Review by Northings
Ceòlas
22 Jul 2005 in Festival, Music, Outer Hebrides
South Uist, 9-15 July 2005
Rona Lightfoot.
FOR NINE YEARS, South Uist’s Ceòlas Music Festival has been a huge attraction, bringing famous names and droves of students to the island. Usually, Ceòlas week works out to be something like two parts ‘music school’ to three parts ‘big party’. This year that great tradition picked up where it had left off last year.
Ceòlas originated with the intention of celebrating the interdependence between the Gaelic language and the traditional music of the island. Since the beginning, there have been classes in traditional waulking songs and puirt-a-beul (mouth music), in piping and fiddling, in Gaelic – and just for good measure, there’s some step-dancing thrown in as well.
The heavyweights on the Gaelic music scene are routinely called in, teaching their craft to students from Scotland and the rest of Britain, and also from as far afield as the US, Australia, Japan, Switzerland… the list goes on. The main body of visitors, however, come from Cape Breton in Canada; in fact, the Cape Breton tradition is as well represented here as the Uist one.
This year, tutors included such well known stars as Iain MacFarlane of Blazin’ Fiddles; Fin Moore of Dannsa; Angus MacKenzie and Gabe MacVarish of Daimh; the Barra Songbird, Catherine-Anne MacPhee; the lady with more tunes than a songbook, Kenna Campbell; and the one-woman party herself, Rona Lightfoot.
All are regular faces at Ceòlas, and are well-known in Uist. The appearance of such names is no surprise to the the students, many of whom return year after year for the tutelage as well as for the good times.
With some beautifully arranged tunes, MacFarlane and MacDonald have created music you feel you can float away on – but you don’t realise you’re doing it.
Apparently, the day’s lessons can be quite taxing; but according to the students themselves, it’s all worth it when they get a chance to put their lessons into practice. The light summer evenings offer the perfect opportunity for ceilidhs and concerts to last into the wee hours, giving visitors and locals alike the chance to get their feet stomping.
One of the highlights this year had to be Wednesday’s ‘Band Night’, an evening split down the middle to feature a few tunes from The First Harvest, followed by a set from Dannsa.
The First Harvest is a band of two Iains – Iain MacFarlane, the fiddler, and Iain MacDonald, the piper and flutist. Not many twosomes exist on this particular music scene, and for good reason; Celtic music suits a variety of instruments, and they sound great when played together. As well as that, the atmosphere of a larger band seems to suit the Celts’ rambunctious reputation perfectly. However, it must be said that this particular duo have their charms.
They take to the stage with a kind of modest grace mixed with a highland sense of humour, and speak to the audience on such a casual level that you’d think you were listening to them in someone’s kitchen. With some beautifully arranged tunes, MacFarlane and MacDonald have created music you feel you can float away on – but you don’t realise you’re doing it. Very sneaky of them, I think.
Part of this winning formula might be the flute, of all things. The pipes and the fiddle are the instruments which we expect to bring this music to life; but the flute is a more surprising one. Usually, it’s off in the background somewhere, and let’s be honest – that’s where it belongs. (I’m a flutist myself, so I’m allowed to say that.) It can be a little imposing at times, and tends to steal the show. MacDonald’s flute, however, is a wooden one; and with the way he plays, it sounds perfectly at home on centre stage. Actually, I’d go as far as to say it adds something to the tunes which you’d never realise had been missing.
During this particular concert, the boys invited Sine MacIntyre of South Uist up to sing, which broke the set up quite nicely – it’s always good to get a wee break from the instrumentals, and they certainly weren’t up for singing themselves! As well as that, Sine has a cracker of a voice. That’s no surprise to anyone from Uist – she’s the youngest of four sisters whose singing has been entertaining Uisteachs for a good while now. But just so as the rest of you aren’t left out, I’m telling you she’s one to watch.
Once The First Harvest had broken the crowd in, it was the turn of Dannsa to take to the stage. The group is composed of four step-dancers: Frank McConnell, Mats Melin, Caroline Reagh and Sandra Robertson. All four are accomplished in the field, and seem to be in their element showing off their own choreography.
The end result is a broth full of intoxicating fun, wrapping up the week nicely by bringing the chaos back in.
It’s also nice to hear from most of the crew at various points, as they take turns introducing the numbers and interacting with the crowd. They like to give a bit of education as to what their dances are and where in the world they originated – though I suspect this is often a chance to brag, as it’s taken them so long to chase down the origins of the dances themselves!
Their performance offered up a few quadrilles and reels, a couple of solo numbers, and many, many more that I can tell you little about – but I can say that they looked fantastic.
Of course, the dancing would be a bit dull without accompaniment. For this concert, Dannsa’s regular piper Fin Moore was joined by Gabe MacVarish on the fiddle and Fiona MacKenzie on vocals, both of whom have joined the group before. The interplay between the seven performers was as entertaining as their individual performances, and I imagine it would have been difficult for anyone in attendance not to have a good time.
All in all, the night was as enjoyable as advertised. It seemed to be Ceòlas’ pivotal event, an example of what happens when all of this traditional music and language and hilarity is combined with a bit of media-savvy marketing. As examples go, these two performances seemed to do the trick.
They certainly provided a contrast to the week’s grand finale, ‘An Ceilidh Mor’. As is the custom, on the Friday night at the end of Ceòlas, all of the tutors climb into a big pot and begin to happily simmer away. The end result is a broth full of intoxicating fun, wrapping up the week nicely by bringing the chaos back in. This event was packed so full of performers that I’m not even going to try to mention them all, but suffice it to say it’s a sight to see, and a quite something to listen to as well.
Hearing four singers singing in tune – and in time – is impressive. Hearing four pipers piping in the same manner is a rare event. But hearing four fiddlers, three pipers, 1 flutist, 1 bazouki-player, and two keyboardists (at the same keyboard) all playing at once – and with immense talent – is probably something which few artists would attempt. Perhaps that’s just the effect that Uist has on them… but you can be fairly certain that it’s something that won’t be seen again. Until next year.
Same time, same place, July ’06.
© Eileen Bell, 2005
