Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Tuesday 1 June 2004

John Rae's "Magic Feet"

JOHN RAE’S CELTIC FEET have already established their creative fusion of contemporary jazz and Scottish folk music as an original and instantly recognisable contribution to that particular species of crossover, but this project added a new flavour to an already colourful mix. Magic Feet combined the band with two guests from Hungary, Robi Farkas on violin and Mihaly Farkas on cimbalom, an eastern European variation on the hammered dulcimer family of instruments.

The first challenge for the audience was simply to cast aside any cosy preconceptions on what such a fusion would actually sound like. Jazz, Scottish and Hungarian music (not to mention quite a few joking references to classical music) certainly constituted the raw material of their set, but what they did with those elements was something else again.

Their opening piece laid down a challenging template for the concert, alternating passages of keening abstraction with sudden brief bursts of high-energy dance music, and exploring a broad-ranging extended palette of instrumental timbre and texture in the process, including a couple of excursions into elaborate evocations of bird song.

‘Skylark’ (a tune from Hungary rather than the familiar Hoagy Carmichael classic) brought a gentler feel to the music, but the frenetic switchback ride of ‘6-3’ (John’s tribute to a famous Hungarian football victory over England) was more typical of proceedings, and was reflected later in Celtic Feet material like ‘Blow’ and ‘Bye Bye’, and in some sizzling Hungarian tunes (John Rae’s “translations” of titles for these sounded highly suspect).

This was the last night of a ten-date tour, and the musicians had clearly formed a very high level musical bond in the course of that process. They accomplished very complex shifts of tune and tempo with the air of a band which had been together for years rather than days, and the level of virtuosity – at both individual and ensemble level ­– rarely flagged over two intense sets.

The full roar of the ensemble was broken up by many smaller combinations within the group, including a remarkable early duet between Mihaly Farkas and pianist Brian Kellock, a combination mirrored at the opposite end of the stage by the tightly interlocked exchanges of Eilidh Shaw on fiddle and Martin Green on accordion.

Mihaly Farkas solo excursion on cimbalom coaxed a glorious tapestry of sound from the instrument, and the solo contributions of Robi Farkas, saxophonist Julian Arguelles and Brian Kellock all added their own inventive lustre to proceedings. John Rae and bassist Mario Caribe supplied essential rhythmic drive for the music, and took their chance to shine when the solo spotlight eventually fell on them.

There was no shortage of final night fun, either, with everyone in playful mood at the end of what has clearly been a conspicuously successful musical collaboration.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2004