The piece contains five movements each written in style to reflect the traditional music of the following regions: Asturias/Brittany/Scotland/Bulgaria/Sweden. First performed by Graeme Wilson, John Burgess, Martin Kershaw, Allon Beauvoisin and Fraser Fifield.

The Herald: "Conceived in five parts, 'Traditions' described a journey through the Celtic lands of Galicia, Asturia, Brittany and into the tricky time signatures of Bulgarian dance before capturing the gospelly righteousness of Gaelic psalm singing. With the former Old Blind Dog and current Salsa Celtica player's curved soprano set against and interacting with two tenor, a baritone, and alto saxophones, it featured some brilliantly observed writing, striking effective chords and drones, and a liveness of execution by all five players that brought to mind New York's 29th Street Saxophone Quartet gone native.

The Scandinavian finale, with its drones, foot stamps, and Fifield's ducking, diving and dancing lines, brought to a hugely satisfying conclusion a commission from a writer whose onstage reticence hides an astute compositional sense and the ability to transfer private musical thoughts into a multicultural blast for the listener."

From www.hi-arts.co.uk by James Ross: "One important virtue of the Highland Festival is its policy of commissioning new works from Scottish artists, and Thursday evening's concert in the Crown Church in Inverness featured two such pieces, the instrumental composition Beautiful North by Fraser Fifield and Dunbeath Water, an oratorio written by Robert Davidson and set to music by William Gilmour.

Fifield's piece for soprano saxophone and two fiddles (played by Victoria Fifield and Greg Lawson) proved to be an episodic treatment of a number of brief motifs, which were worked at and developed with a comprehensive and at times almost obsessive thoroughness. Celebrating the links between the traditional idioms of Scotland and Scandinavia, the music incorporated the sounds of a good-going Highland ceilidh with echoes of the Hardanger fiddle.

However this inventive piece went far beyond these obvious elements to introduce flavours of jazz, minimalism and even haunting echoes of the Psalm-singing traditions of the Western Isles. Alternating lyrical, contemplative sections in which the musical material was given more gentle treatment, with spiky, syncopated reels of toe-tapping urgency, the trio held the attention of a large and appreciative audience. This was a truly eclectic performance crackling with energy and inventiveness, in which traditional Scottish ornaments on the fiddles rubbed shoulders with the jazz-inspired juxtaposition of alternative fingerings on the saxophone."

A carefully structured piece with lots of room for improvisation calling for close interaction between musicians and dancer. Fraser called on regular musical colleagues Graeme Stephen (guitar), David Robertson, Guy Nicolson (percussion) and Mario Caribe (bass) to perform the music which accompanies Frank McConnell's solo dance.

From www.hi-arts.co.uk,".. followed by "Far Horizons", a solo self-choreographed work by Frank McConnell, dancing for his own company again and accompanied by the peerless Fraser Fifield and four very talented male musicians. Beginning with an exuberant, frenetic fusion of Gene Kelly and stepdance, from the moment Fifield and Graeme Stephen put down their instruments, crawled across the floor to capture McConnell's feet and removed his shoes, this work went free-forming off on a consistently interesting, skilfully performed journey. The musicians took their cues from McConnell throughout, jazz-style, with a hint of ceilidh culture. It would be good to see this remounted in Eden Court's new studio".

One of several pieces commissioned from contemporary Scottish composers for performance at a special memorial concert for the late Martyn Bennett, held in Edinburgh's Queens Hall. Kilchoan Ferry segued out of a beautiful arrangement by Robert McFall of a piece called Peewits and the two pieces have continued to be performed together.

Review by Sue Wilson for Hi-Arts,"...a piece entitled 'Peewits', originally written for solo fiddle, but beautifully arranged here for string quartet. Evidently inspired by the plaintive cry of the bird it was named for, the music unfolded in long, slow measures, at once tranquil and bittersweet, lingering on the layered strings' sensuous timbres and gracefully shifting harmonies, before segueing into a second piece, Fraser Fifield's 'Kilchoan Ferry', with the addition of its composer on low whistle. This took us into more turbulent waters, being largely in Balkan-style 7/8 time, reflecting Bennett's passion for alternative rhythms and diverse musical traditions, as Fifield's tremendously forceful yet liquid blowing sparred and parried with the strings' darting, glancing forays, deftly interspersed with smoother, mellower passages."

The tour was called 'Aye: An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett' and the instrumentation used was: String Quartet/Electric Bass/Piano/Two Drum Kits/Highland Bagpipes. The name of the piece, originally untitled, emerged from the collective consciences of Mr McFalls Chamber during the rehearsals. Perhaps the name reflects the upbeat feel of the piece coupled with it's unusual 15/16 time signature.