I'm Alive
Posted: Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
Thank You For The Music
Posted: Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
Well, that’s it for another year. No, not the sunshine – but the Shetland Folk Festival. I had more luck this year in getting tickets- although I did give some away, as Consort had her birthday on one of the nights.
My son saw the Peatbog Faeries in Lerwick’s Clickimin Centre on Friday. According to him they were amazing!! He and I saw them in the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen in 1999 – and they were that then as well. I’m sure I’ll get a fuller report from him at a later date.
Sunday night is the last night of the festival and is the night of the Foys. To the unitiated, the Foys are where all the visiting acts perform. On the night each act has to play in three different venues – Lerwick British Legion, Shetland Hotel and the Clickimin Centre. Acts came from Scotland, England, Ireland, Denmark, Croatia, Canada, USA, Australia and even Mongolia! On the night, 14 acts in 5 hours!! A musical voyage around the world - not bad for £13 each.
Arrive just before the concert starts and you’ll be banished to seats away at the back, which is OK - if you have binoculars. Queuing an hour or more before the doors open is part of the whole ritual and pays off if you want decent seats – as Ruthodanort & Scallowawife will remember from 2006.
As the doors opened, Consort & I, along with several hundred others – who apart from 6 others were all behind us, made our way into the cavernous Clickimin. Yeeeeah, excellent seats right at the front.
Bang on 7, the first act started. Quinteto Mambo Jambo opened with the Latin sounds of the salsa and the chachacha. Their final number was dedicated to their home. No, not a bossa nova from Buenos Aries or a cumbia from Cuba but a “Rumba from the Humber”.
[Pete Jack of Quinteto Mambo Jambo]
Veteran Texan singer-songwriter, Katy Moffat was next on singing a couple of songs which I admit pretty much washed over me but finished with a belter of a blues number, “Sojourner Truth” – about women in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.
Americans, Brother Mule brought an uplifting mixture of bluegrass and more rockier elements – even throwing in some Norwegian Hardanger fiddle sounds. With them, the Clickimin – or at least Consort and I began to awaken.
Ben Winship of Brother Mule
Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddle player from New England, USA. Another previous visitor to Shetland came onstage with her – bass player Corey Di Mario was here last year with Crooked Still.
French-Canadian band, Le Vent du Nord – the North Wind – blew up a hurricane force storm with their Quebecois music. From the beginning they had the Clickimin crowd up on their feet stamping along to a song about a horse. Down came the dancers again practising their Gallic gyrations.
La Vente du Nord blow the Clickimin away
Astounding guitar-picking came from American, Andy McKee. I first came upon him via YouTube a couple of months ago where the videos of him playing have had 12 million hits!! Check him out there. Imagine listening to percussion, rhythm and lead guitar being played at the same time by the same person!! Highlight for me was his version of Toto’s “Africa”. Sadly, his CDs never made it to Shetland but I did download Africa from I-Tunes.
Andy McKee astounds
A touch of the exotic arrived from Mongolia with Hanggai. In the line-up of instruments were the horse-headed fiddle and the two-stringed banjo – two of the world’s oldest instruments. Throw in percussion, bass, guitar – and throat singing – and you had a mesmerising sound transporting us to the Mongolian steppes. The ever-smiling leader of the band couldn’t speak much English but got a great roar of approval from the crowd when, with a thumbs-up, he announced “Shetland, cool!” The Shetland audiences always seem to give a great reception to more exotic acts. Over the years these having included Bulgaria, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Russia, Peru, Mozambique.
Hanggai's horse-headed fiddle
Award-winning Danish fiddle player, Henrik Jansberg, came on with his band. Hang on, I recognise that double-bass player. Yes, it was Steffan Sorensen, who appeared with Zar at the festival in 2004. With his film star looks – according to Consort – he obviously had quite a following among the young women in the audience as they gyrated their way to the front of the hall to dance. Styles of dancing seemed to range from flowing like liquid to looking like old grannies carrying heavy shopping bags.
Henrik Jansberg
Irish act, David Munnelly and his band played some Irish jigs and reels. All-Ireland singing champion Shauna Mullin joined them to sing a Karine Polwart song – Follow The Heron. Karine apparently wrote the song after being in Shetland. Must have been when I saw her a few years ago at the British Legion supporting the Felsons.
