Astar is born at Lancashire venue...

The band’s story goes back a decade when four friends – Ewan Robertson on guitar and vocals, fiddle and viola player Patsy Reid, and pipers Calum MacCrimmon and Donal Brown – got together for a tune in Brown’s student flat in Glasgow and found that they had a tangible chemistry.

Their twin-bagpipes attack gave them a readily identifiable sound, as they took their music, with its leanings towards the Highland style, to venues and festivals on the folk and traditional music circuit, and they gathered a cult following.

Two albums, The Big Spree and The Desperate Battle of The Birds, confirmed their status as significant players on the folk scene and saw them nominated as Best Group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Now, with new release, Astar, Breabach will be showcasing their latest album with a debut at Clitheroe’s Grand Theatre.

“The music on the album takes inspiration from the beautiful places we have visited and the wonderful people we have met in the world,” said Breabach leader Ewan Robertson.

“We have taken melodic, rhythmic and harmonic roots from five different cultures and merged them with our sound.”

Straightforward links between places and the mood of a piece crop up regularly throughout the album.

He added: “The White Sands of Jervis Bay, for example, is about the spectacular beaches we visited in New South Wales while the album begins with Midnight Sun.

“It was written after piper James McKenzie experienced the memorable sensations of a midsummer within the Arctic Circle.

“The song, I think, evokes the sense of timelessness that anyone who’s experienced 24-hour daylight will recognise. We are tremendously excited about this album, and coming to Clitheroe on the tour because we have heard so much about the Grand Theatre.”

Breabach will lead a special family musical instrumental workshop at the Grand on the afternoon of the show.

The workshop runs from 3.30 pm to 4.30pm. Tickets £3 each and £10 for a family of four.

n Classic 1970s rock band Genesis performed live with a spectacular light show, but copyists G2 Definitive Genesis have found a home from home at the Grand, always guaranteeing a packed house, a superb set and a fever-pitch atmosphere. Peter Gabriel had just left the band, and drummer Phil Collins had stepped up to the microphone. Take a trip back in time with G2 Genesis on April 1 (£16.50).

For all ticket details phone the Grand box office, 01200 421599.