Return to Belfast

Just a short post as an update from Caim's recent gig in Belfast - our Lenten reflection morning at Newtonbreda Presbyterian Church on Feb 13,  A small group came along to the morning and it's true that small is beautiful - we had a peaceful and creative time together.  Caim have been invited to give a similar morning on June 18, 2016 - this time a Celtic reflection time.

While I was in Belfast, Jacynth and I went along to the Sunflower Folk Club in Union Street to hear some friends of mine from Scotland who were performing there that Thursday evening.  We were asked to sing a couple of songs during the open mic at the start of the night which resulted in a booking for Caim at the club on Thursday June 16, 2016.  This is a special booking for me as I began my folk singing life in the old Sunflower Folk Club in Belfast in the eighties.  The old club was in a different part of the city which is now a motorway!

If you are in Northern Ireland this June please come along and support us - we'd love to see you!

February 2016

Hi folks,

Wow! We're into the second month of 2016 already!

This is looking to be an exciting year for me as I'm finally recording a solo CD after many years of recording Caim CDs and CDs with other musicians.  My last solo CD was in 1994! I plan to have the CD to take with me on tour in Wisconsin, USA in late August this year.  That tour will be with multi instrumentalist Gloria Hays who I toured with in Wisconsin and Scotland in the early nineties and who has organized house concerts for Caim over the years.  Gloria and I released a Cassette "Wee Highland Fling" during our Scottish tour and this will be re released as a CD with additional tracks for this year's tour.

For those of you asking about a return to Canada - this was confirmed when Pauline Vallance and myself met with Caim's Canadian agent, Ian Davies, at Celtic Connections in Glasgow last week.  Ian has set mine and Pauline's tour dates as May 22 - June 5, 2017 and has already confirmed two bookings for us. 

Due to Jacynth's heart surgery in recent years, Caim are now concentrating on tours nearer home.  We had two very successful fund raising concerts with Pauline Vallance in Belfast last year and I'm traveling to Belfast again next week for a lent reflection morning in music, movement and meditation with Caim at Jacynth's church.  In March Caim are providing the music for a meditation retreat in Cumbria, England and then giving a concert with Pauline Vallance in Pitlochry, Scotland. 

As you can see from our website, Caim try to tour with Pauline Vallance wherever possible now.  Pauline adds a third vocal and harp accompaniment to our music and sets wee Jacynth's feet a dancing to her lively flute tunes.  We hope to tour in mainland Europe eventually so if anyone can offer a house concert or two to us there or in the UK or Ireland please email me at cluniemusic@hotmail.com 

Sadly Caim's planned workshops in Andalucia, Spain for May 2016 did not receive enough response so they won't be happening this year.  Los Olivos would like to get us there at some stage but we need people to let us know in advance if they would be willing to go with Caim in 2017 and what time of the year you would like the workshops to happen.  Again - please email me.

And.. as always while all of the above are happening I still tour with the wonderful Ciaran Dorris for Music in Hospitals.  I was told recently that we gave 101 concerts last year! This specialized music work is very important to me.

And that's all for now.  Please keep checking www.cluniemusic.com for gig updates.  Also on the website you'll find links to our facebook Caim and Heather Innes music pages.

Thank you for supporting our music.
Deep peace
Heather

Create a Celtic ceilidh with Caim in sunny Andalucia!

 May 16 - 21, 2016 Caim are giving 5 days of workshops in song, dance and story at Los Olivos hacienda - a beautiful farmhouse and retreat in the heart of the majestic Sierra Nevada National Park in Southern Spain.

Cost (excluding airfares to Malaga or Granada airport, Spain & transfers to Los Olivos) is 575 euros for 5 nights single accommodation, full board & workshops or 525 euros for shared accommodation.

To book download the booking form at www.haciendalosolivos.org (25% deposit, balance & transfers payable 30 days before the retreat).
We're really looking forward to this retreat and we need at least 10 folk to book and join us for it to go ahead.  It's a beautiful part of the world and an amazing retreat house - and we get to sing and dance with you!  Please consider coming and meeting us there.

Deep peace
Heather & Jacynth

Change to Canada tour

Hi folks,

Just a quick post - sadly duo to the high cost of travel insurance Jacynth won't be touring in Canada with Pauline Vallance and myself in September. (Pauline and myself still hope to go). She will be with Caim as usual though for our UK gigs in Escomb and Cumbernauld as detailed in our Caim gig guide.  We're both also looking forward to enjoying Festival on the Moor in Yorkshire in May - we haven't been booked for this year as far as I know but we're going to go and have a sing anyway and enjoy listening to all the other acts and then travel on to our gig at Escomb.

Heather

Caim is back on the road!

Hi everyone,

After a very enjoyable and successful Bedworth Festival weekend at the beginning of December last year - our wee Jacynth is finally back gigging with Caim - and we've added the lovely Pauline Vallance to our lineup for occasional gigs and tours.  Pauline sang with me and played clasarch and flute backing to my songs last year while Jacynth was recovering from heart surgery and now Pauline's flute reels have got Jacynth's Irish toes a tapping again.  It was wonderful to have Jacynth beside me on stage singing and dancing again during our Bedworth Festival concerts.