Shauna Mullin sings with the David Munnelly Band
Rory Ellis is a big bear of man from Australia. Accompanied by a marvellous slide-guitarist, he gave us some of his own songs. He has a deep growl of a voice that seems to come out of the very ground itself. Think of Chris Rea, but a lot deeper voiced. He played two of my favourite songs of his most recent album – “The Rushes” and “Road of No Return.” The latter closed his set – a slow song ending in a blinding steel guitar solo and a gentle hum of feedback from Rory’s guitar, reminiscent of the whirr of tyres on tarmac.
Rory Ellis with his voice from Down Under
Afion are a Croatian band playing music from Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Their lively, upbeat sound belying the content of the songs – which apparently were do with curses and death. At one point I looked at Consort to see her counting out on her fingers. I eventually realised that she was tallying the number of different rhythms that were being played simultaneously – while coming together as a whole!
Two members of Croatian band, Afion
Young Scottish band, Breabach brought two sets of bagpipes to the Clickimin and opened with a fiery sound that reminded you of why the pipes had previously been thought of a weapon of war! They slowed right down with a song from Ewan Robertson, 2008 ˿ Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award. Some Scottish step-dancing (not Irish dancing!!) closed the set, as the young dancers at the front joined in.
Ewan Robertson of Breabach
English three-piece, the Martin Harley Band began with a couple of rockabilly numbers before finishing with a powerhouse of a blues number , Blues At My Window. While the double-bass player rocked his instrument back and fore and the drummer attacking his drum kit while surrounded by a halo of flailing hair, Martin Harley, alone in a spotlight, played some soaring slide-guitar
Martin Harley underneath the Shetland Folk Festival logo
Orkney’s The Chair closed the night beginning with a lovely slow air before erupting into a pounding set. A melee of guitar, bass, drums, banjo, fiddles, accordion that had the Clickimin once more on its feet, the crowd calling for – and receiving an encore from them.
The Chair close the concert
The impressive thing about this year was the variety of acts that were on. Some years I’ve been there and thought, “Hmmm, this sounds a bit like the previous act, who sounded exactly like the one before them….” But not this year, it was a veritable cornucopia.
My son saw the Peatbog Faeries in Lerwick’s Clickimin Centre on Friday. According to him they were amazing!! He and I saw them in the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen in 1999 – and they were that then as well. I’m sure I’ll get a fuller report from him at a later date.
Sunday night is the last night of the festival and is the night of the Foys. To the unitiated, the Foys are where all the visiting acts perform. On the night each act has to play in three different venues – Lerwick British Legion, Shetland Hotel and the Clickimin Centre. Acts came from Scotland, England, Ireland, Denmark, Croatia, Canada, USA, Australia and even Mongolia! On the night, 14 acts in 5 hours!! A musical voyage around the world - not bad for £13 each.
Arrive just before the concert starts and you’ll be banished to seats away at the back, which is OK - if you have binoculars. Queuing an hour or more before the doors open is part of the whole ritual and pays off if you want decent seats – as Ruthodanort & Scallowawife will remember from 2006.
As the doors opened, Consort & I, along with several hundred others – who apart from 6 others were all behind us, made our way into the cavernous Clickimin. Yeeeeah, excellent seats right at the front.
Bang on 7, the first act started. Quinteto Mambo Jambo opened with the Latin sounds of the salsa and the chachacha. Their final number was dedicated to their home. No, not a bossa nova from Buenos Aries or a cumbia from Cuba but a “Rumba from the Humber”.
[Pete Jack of Quinteto Mambo Jambo]
Veteran Texan singer-songwriter, Katy Moffat was next on singing a couple of songs which I admit pretty much washed over me but finished with a belter of a blues number, “Sojourner Truth” – about women in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA.
Americans, Brother Mule brought an uplifting mixture of bluegrass and more rockier elements – even throwing in some Norwegian Hardanger fiddle sounds. With them, the Clickimin – or at least Consort and I began to awaken.
Ben Winship of Brother Mule
Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddle player from New England, USA. Another previous visitor to Shetland came onstage with her – bass player Corey Di Mario was here last year with Crooked Still.
