FIONA MACKENZIE finds Karen Matheson practising the art of reinventing herself.

AS A PRELUDE to the release of her new solo album, Karen Matheson filled the Royal Concert Hall at the end of the second week of Celtic Connections – by tradition, the busiest weekend of the Festival.

It was not billed as a “With Friends concert” but that’s what it turned into. Support was provided by the great Cape Breton band The Barra MacNeills, who are more than capable of filling the Concert Hall themselves. Great musician ship with that great Cape Breton ‘feel’, haunting a capella 4-part harmony songs and superlative demonstrations of step dancing show us why they are in huge demand wherever they play across the world.

Somebody who has only ever listened to Karen Matheson’s performances with Capercaillie might have been expecting to hear material and style taken straight from the Capercaillie repertoire. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, it does help when you have the musical skills and foresight of Donald Shaw to call upon, and to have musicians such as Mike McGoldrick and Ewan Vernal as your backing, but it is Karen herself who keeps the audience wondering what they are going to hear next.

Seldom have I ever heard so many musical influences in one performance. Matheson, described of course by Sean Connery as having “a throat touched by God”, delivers all her material as if this is the most important item of her set list – from simply sung Gaelic love songs such as “Mi Le L’Uillinn” by the great Gaelic bard Murdo Macfarlane, through to more orchestrated, contemporary arrangements of songs sung in English. Orchestrated in the literal sense – Matheson and Shaw utilised the classical sounds of the BT String Ensemble to best effect.

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“…we are assured that we hear something different every time we hear her perform”

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They combined with jazz elements contributed by the beautiful and haunting sax playing of Tommy Smith, and more contemporary guitar arrangements offered up by James Grant and devoured by the audience. Grant has been a major influence on Matheson in past years, to great effect, in such songs as “Evangeline”, and we can be assured that he will continue to be so on her next album.

For me, the quality and beauty of Matheson’s voice is always shown to best advantage in the simplest of the arrangements offered to us and again for me, the highlight of this evenings concert was the truly beautiful and simple duet of “An T-Eilean Mullach”, sung by Matheson and Irishman Seumas Begley – singing alternate verses in Irish Gaelige and Scots Gaelic.

For what sometimes can be a tired, many times heard, ‘Mod’ type song, this performance took on a whole new identity and one which I hope will be included in her next album. Seumas then joined Matheson in singing the vocables for a traditional waulking song.

In recent years we have held ‘Madonna’ to be the ‘mistress of reinvention’ but Karen Matheson can certainly offer her some serious competition here – we are assured that we hear something different every time we hear her perform. She has recently been involved in musical projects involving our new generations of Gaelic singers – through the work of Feis Rois in projects such as ‘Ceolraidh’ – and we can hope that she passes on some of her “inventing and reinventing” secrets, of how to stay fresh and yet remain true to the traditions, to these young performers. We look forward to seeing what Matheson offers us on her forthcoming album.

Fiona MacKenzie is the Mairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellow, and won her own award as Personality of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards in December 2004.

© Fiona MacKenzie, 2005

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Related Links:

• Celtic Connections website