Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival (Beauly, Inverness-shire; 7^th & 8^th August) is celebrating Homecoming Scotland with a whole new stage dedicated to Robert Burns.

The Sideburns Stage at Bella will be promoting an eclectic programme themed around the bard, and taking an alternative and contemporary approach to his work.

The highlight of each day with be a 90 minute Burns ceilidh curated by Inverness  fiddle ace Bruce MacGregor. The theme of the Friday ceilidh will be Burns Blues, with the help of Highland blues exponent Andy Gunn setting some of Burns' more morose songs to the blues and turning some blues songs into the sort of language Burns would have used: Thus , ‘Woke Up This Morning’ become,s

‘Waukenin this mornin / Chanticleer in ma lugs / Dirl in ma heid / Barkin fairmyaird dugs / A hae the waukrife blues / Waukrife nicht again.’

The Saturday ceilidh will take its theme from the fact that Burns was a fiddler himself. Bruce MacGregor will accompany the Jimmy Shandrix Experience band in a selection of Gaelic airs that Burns used to set some of his better known songs to, such as ‘Ay Fond Kiss’ and ‘My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose’.

The spoken word part of the ceilidh will come from Highlander Hamish MacDonald who was the first Write In Residence in Burns’ cottage in Ayrshire. Among other things, he will be doing his own version of ‘Tam ‘O Shanter’ set in Inverness.

As a light-hearted aside, the stage will host a competition for the finest pair of (real!) sideburns on show at Belladrum. Festival co-promoter Joe Gibbs’ wife Leonie will join Torquil MacLeod of Homecoming Scotland in judging who wins a pair of tickets to next year’s Bella. A presentation of two free tickets will also be made to the person who has travelled the furthest to Bella this year as part of the Homecoming initiative.

Other parts of the Sideburns programme include a play entitled Clarinda about the unconsummated love affair between Burns and Nancy MacLehose; Rappie Burns - Burns Rap Music by Jock Urquhart - Jock takes Burns lines and rps with them in a modern context; Scott Russell's spooky versions of 'Ode to A Haggis' and 'Tam 'O Shanter'; Cock-a-leekie Burns - Tommy Beavitt sings and teaches Burns songs in anything but Scots - Russian, German, French, Italian and Gaelic; and Burns For Lovers - Donald Kay, dressed as the bard, hands out red roses to loving couples and gives them renditions of Burns' love poems; all this plus surprise guests during the weekend.

Also on this stage, the final clues of the treasure hunt Bequest for a £10,000 gold and diamond mouse which Burns 'buried somewhere in the Highlands for his lover to find' are revealed in literary form and in the accompanying painting by Michael Forbes (Conon Bridge).

Bella visitors steal a march over their Bequest competitors by seeing the clues before they are released on the web site on the following Monday. Over 1000 people have joined the hunt for the mouse.

"Burns is one of the three major themes of Homecoming Scotland. We were keen to promote an alternate view of the bard through a contemporary lens, as well as an appreciation of some of the more off-beat aspects of his life,” said Bella co-promoter Joe Gibbs

A spokesperson for Homecoming Scotland said: '2009 looks set to be a special year at the Tartan Heart Festival. We are delighted the organisers have embraced the Homecoming celebrations to create a unique element within the Festival to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns and to welcome back many Highland Homecomers to one of the annual highlights of Scotland's festival calendat.'

Award-winning Belladrum has announced music headliners  Editors and Ocean Colour Scene plus a raft of other acts including: The Saw Doctors; Shed Seven; British Sea Power; Seth Lakeman; Alabama 3; Sons & Daughters; Glen Tilbrook & The Fluffers; The Peatbog Faeries; Lau; Toploader; Treacherous Orchestra; Transglobal Underground; Tommy Reilly; De Votchka; The Phantom Band; 3 Daft Monkeys; Edward II; The Wallbirds; Kid Carpet; Sam Isaac;  Broken Records; Magistrates; Healthy Minds Collapse; Sparrow & The Workshop; The Lost Brothers; and Scooty & The Skyhooks.

Belladrum 2009 takes place in the beautiful Highland surroundings of Belladrum Estate, near Beauly in Inverness-shire. The independent festival has built a reputation for its eclectic line-ups, its off-beat non-musical entertainments and its all-ages approach. Capacity will remain what it was in 2008 at 12,000. At the UK Festival Awards Ceremony in October – the festival industry’s ‘oscars’ - Bella was awarded the Grassroots Festival Award.

This year the festival is supported by Homecoming Scotland 2009, EventScotland and Highland Council. Marie Christie, Homecoming Scotland Project Director said, “Belladrum is one of Scotland’s leading family-friendly festivals.  Taking place in beautiful surroundings, the fantastic programme and quality experience make it an unmissable festival diary date.  We are excited to be working with the organisers to make sure 2009 hosts the best Bella yet ”.

Advance adult weekend tickets have been held at 2008 prices and  are £80 and adult Saturday tickets will cost £50. Both include parking and camping. As in previous years, tickets for children 12 & under are free. Tickets are available from The Ironworks (www.ironworksvenue.com),  The Booth (www.thebooth.co.uk), Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.co.uk), Ticketline (www.ticketline.co.uk), Tickets Scotland (www.tickets-scotland.com) and Skiddle (www.skiddle.com). Tickets are also available from TicketScotland in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Ripping in Edinburgh, One-Up in Aberdeen, The Ironworks, Mania, Hootenanny’s and Eden Court in Inverness; and Below The Waterfall in Dingwall.

Saturday July 18th 2009

For further information, contact:

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival has been supported by The Highland Council www.highlandeventsandfestivals.com and also by EventScotland www.eventscotland.org; Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival has also been supported by Homecoming Scotland 2009 www.homecomingscotland2009.com , The Scottish Arts Council and Hi-Arts

Homecoming Scotland 2009

*      In 2009 Scotland will host its first Homecoming year, designed to mark the 250th anniversary of Scotland's national poet, the international cultural icon, Robert Burns.  From the weekend around Burns Night in January to St Andrew's Day in November a countrywide programme of exciting and inspirational Homecoming events and activities will celebrate some of Scotland's great contributions to the world: Burns himself, Whisky, Golf, Great Scottish Minds and Innovations and our rich ancestral culture and heritage which lives on at home and through our global family.

*     Homecoming Scotland 2009 is a Scottish Government initiative managed by EventScotland in partnership with VisitScotland.

*     Homecoming Scotland 2009 seeks to motivate people of Scottish descent, as well as those who simply love Scotland, to come home and join us in a national celebration of our culture, heritage and the many great contributions Scotland has given the world: