Reviews / Isles musicians doing it for the love of folk
SHETLAND’S vast array of often astonishingly talented traditional musicians took centre stage for a brace of highly varied country hall concerts this weekend.
The inaugural “North Atlantic Sessions” showcase packed out the Carnegie Hall in Sandwick on Friday night before repeating the trick in Fetlar on Saturday.
Conceived and choreographed by three prominent local performers – Maurice Henderson, Lois Nicol and Lewie Peterson – in an effort to shake off the post-folk festival blues, the two nights met such a positive reception that it would be surprising if this does not become an annual shindig.
The Carnegie Hall line-up featured a number of acts who perform together regularly, including Kansa, Vair and Haltadans, while collaboration was the name of the game during a feel-good night in Fetlar.
The rotating cast of adaptable musicians was so abundant that Saturday night’s show, intervals, raffles and supper included, sprawled towards the five-hour mark. Many of those musicians could be found crammed into various nooks and crannies of the hall, including the men’s toilets, working up tunes and songs right up to the concert’s start time.
Among the many highlights was a rare public outing for the ingenious fiddle work of Peter Gear, far more modest and unassuming than many a less gifted player – a characteristic he shares with Ewen Thomson, who accompanied Gear on guitar.
Genre-hopping double bassist Hayden Hook, who made it to the 8am bus from Lerwick with seconds to spare, frequently raised eyebrows with the sheer adeptness of his rhythm work, endlessly creative solos and impassioned bass faces.
Shetland Arts’ music development officer Bryan Peterson rates the prodigious Hook, a former pupil of his now studying music in Amsterdam, as the finest bass player to emerge from these islands – and it’s easy to see why.
The contemporary spin on traditional Shetland tunes from Teevliks, whose members form the bulk of Troppo Funk, was both marvellous and refreshing. Likewise Mary Rutherford’s channelling of Stephane Grappelli.
Fetlar enjoyed a star turn, too, from honorary Shetlander Kris Drever, now residing in Quarff and fresh from a Glastonbury appearance with LAU.
He zipped through some choice cuts from his swelling back catalogue and was joined by Hook, Louise Thomason (backing vocals) and Alison Laurenson (snare drum and fiddle), amongst others, for a sublime version of ‘Winter Moon’ from Drever’s forthcoming ‘Mareel EP’ – to be launched in Lerwick on 9 September.
A fixture at Fetlar Hall dances for “many years”, local fiddler Joe Jamieson, a sprightly 83 years of age, joined Henderson on stage for a few tunes (and, once the formal concert ended, for many more tunes into the small hours).
Amidst the many instrumental tunes there were some very good vocal acts too, including the jazz and country stylings of Alison Kay Ramsay and a new name on the scene, Eve Maguire, hailing from Sheffield and now living in Bressay. Maguire’s breezy finger picking had a lovely, laid back feel to it.
Special mention also must go to soundman Jonathan Ritch for making sure everything sounded pretty amid so many personnel changes on stage.
The sunshine which bathed Fetlar’s scenic beach in warmth all day was an added bonus, even prompting a few fools, this one included, to ‘enjoy’ a dip in the dependably icy North Sea.
There remains much to be gleaned from the thriving conveyor belt of top class visiting artists – we are but an archipelago of 23,000 folk, and the best musicians here look outward as well as inward for inspiration.
But this whole enterprise serves to show just how many gifted musicians Shetland possesses – surely far more per head of population than most other communities – and it’s full marks to organisers Henderson, Nicol and Peterson, who must be chuffed with how readily their concept has been embraced.
The enthusiasm of the Sandwick and Fetlar communities seems bound to be matched wherever the North Atlantic Roadshow rolls up next summer.
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