News / Folk festival favourites Fara back for more
A HOTLY-tipped traditional band who impressed at last year’s Shetland Folk Festival are returning to the isles on Thursday.
Fara – whose roots proudly stem from Orkney – will headline Mareel in Lerwick on Thursday, with support coming from Danes Himmerland and local act Haltadans.
It looks set to be a lively affair as the quartet celebrates the launch of their debut album Cross The Line, which is due to be released the next day.
Their Shetland debut came at the 2015 folk festival, with the group wowing audiences in Lerwick, Sandwick and North Roe.
“That was brilliant – it was so much fun,” fiddler Catriona Price reflects.
“We’ve got a couple of tunes actually that we play in our set now that we first heard at the Shetland Folk Festival from other bands. It’s just a lovely place to meet folk and share tunes.”
Fara – who also feature Jennifer Austin, Kristan Harvey and Jeana Leslie – began life as a backing group for Orkney act The Chair, and when they were asked to play their own sets, everything fell into place.
At the heart of the quartet, who are comprised of three fiddles, piano and vocals, is a deep-rooted friendship that spans back decades.
As a result, there’s a strong, almost telepathic connection between the musicians, leading to a tight-knit team spirit and free-flowing stage banter.
“We all grew up together in Orkney, and we’ve all known each other since we were children,” Price said. “We’re all about the same age, and a few of us even went to mothers and toddlers together, so we’ve properly known each other since we were babies.
“We grew up with Orkney’s traditional music scene, and then we all went away to study music in different places. Then we just decided it’d be great fun to come together to make a band out of it, after jumping up on stage with The Chair a few times.”
Fara are renowned musicians in their own right, with members previously winning BBC Radio 2’s young folk award and BBC Radio Scotland’s young traditional musician of the year.
Piano player Austin, meanwhile, was in Shetland only a matter of weeks ago to play alongside singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni at well-received gigs in Sandwick and Lerwick.
Their sound is embedded in Scotland’s traditional folk scene, but there’s a fresh twist glazed over the tunes.
“We all bring our different influences into it,” Price said. “Jeana has had a lot of experience with Scottish song tradition over the past years, Kristin plays the fiddle, Jen has played with people like Rachel Sermanni, and I was away at a classical music college as well. We’ve got a lot of different things coming into the band.”
So what can the Shetland audience expect on the night, apart from top trad tunes? A right good time, it seems.
“We always have a laugh on stage,” Price smiled, “so we hope that transmits into the audience as well.”
- Tickets for Fara, Himmerland and Haltadans at Mareel are on sale now via Shetland Box Office priced at £16 (£14 concessions).
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