Strathclyde Suite, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 28 January 2006

Harvest opening the 2004 Celtic Connections festival

WHILE THE MAIN business of Fèis Rois is providing tuition for a broad range of abilities, they have established a deserved reputation for providing a platform at an advanced level for the more – and in some cases exceptionally – talented youngsters who come within their remit.

Their record in staging or participating in high profile public concerts is well-established, and several of those have taken place within the Celtic Connections festival. The most notable of those, Harvest, opened the festival in 2004 (pictured above) and was repeated last weekend (see Fiona Mackenzie’s review), and many of the youngsters involved in that came from the Fèis Rois camp.

This concert in the Strathclyde Suite focused entirely on Fèis Rois, and drew a healthy audience, including a substantial travelling support from the Highlands. They were rewarded with an excellent afternoon’s entertainment, ranging from ridiculously accomplished solo performances through to disciplined ‘big band’ sets involving all 29 musicians,

Several of the featured soloists have already made their mark, including 14-year-old Graham Mackenzie from Inverness. His assured playing on a slow air, pipe march, Strathspey and reel bolstered the high expectations surrounding this prodigious young fiddler.

Matthew Watson is a bit older, and was no less assured on a set of hornpipes played on whistle. He also played guitar and fiddle in the course of the concert, including a set with fellow guitarists Colin Gordon and Colin Bramwell, and another with the four-piece Tassle Bandits, who sounded considerably more assured and refined than when I heard them here last year.

Pianist Ruraidh Campbell played a lovely slow air by Blair Douglas as a solo, and generally provided sensitive accompaniment throughout the concert. An accordion-led quartet featuring Roya MacLean and Megan Henderson with pianist Suzanne Houston and Ellie MacGregor on clarsach turned in an excellent set of contemporary reels by Phil Cunningham and Gordon Duncan.

The musicians involved in last year’s Ceilidh Trail also served up a polished set, as did the fiddlers within the group, including members of both Kiltearn Fiddlers and Gizzenbriggs among the 13 players. Katie Mackenzie (see summary picture), Kirsty Anne MacFarlane and Ruraidh Graham sang several Gaelic songs in fine style, and both halves of the concert were opened with piping – a solo set from Ashleigh Bell at the beginning, and a quartet in which she was joined by Eilean Green, Ewen Henderson and Alex Urquhart-Taylor after the break.

Both halves of the concert ended with sets involving the entire company. In the second of these, they were joined by Donald Shaw, initially in a set from ‘Harvest’ with a group of 14, and then in the closing set for the full ensemble. A well-deserved encore followed, again with the whole crew, albeit minus Donald.

Since everyone on stage played their part in a successful afternoon, it would be invidious not to name the musicians who have not been singled out already: take a bow Sheena Amos, Sarah Barbour, Erin Coutts, Amy Dawson, Emma Donald, Neil Gordon, Fiona McKeachan, Lynsey Payne, Katie Patience, Catriona Ramsey, Eilidh Ramsey, Laura Wilkie and Donald MacDonald, who also took on the role of Fear-an-taigh for the afternoon.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2006

Associated Page

• Fiona Mackenzie’s review