Shetland magic at Celtic Connections

Take four fiddlers add a clarsach and a couple of guitars and you have the magical Fiddlers Bid (above).

Earlier this autumn, we Highlanders were treated to some magical gigs including a very special one in Oban with MacKay and Stout – but as Chris Stout, the lead fiddle says of this band: ‘Fiddlers Bid is a whole different thing again’.

Topping the bill at the Royal Concert Hall on Saturday last (15th January 2011) they were celebrating 20 years of frenetic fiddle music and demonstrating that they remain at the very top of the game. Reels, marches and waltzes followed in a tour de force of the Shetland tradition. Willie Hunter Junior and Senior were celebrated in music, and thanked for their encouragement and influence in the musical development and growth of Fiddlers Bid over the two decades. Astrid’s Waltz gave us room to draw breath with a tune written for a Swedish friend.

Then normal service was resumed and a blistering tune celebrating the survival from a Bonxie attack on a Scandinavian friend. The birds did not take kindly to anyone on their headland. The runner, who was visiting the northern shores for the first time, had to run faster to escape.

This further ably demonstrated that the Shetlanders often look east rather than south for inspiration and fellowship.

Further east still, a trip to Japan led to a Celtic Connection that none of us expected – Humbert and Humbert. The oriental duo was spirited on stage and made beautiful music with and without the band and with almost a Gaelic air to their songs. Gentle and graceful music from the Orient could have easily come from Oronsay.

Then came the finale and the Shetlanders moved up a notch which should have warned us of something special coming. Not one of the near full Royal concert hall expected seventeen Vikings in full battle dress to come down through the audience and join on stage. Up Helly Aa had come to the city and what a sight it was. ‘That’s the kinda festival Celtic connections is’, mused Stout. ‘when you ask for a bus load o’ Vikings and twa flights from Japan – they just do it’.

The next 20 years will be marvellous.

The Henry Girls and Foxhunt – warm-up for Fiddlers Bid

Take three girls from Donegal and add four boys from West Virginia, mix them all together on a Glasgow stage and the blend is Celtic. Well more Americana actually but foot stompin’ none the less.

All of a sudden we realise what Celtic Connections is all about – collaboration.

They met at a festival last year and the magic began. Original and cleverly mastered round just one big old-style microphone, the band members take turns to lead throughout the songs in a musical merry go round that delights the Royal Concert hall regulars and first timers alike.

It’s like being back in the fifties ( I imagine) and listening to American radio on the short wave. We meet the girls and boys later back at the hotel – a dram or two were had (networking, I call it), and I think we will see them in the Highlands before long – watch this space..

Highland Connections

The Highlands were well represented by Skerryvore and Manran on Sunday; and  Iain Thomson and Marc Duff on Friday.

Skerryvore, the Tiree Celtic rockers always get the ABC dancing and Manran will help the cause. Gary Innes and Norrie MacIver make a fine front for Manran and Ewen Henderson adds to their sparkle. The new single Latha Math will make Sunday a great day when it charts in the top 40 as the first Gaelic song to do so in the new millennium. Fingers crossed …Have a listen at iTunes and support the cause if you like it.

Iain Thomson and Marc Duff had a busy time with three concert spots in six hours, playing tunes from the new album Fields of Dreams to the appreciative audiences. Then Iain was back on Tuesday to record some songs for later showing on BBC Alba.

£10 million pounds were generated by Celtic Connections for Glasgow – nearly£12  million if you include the rest of Scotland in that sum.

At Europe’s greatest winter festival – it’s not just the music that warms the cockles of the heart.

Campbell Cameron