{"id":1938045,"date":"2026-05-15T22:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1938045"},"modified":"2026-05-15T22:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:01:10","slug":"madonnas-highland-wedding-harpist-revives-a-gaelic-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1938045","title":{"rendered":"Madonna’s Highland wedding harpist revives a Gaelic festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/8b69\/live\/295e79f0-4fad-11f1-b2ff-f5e2d2fddf7e.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"GraemeGraeme Port<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Jennifer Port said performing at a local Gaelic m\u00f2d eventually led to a career in music<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A musician who played at the Highland wedding of Madonna and filmmaker Guy Ritchie is helping to resurrect a local Gaelic festival which paved her way to that performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jennifer Port plays the clarsach, a traditional Celtic harp, and performed at the couple’s big day in Dornoch in 2000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Highland-based harpist and singer is chairing a committee reviving a local m\u00f2d, a celebration of music and language, that was last held in Golspie 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Taking place on 6 June, it will feature competitions in singing, piping, clarsach, fiddle and Highland dancing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Port is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied clarsach and singing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said her whole musical career – including performing at the celebrity wedding – had stemmed from the early days of taking part in the local m\u00f2d. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I just felt it was really important to try and create a legacy and allow others that same opportunity that was given to me,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Participating at local and national m\u00f2ds led me to become interested in Gaelic, Scottish music and particularly the clarsach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“That led me to a career playing the harp, performing at Madonna’s wedding, travelling the world to play in countries such as China, Australia and Russia and entertaining King Charles in Castle of Mey.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Guy Ritchie and Madonna were married in Dornoch in 2000<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Port said she hoped the 134-year-old Royal National M\u00f2d might even return to Golspie in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Entries for the Caithness and Sutherland M\u00f2d in Golspie close on the 24 May. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There are no entry fees due to financial support from the Kilbraur Wind Farm Community Benefit Trust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Port regrets the way the Golspie event died out, believing its loss negatively affected opportunities for other musicians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Sadly it died away in Golspie,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The National M\u00f2d has been in Golspie twice, in 1977 and 1995, so it felt a real shame that there wasn’t a local m\u00f2d anymore. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“But last year I was an adjudicator at the National M\u00f2d in Fort William and I came home so inspired that I said to my husband the only way our children are going to get the same experience that I got as a child is if I just organise it myself and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She added: “I’m so determined to give the children in the area the same opportunities that I got through my teacher, Graham MacArthy, getting us involved.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Madonna and Guy Ritchie married at Skibo Castle in 2000<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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American superstar Madonna married movie director Guy Ritchie at an exclusive ceremony at a heavily-guarded Skibo Castle, near Dornoch, in December 2000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The ceremony drew a big crowd to the church with a large number of celebrities in attendance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The couple announced they were getting divorced eight years later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cdrpkpd3zglo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/8b69\/live\/295e79f0-4fad-11f1-b2ff-f5e2d2fddf7e.jpg”] Graeme Port Jennifer Port said performing at a local Gaelic m\u00f2d eventually led to a career in music A musician who played at the Highland wedding of Madonna and filmmaker Guy Ritchie is helping to resurrect a local Gaelic festival which paved her way to that performance. Jennifer Port plays the clarsach, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1938045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1938045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1938045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1938045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1938045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}