ROCKERS Runrig are to down tools after a 45-year career – and the reverberations are being felt far further afield than their Skye home.
Named after a farming method, the band was formed on the island in 1973 and has since taken Gaelic into the UK charts, carved out international success and influenced some of today’s most prominent Scottish musicians.
As the news broke at lunchtime yesterday, folk singer Julie Fowlis was amongst those to react, tweeting out a string of weeping emojis.
STV news reader John MacKay called it “a sad day” and former member Pete Wishart MP described his old band as “truly iconic”.
WHY ARE THEY SPLITTING?
NOT splitting, retiring. In a statement announcing farewell gigs next year, the band said the decision had been “heart-wrenching”.
Members said: “We are now simply at that point in time where longevity and circumstance have to be balanced against what is right for the art and the muse. We feel that the time for this decision is now upon us, and we embrace it with a sense of positivity, but tinged with understandable sadness and reflection. It was always inevitable that this day had to arrive, but it’s arrival does not make our situation any easier.”
Reacting, one woman from Harris told Twitter: “Overheard a lad on the phone to his mum saying he was coming home from college early because he’s too sad that runrig split, I get ya son x”.
WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN?
THE band’s first gig was at a dinner dance for the Highlands and Islands Association in the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, when the members were still students.
The booking came courtesy of the accordionist’s mother, who was amongst the organisers, and drummer Calum MacDonald said the gig marked his first time behind the kit.
Despite countless tours of both major and minor concert halls that took them to communities around Scotland and beyond, the group’s most famous outing is arguably their June 1991 performance at Balloch Park on Loch Lomondside.
The festival-style event came at a time when the band was regularly staging big-scale gigs at castles and even selling out five-night runs at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
However, with an audience of about 50,000 this was on a different scale, and pre-dated similar headline events on the lochside by acts such as Oasis.
It also came before the departure of much-loved vocalist Donnie Munro, who began solo work and is now director of arts at Gaelic-medium college Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye.
The decision to replace Munro with Nova Scotian singer Bruce Guthro brought renewed interest from Canada, one of many overseas markets where the band has made its mark.
TELL ME MORE
BUNDESLIGA side FC Koln like Runrig’s version of Loch Lomond as much as Scottish wedding DJs. Home fans are regularly heard singing the tune at the Rhein Energie Stadion, and the group’s long-standing popularity in Germany means they will play Berlin, Stuttgart and Koln as part of the farewell tour next June.
Two nights in Denmark have also been announced, with the final performance scheduled for Stirling City Park next August. Tickets go on sale on Friday – and will undoubtedly sell out as fans say goodbye to a band whose back catalogue is notable for its handling of history, culture and identity.
As well as tackling mass immigration and the Highland Clearances, the lyrics explore connection with the land and the tension between tradition and modernity in a way that has resonated internationally – even when not delivered in English.
An Ubhal as Airde, based around Gaelic psalm singing, reached number 18 in the UK charts in 1995 and many listeners cite the group’s output as their inspiration to learn the language.
Particularly in the band’s earlier decades, their subject matter and use of Gaelic drew fans from the growing independence movement, despite Munro going on to stand for the Labour Party.
MacDonald backed a Yes vote in 2014, but Runrig’s legacy goes far beyond politics.
Yesterday Wishart said: “Sad to hear of the retirement of Runrig. Their contribution to Scottish culture is immeasurable. They brought Gaelic to a new generation, popularised it and took it round the world. Proud to have been part of this truly iconic Scots band. The farewell concert will be amazing.”
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