St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow, 24 January 2008

Duncan Chisholm (photo - Reaaz Mohammad)

THIS PERFECT blend of live music, film, photographs and words took its packed Glasgow audience by storm. A beautifully-crafted, elegiac kind of a storm, right enough, but Kin’s evocative static camerawork and the delightful playing of Duncan Chisholm on fiddle, Marc Clements on guitar and Brian MacAlpine on keyboard and accordion gave us the sound of rushing rivers and lapping waves and a deep sense of place and people.

Commissioned by the Blas festival and premiered in Grantown last September, Kin took Duncan and his collaborators six months to research, film, compose and rehearse. His initial inspiration was a recording of his grandmother’s voice, some old family photographs and a visit to her red-roofed house in Glen Affric.

Setting out from there, research at the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh and his own contacts took him to Barra, South Uist and Sutherland in a journey which illuminated how the music and stories of each place have been handed down within families to those today.

The voice of Duncan’s grandmother, Margaret, told us that they got their groceries in every half year, how her husband played the fiddle and that they were ‘awful happy in the glen’, and Duncan identified himself with his kin. Young Niall MacDonald said that he learnt the pipes and tunes from his grandfather and father on Barra, while the incoming tide washed away the words Na Daoine (the people) he had written on the sand to the accompaniment of wind and waves and a beautiful fiddle air.

In South Uist Rona Lightfoot also learnt the pipes, but from her father and uncle, and told stories of a slipper being thrown at a mouse which was stealing pandrops and of the days of corporal punishment at school and home. The beauty of the low lying island’s yellow-green machair and white clouds high up in a big sky was wonderfully reflected in the music which had all the bounce and energy of early summer.

The renowned Essie Stewart took us to some of the sites in Sutherland where her traveller family had set down for generations and we heard of ancient stories, some of which had been passed on for a thousand years.

These glimpses of the old ways of life in the combination of photographs and recordings, the long, still monochrome shots with splashes of colour by Norman Strachan and careful editing by John Hay, the apposite composition of some twenty tunes by Duncan Chisholm, and immaculate playing on the night made for an unforgettable experience.

Kin should be toured not only throughout Scotland but internationally, and Duncan Chisholm deserves to receive many more such commissions.

Rule of Three, the new name for the Lori Watson trio, opened the night with a set of tunes that rung the changes from polkas to reels, strathspeys to mazurkas, with Danish, Breton and American influences coming through, many of them written by Lori. Her brother Innes, looking like a young Chris Stout with black bandana and a Chic Murray line in patter, showed good attack on guitar and why he’s been in big demand at Celtic Connections this year, also playing with the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and Ceol Mor on Saturday afternoon.

Stand out tunes were Fiona Young’s debut composition ‘The Valkyrie’, with a fine variety of pace, and Lori’s ‘Euro’ and lovely slow air ‘The Little Robin’. Unfortunately, laryngitis deprived us of Lori’s vocals, but this young band demonstrated that they have plenty more to offer.

© Norman Bissell, 2008

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