Folk, Jazz etc: Musical chairs sees the Blazers in fiery form for new album

Not only are the powerful sextet planning their annual Blazin' In Beauly fiddle school for this October, but a transatlantic offshoot, Blazin' In Boston, is on the cards for next year.

While recent personnel changes have seen the departure of long-standing Shetland member Catriona MacDonald, to be replaced by another Shetlander, Jenna Reid, and the arrival of award-winning guitarist Anna Massie, there seems to be no stopping the irresistible fiddle force once described in this newspaper as "the Led Zeppelin of the folk world".

Yet while many of their contemporaries pursue a very contemporary approach to Scottish music, as the new CD (on Blazin' Records) suggests, "the Blazers" remain more or less faithful to the Highlands and Islands sound they originally set out to promote, as founder member, fiddler and broadcaster Bruce MacGregor recounts.

"I was working at the BBC in Inverness at the time, and the Highland Festival was going, and I went into it with the idea. It was partly sparked by the fact that, listening to the radio at the time, I found it very difficult to hear any Scottish music being played, although I was hearing a huge amount of Irish and Cape Breton music. Things have definitely changed now, but at that stage it just wasn't being properly represented."

MacGregor got together with another west Highland fiddler, Iain MacFarlane - who, like him, had been taught by the great Donald Riddell CBE. They were joined by Allan Henderson, pupil of another renowned Highland name, Angus Grant. Other notable fiddlers involved early on were Duncan Chisholm, Aidan O'Rourke and the recently departed MacDonald.

The ensemble was going to be temporary, but they went down a storm with audiences and the following year were invited to the Fiddlers of the World festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They realised that, whatever it was they had, it was worth keeping going.

Since then, venues have ranged from Highland village halls to the Royal Albert Hall, but it remains a part-time commitment, with MacGregor broadcasting, Henderson currently musician-in-residence at Sabhal Mr Ostaig Gaelic college on Skye, Macfarlane and keyboard player Andy Thorburn both teaching and playing elsewhere and guitarist Massie touring with her own band.

In the meantime, while they do play contemporary material, they remain largely purveyors of traditional Highland fiddle music, inspired and informed by the likes of Riddell and Grant.

"I hope," says MacGregor, "that we can be seen in 20 years' time, say, as people who have carried on that tradition.The music is in very good hands at the moment, but it's important that people are aware where these tunes have come from. These styles are our dialects.

"When I was about 12 or 13," laughs MacGregor, "Donald Riddell said to me, 'You'll develop your own style, your own voice … but until then you'll play it my way.'"

So, can we infer that the Blazers will still be raising the dust in 20 years time? "We've got such a good rapport with each other, I don't see it being a problem," he replies. "It might be Smoulderin' Fiddles, rather than Blazin', and we might be in wheelchairs, but we'll still be doing it."

• Blazin' Fiddles play Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, 24 March, Woodend Barn, Banchory, 25 March, and Hawick Reivers' Festival, 26 March. Gigs in Skye, Edinburgh and Aberdeen follow. For details, see www.blazin-fiddles.co.uk