French-Canadian band, Le Vent du Nord – the North Wind – blew up a hurricane force storm with their Quebecois music. From the beginning they had the Clickimin crowd up on their feet stamping along to a song about a horse. Down came the dancers again practising their Gallic gyrations.
La Vente du Nord blow the Clickimin away
Astounding guitar-picking came from American, Andy McKee. I first came upon him via YouTube a couple of months ago where the videos of him playing have had 12 million hits!! Check him out there. Imagine listening to percussion, rhythm and lead guitar being played at the same time by the same person!! Highlight for me was his version of Toto’s “Africa”. Sadly, his CDs never made it to Shetland but I did download Africa from I-Tunes.
Andy McKee astounds
A touch of the exotic arrived from Mongolia with Hanggai. In the line-up of instruments were the horse-headed fiddle and the two-stringed banjo – two of the world’s oldest instruments. Throw in percussion, bass, guitar – and throat singing – and you had a mesmerising sound transporting us to the Mongolian steppes. The ever-smiling leader of the band couldn’t speak much English but got a great roar of approval from the crowd when, with a thumbs-up, he announced “Shetland, cool!” The Shetland audiences always seem to give a great reception to more exotic acts. Over the years these having included Bulgaria, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Russia, Peru, Mozambique.
Hanggai's horse-headed fiddle
Award-winning Danish fiddle player, Henrik Jansberg, came on with his band. Hang on, I recognise that double-bass player. Yes, it was Steffan Sorensen, who appeared with Zar at the festival in 2004. With his film star looks – according to Consort – he obviously had quite a following among the young women in the audience as they gyrated their way to the front of the hall to dance. Styles of dancing seemed to range from flowing like liquid to looking like old grannies carrying heavy shopping bags.
Henrik Jansberg
Irish act, David Munnelly and his band played some Irish jigs and reels. All-Ireland singing champion Shauna Mullin joined them to sing a Karine Polwart song – Follow The Heron. Karine apparently wrote the song after being in Shetland. Must have been when I saw her a few years ago at the British Legion supporting the Felsons.
Shauna Mullin sings with the David Munnelly Band
Rory Ellis is a big bear of man from Australia. Accompanied by a marvellous slide-guitarist, he gave us some of his own songs. He has a deep growl of a voice that seems to come out of the very ground itself. Think of Chris Rea, but a lot deeper voiced. He played two of my favourite songs of his most recent album – “The Rushes” and “Road of No Return.” The latter closed his set – a slow song ending in a blinding steel guitar solo and a gentle hum of feedback from Rory’s guitar, reminiscent of the whirr of tyres on tarmac.
Rory Ellis with his voice from Down Under
Afion are a Croatian band playing music from Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Their lively, upbeat sound belying the content of the songs – which apparently were do with curses and death. At one point I looked at Consort to see her counting out on her fingers. I eventually realised that she was tallying the number of different rhythms that were being played simultaneously – while coming together as a whole!
Two members of Croatian band, Afion
Young Scottish band, Breabach brought two sets of bagpipes to the Clickimin and opened with a fiery sound that reminded you of why the pipes had previously been thought of a weapon of war! They slowed right down with a song from Ewan Robertson, 2008 ˿ Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award. Some Scottish step-dancing (not Irish dancing!!) closed the set, as the young dancers at the front joined in.
Ewan Robertson of Breabach
English three-piece, the Martin Harley Band began with a couple of rockabilly numbers before finishing with a powerhouse of a blues number , Blues At My Window. While the double-bass player rocked his instrument back and fore and the drummer attacking his drum kit while surrounded by a halo of flailing hair, Martin Harley, alone in a spotlight, played some soaring slide-guitar
Martin Harley underneath the Shetland Folk Festival logo
Orkney’s The Chair closed the night beginning with a lovely slow air before erupting into a pounding set. A melee of guitar, bass, drums, banjo, fiddles, accordion that had the Clickimin once more on its feet, the crowd calling for – and receiving an encore from them.
The Chair close the concert
The impressive thing about this year was the variety of acts that were on. Some years I’ve been there and thought, “Hmmm, this sounds a bit like the previous act, who sounded exactly like the one before them….” But not this year, it was a veritable cornucopia.
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