The Occasionals | de

The Occasionals

There is little that is as uplifting on a dark day as a bit of Scottish country-dance music. It has a flow and vitality that is hard to resist.

The Occassionals is a group of experts at providing this antidote to a Highland winter. Using accordion, fiddle and an array of stringed instruments from banjo to tenor guitar, backed by the magnificent drum kit, they will have even frostbitten toes tapping.

The Occasionals are widely regarded as one of the foremost Scottish ceilidh dance bands, and have been playing for dancing the length and breadth of Europe since 1986. Accordionist Freeland Barbour initially joined forces with fellow ex-Wallochmor Ceilidh Band drummer Gus Millar, to "occasionally" play for dances at festivals, and when Freeland invited banjo/mandolin player Kevin Macleod to join that year, the basis of the current band line up was secured.
However, since then, many fine musicians such as fiddlers Mairi Campbell, Jim Barrie, Angie Smith, Charlie Soane, Iain Fraser, Rebecca Hunter, pianists Neil MacMillan and Gill Simpson, guitarist Brian Millar, Runrig guitarist Malcolm Jones, and drummer Ally MacIntyre have "occasionally" performed with the band.

Over the past 16 years, the band have performed at many large and prestigious events, including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Glasgow's Mayfest and Celtic Connections, BBC TVs "Talla Bhaille", Tonder Festival Denmark, Jakarta Highland Society, Orkney Folk Festival, Feis Tiree, Deutsche Bank Conferences, RSNO Viennese Balls, Aberdeen's Millennium celebrations, The Mod, Shetland Accordion Festival, even an International Conference on Prosthetics, and a thousand other public and private functions all over Scotland. .