SINGER Julie Fowlis and Shooglenifty are to headline a new history weekend at Fort George, in the Highlands.

On August 12 and 13 Historic Environment Scotland (HES) are to stage the event at the castle near Inverness, in celebration of Scotland’s designated Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.

Amazing Ages! will uncover 2,000 years of Scottish history and culture with the programme of live music. Saturday will star Edinburgh-based six piece band Shooglenifty and Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis tops the bill on Sunday.

Amazing Ages! has been funded in part by EventScotland and is free for Historic Scotland members, and more musical acts are yet to be named.

historicenvironment.scot.

THE HEBRIDEAN Celtic Festival music festival is to use "augmented reality" to allow people across the world to interact with the event using just a smart phone or tablet.

Visitors to this year’s HebCelt, from July 19-22 in Stornoway in the isle of Lewis, will also be able to use the technology on site. Those unable to attend the festival can also see online sights and sounds of the event, which is being headlined by The Waterboys, Imelda May, Dougie MacLean and Lucy Spraggan.

By downloading a free recognition software app, mobile devices can trigger videos of the festival, artists, programming information and it can be used as a virtual box office to buy tickets. The app, called Layar, can be downloaded free to IOS or Android devices. Once installed the app reveals a computer-generated image or video to the user’s screen.

hebceltfest.com