After Bedworth we invited Pauline to join Caim in Ontario, Canada, September 10 - 27, 2015 and so it was off to Kinnaird Church, Perthshire for filming Youtube videos of our music for our Canadian agent Ian Davies. Links to a couple of these will be on our cluniemusic website shortly and most of the videos are also on our Caim facebook page - www.facebook.com/pages/Caim/1530  Please have a look and also 'like' our page.  Many thanks to Kinnaird Church for letting us film in such a beautiful setting.

May 27th it's back to Escomb Saxon church in North East England for Jacynth and myself, to give the Caim concert they've been waiting for for two years and then Caim with Pauline Vallance will be in concert at my own church in Cumbernauld on May 30th - The Scottish Episcopal Church of the Holy Name, Fleming Road, Seafar, Cumbernauld. This one's in aid of much needed church building funds so if you live anywhere near Cumbernauld, Scotland please support us.

June 3rd Caim (well - mainly Jacynth!) will be giving a presentation in powerpoint pics and song about the amazing work of Umphang Orphanage for Karen Burmese refugees in Thailand. Caim visited and sang at the orphanage several years ago and we promised to raise funds and awareness of the work being done there.

Meanwhile, in between my new relief library assistant work for Stirling libraries (yes - I've moved back to the Stirling area) and continuing Music in Hospital tours with Ciaran I'm trying to contact as many UK folk festivals as possible for "Caim with Pauline Vallance" for 2015 and 2016 - always hopeful that a door will open somewhere!


All the gigs mentioned here should be updated on www.cluniemusic.com before too long. Hope to see you somewhere on the road!

Deep peace
Heather

Spring 2014

Hi everyone,

As I write green buds are appearing on the trees and we have sunshine! I hope the same is true for you - especially if you've suffered the extreme winter weather in USA recently.

This is just a wee update - mainly about our forthcoming Julian week concert in Norwich and our Celtic Springs concert in Escomb on the journey down. Sadly Jacynth won't be with me for those gigs as she has recently learned her heart by pass surgery is scheduled for mid May. As she has to take life easy and come off her medication before the operation, touring away from home is not an option.

For our Celtic Springs concert at Escomb on May 7th, Ciaran Dorris has kindly agreed to come with me. Ciaran has sung with me at Escomb Saxon Church before and is looking forward to a return visit.

In my last update I mentioned keyboard player David who was originally booked to back either myself or Caim in Norwich.  Due to work and family commitments (the recent addition of baby Thomas) David has had to pull out. The good news is that on May 9th at Norwich I will be joined by Pauline Vallance on clasarch and flute. Pauline is also a very talented singer/songwriter and I thoroughly enjoyed my first rehearsal with her yesterday afternoon.

Pauline will also be joining me for a concert of Scottish songs at North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre September 29th.  Check out Pauline's website at www.paulinevallance.co.uk

Ciaran and I continue to tour throughout Scotland for Music in Hospitals and are venturing into North West England for a couple of days MIH concerts at the end of May. On one of those days we will be singing especially for a good friend of ours from our folk club touring days who is now resident in a nursing home in Lancashire.

Firefrost (Kate Kramer, Ciaran and myself) are booked for Winnock hotel, Drymen, Loch Lomond on Christmas day for the 6th year in succession - but, hey -  I know Christmas seems to come earlier each year but it is only the beginning of spring!

Looking even further into the future - I believe I heard Jacynth mention when I was in Belfast recently, that she hopes Caim will be back in Canada and USA in 2015.

Deep peace
Heather

2013

Hi Everyone,

Thought it was high time for an update on what's been happening this year. 

Some of you may know that Jacynth had a health scare earlier in the year which resulted in a hospital visit following a heart angiogram.  She's doing fine now after successful surgery but is still waiting to hear if she will need further surgery so Caim gigs have been on hold this year. Consequently our planned Canadian tour has been postponed till at least the end of 2014.

We have been invited to give a concert during Julian week in Norwich, England in May 2014 and at present Jacynth feels she may be able to do that with me.  I will still go ahead with the help of our keyboard player from church, David, if she can't travel - and David will still be with Caim if she can. Our concert is Friday May 9th 2014 and venue details will be on our gig page soon.

One of the concerts Jacynth was sorry to miss this year was a long planned concert at The Well, Milton Keynes for the 40th anniversary of our friends Liz and Robin.  Ciaran Dorris kindly braved the long drive with me down south for that one and we had a ball!

Ciaran and Kate Kramer also helped me with two other concerts during the year. Both of them played for me at my book launch at the Ignatian Centre, Glasgow in May and more recently Kate and her fiddle travelled with me to Bedworth Folk Festival for a couple of concerts and the hosting of a sing a round.  I enjoyed Bedworth so much that I decided to look for more gigs as an unaccompanied singer - something I used to do on a regular basis a number of years ago. 

Meanwhile Ciaran and I continue to tour and gig throughout Scotland for Music in Hospitals - so life is as busy as ever!

Wishing you all a peaceful and blessed Christmas.
Hope to see you further down the road in 2014!

Heather