Riotous Rumbo festival proves a multi-cultural balm for the soul
Reviewer Pete Bevington hopes this unlikely mix of continents and countries returns again
IN A world of division, conflict and bad weather, it was medicine for reviewer Pete Bevington’s soul to attend a most unlikely cross-continental collaboration at Lerwick’s Mareel on Saturday.
Six acts from South America’s most southerly nation Argentina and Scotland’s most northerly isles – geographically and culturally poles apart – came together on stage for a six hour feast of world-class music that left an audience stretching from babies to pensioners beaming.
Orcadian fiddler Catriona Price deserves fulsome praise for pulling together such an extraordinary collection of talent for this mini indoor family festival, dubbed Rumbo North Isles.
As well as being a first rate fiddler, Catriona runs Routes to Roots, bringing musicians from diverse cultures to play and perform together. Rumbo North Isles, I’m told, was inspired by a chance meeting with a collective of Argentinian musicians that finally bore fruit after months of planning to be premiered in Lerwick prior to gigs in Bigton’s wonderful Hymhus, then Orkney and finally Edinburgh festival.
Saturday afternoon opened with Shetland’s own saxophone phenomenon Norman Willmore together with local piano maestro Amy Laurenson, weaving a spellbinding web of sound that set the tone for a day of superb, high quality music. His compositions conjure a unique combination of the Nordic and the Celtic that, for me, opens up a whole new world in European jazz.
Next up, a young man and woman wearing white, judo costumes strolled on stage as if they were about to treat us to a demonstration of martial arts. Instead they sat down opposite each other on two stools, guitar in her hands, odd percussive instruments in his, and launched into an extraordinarily imaginative display of musical artistry that transported us on a journey into a world far from these northern climes.
Noelia Recalde and Jonatan Szer are the experimental folk duo Lohdóh. They blend beautiful singing and playing with tremendous humour, at one point chattering away at each other at top speed not listening to a word the other said. And these Argentinians sure can whistle! Jonatan put his lips together at one point and suddenly we were hearing tropical birds singing in the heart of a rainforest.
An appreciative audience listened in awe from tables and chairs – more of which later – while small children protected by their mums and dads ran around on the empty dance floor out front that didn’t fill up until the end of the evening – a strange experience for our Latino visitors who are clearly used to a livelier crowd.
There was, however, a lovely, relaxing family atmosphere at this event with folk of all ages coming together to enjoy each other’s company while listening to some first class music. The way the festival leaked from the afternoon into the evening made it easy to slip in an out and indulge in conversation with familiar and not-so-familiar faces, catching up on news and sharing banter.
Festival organiser Catriona Price sure knows how to put together a show, and put on a show she did when she took to the stage with her merry band. Dressed in bright red, fiddle in hand, she held the spotlight as she led her fellow musicians through a rousing set of tunes that had everyone clapping along. This vibrant Orcadian brought a sense of glamour to the event and with her social media savvy I could see her filling larger stages in the future, playing a major role in bringing northern isles culture to the world – and vice versa.
El Guapo was the Mexican villain in the ‘80s comedy Three Amigos; it means “the handsome one”. It’s also the name of a handsome bunch of Argentinian musicians who have travelled throughout Latin America picking up influences from the likes of Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela along the way. Three of them made it over the water to bring a much-needed sound of summer to this part of the world – catchy songs, funny stories and humourous repartee between drummer Joni Struve and frontman Juan Grabina brought a light-hearted touch to their Latino blend of funk, rock and jazz, which, much to their bemusement, still failed to raise the audience out of their seats, leaving just a few of us limbering up on the fringes of the auditorium.
Orkney’s Kris Drever slowed the pace down when he walked on stage with his guitar to treat us to some of his latest compositions. This man has mastered his songwriting craft and seems to get better with time. His rich, sonorous voice and the poetry of his words have taken him to the top table in today’s strong field of Scottish songwriters. I was called away and missed most of his set, but I liked what I did hear and can see why he has grown the reputation he has.
Kris Drever’s performance was more suited to the seating arrangements. He is a man you sit and listen to, but staying seated became increasingly difficult when the final act took to the stage.
Compere Lewie Peterson introduced Skelpit as the hottest new act on the Shetland music scene and you could see why when they skidded onto the stage, just minutes after two of them came off shift from the Bressay ferry. What a brilliant band! How do these islands keep coming up with such talent generation after generation? This six piece has pulled together an incredible collection of musicians, who powered their way through a high energy set of fiddle, piano, squeezebox, guitar and drums that fairly lifted the roof off Mareel and got closer than ever to lifting people out of their seats as well.
Some of their finest tunes were self-penned by pianist and music teacher Megan Nisbet and fiddler George Spence. Drummer Mark Smith introduced a tune he found looking back through his family’s long musical heritage. The multi-talented Maggie Adamson was out front wielding her bow like the wizard she is. Tall, dark Kerem Tekcan on accordion barely seemed to move as he kept up the pace with astonishing ease, as did stoic Liam Slater on guitar, another young talent on the rise. They even managed to bring a tear to my eye when Megan went to the mic and slowed things down with a beautiful rendition of The Parting Glass.
At the end of the evening Catriona Price led the entire entourage of musicians onto the stage full of gratitude at seeing her dream realised in front of an audience, who were practically ordered out of their seats by Juan Grabina who had simply had enough of seeing everyone staying seated. Suddenly the floor was full of folk of all generations having the time of their lives, leaving everyone grinning their heads off as they floated off into the night.
This event felt groundbreaking in the way it brought musical cultures together, and the way it was organised to run through the afternoon into the evening made it a family friendly occasion for all. But, not meaning to quibble, I have to say that lining the tables up almost cheek to cheek made it feel like a bingo rather than a boogie night. Round tables, of which there were only two, would have made all the difference and might even have made it easier for people to get up on their feet, as so many of them clearly wanted to.
Let’s hope there will be a next time…with round tables!
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