsored by a company that grows and distributes fruits such as melons. Members of the audience were invited to learn the dances and it was nice to see, in a number of cases where people were a bit reticent to start off with, after a few dances were obviously enjoying themselves. Our programme consisted of dance tunes, listening sets and some songs. The pipers played at the start, in the break and at the end, and the castle was an ideal setting to listen to their dazzling and stirring performance.

The Saturday (13th June) evening’s performance was in a concert hall in Castellon. There were some children affected by cerebral palsy, with their carers, in the audience and a number of them took part in the dancing. A local dignitary spoke between sets about our music and one of our fiddlers did a wonderful job of translating Sarah’s dancing instructions and generally directing the proceedings in Spanish.

On Sunday evening (14th June) we played in a car park area just off the beech at Alcossebre, in front of the home and what appeared to be a community centre for the elderly. This doesn’t sound very exciting but it turned out great. The sound engineer that evening was particularly good and the music was enjoyed by not only those who had seats and took part in the dancing but also people on the balconies of their houses and others who were just out for a walk along the seafront. A number of people who had been at the Friday night’s performance (especially members of the local Scottish country dance society) came back on the Sunday night, which was nice to see. The story goes that one or two people attended all three nights. Our programme changed each night to suit the circumstances.

After this last performance there was a buffet with the mayor of Alcossebre in a large function room in the apartment complex, followed by a music session. There was plenty of time between our gigs to relax or go swimming, walking, eating out etc., so we were able to enjoy the holiday side of it as well. On our last night (Monday 15th June) some of us went to a local pub quiz (in English) and Sarah’s team won, raising more funds for Aspropace! This was followed by a music session, at first by the pool and then indoors, until late into the night.

Tuesday 16th June saw most of us heading home, but there were a number of our group who had planned to continue their sunshine holiday a while longer.

It was the general consensus that our trip had been a tremendous experience and went very well. After we played in Castellon it was mentioned that we may be asked back next year to be part of their music festival – so we will see what transpires. It was nice to feel that we brought a little bit of ceilidh culture to the sunny shores of Spain.