Performers have travelled many thousands of miles to be at DRUMBEAT 2005 which starts on July 27th and runs till August 4th at Drumnadrochit.

"Well, I would walk 500 miles...", sang the Proclaimers (who'll be here in the Highlands at Tartan Heart next month) but next week performers at DRUMBEAT 2005 are arriving from all over the world, including Australia, Denmark, Canada and Switzerland. "We tried to add up the miles, but Mr Boom comes from the Moon, over a quarter of a million miles away, so the figures were too just big for the calculator!" say organisers Fran Davidson and Jennie Macfie.

A sign that Drumbeat is here to stay on the festival calendar is that this year it has its own Fringe. "Small, but perfectly formed," says Jennie, who books events at Glen Urquhart Public Hall " and it's still international, featuring Californian guitarist Alex Stimmel, and Buchan storyteller Lilian Ross".

"We realised that the cost of coming to a whole week of concerts and films was quite high so we came up with the DRUMBEAT pass," says Fran, "which will also entitles holders to £1 off tickets to Drumbeat Plus! Shows as well as everything we'll be putting on for the rest of the year. With events ranging from Scottish Opera to Shooglenifty offshoot The Funky String Band, that makes it a real bargain!".

DRUMBEAT 2005 opens on Wednesday 27th with Australia's COLCANNON, led by John Munro, Eric Bogle's regular sideman. Festival highlights include Danish ensemble "DE DOVER SPILLEMAEND", Scottish fiddle champion ALISTAIR MCCULLOCH, Perthshire folk trio TARNEYBACKLE, Canada's Celtic bluegrass wizards TILLER'S FOLLY, and the special DRUMBEAT PLUS shows the following week feature local heroes ALY BAIN & PHIL CUNNINGHAM and nationally acclaimed standup ROSS NOBLE. Tickets for individual events and Drumbeat passes are available from Highland online ticketing agency www.thebooth.co.uk