Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A fabulous performance by Scottish band Reely Jiggered on Friday left the audience spell bound at an event held at a local hotel in Islamabad.

The band, featuring Alison McNeill (fiddle and vocals), Fiona McNeill (guitar, bodhran and vocals) and Scott McLean (percussion), is visiting Islamabad for Burns Night, an annual celebration of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns.

Reely Jiggered is an award winning Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) band inspired by Celtic Folk and world music. The band, which is on its first visit to Pakistan, has performed at international music festivals around the world. They are in Islamabad to play at a charity dinner being hosted at the British High Commission.

Burns Night, which is celebrated around the world, involves Scottish dancing and eating Haggis, a traditional food. The British High Commission’s Burns Supper fuses Scottish and Pakistani culture and includes readings of Robert Burns’ poems in original Scottish and Urdu, the traditional address to the Haggis and bagpipes played by a Pakistani band.

Acting High Commissioner, who is the host of the Burns Supper celebrations on the occasion said, “We are very excited about the arrival of Reely Jiggered and are looking forward to celebrating both Pakistan and Scottish culture. Whether talking about the large Pakistani origin population in Scotland, the shared love of bagpipes or the great links sent up by the British Council, there is a real connection between Scotland and Pakistan that we are immensely proud of.”

Speaking on the occasion, Alison McNeill said, “We are very excited to be in Islamabad. In fact, we have been anxiously waiting for the day we were to land in this city after we knew about the plans to perform here. People here are very cooperative, helpful and friendly.”

“Pakistan is a beautiful country. I would love to come here again and again. People are so forthcoming and dresses they wear are so colourful. Besides, the sunshine we enjoyed here has just made our trip,” Fiona McNeill told the audience.

Burns Night is an annual tribute to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. It was originally organised by his close friends and family after he died as a memorial, but it is now a countrywide event that people hold themselves, with traditional Scottish food, music and Burn’s works.

The poet, also known as Rabbie Burns, is famous for his creative literary works and wrote more than 550 poems and songs before his death in 1796 at the age of 37 after suffering from rheumatic fever. Some of his most well-known works include ‘A Red Red Rose’ and ‘A Man’s a Man for A’ That’.

Published in Daily Times, January 27^th 2018.