No sooner was Ionad Chaluim ChiIIe lie opened on Friday 16th August,
than the Arts Association moved in with an inaugural concert in the ground
floor main hallway on Saturday evening. Previous visitors to Islay,
Alan Reid and Rob Van Sante, presented a concert of folk music that fitted in
very nicely with the brand new surroundings of the College - not loud, not raucous, though not in Gaelic.
Alan Reid is a long time member of the Battlefield Band - by a strange quirk of fate,
I started playing folk clubs in 1975 at Ayr Folk  Club, on the same bill as the Battlefield Band, and won a copy of their 
first album. Needless to say, Alan didn't remember me, though we did manage to recall
the chap who used to run the folk club. Reid is the principal vocalist of the duo and plays both keyboard and guitar. 
He is credited with having introduced the keyboard as an integral part 
of contemporary Scottish folk, now used by a considerable number of folk groups.

Rob Van Sante is the Battlefield Band's full time sound engineer, managing to play
particularly adept guitar, while leaning over every now and again to
adjust a fader or two during the duos performance. 
It's either a comforting factor a retrograde step, that modern folk music in the
21st Century, still regales audiences with songs about the Riccarton Toll man's
Daughter and the Covenanters, as well asextolling the virtues of a wine produced
by a particular Irishman.
There was, however, plenty of variety in the material throughout the evening and the concert
was very well attended, though sadly not by any of the principals from the previous days proceedings.
On that note, Islay Arts Association would like to thank Michelle MacLeod for assistance
above and beyond the call of duty in the planning and practical aspects of this concert.
This was an event that was as much about the suitability of lonad Chaluim Ctile lIe as a concert
venue as it was about the music of such an entertaining duo. Many of those there were as keen to go
exploring the building during the break, as they were attentive during both sets.

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