City Halls, Glasgow, 2 February 2008

Drawing from the Koshka gig by Conrad Molleson, who was artist in residence at Celtic Connections 2008. (© Conrad Ivitsky, 2008).

KOSHKA – Russian violinists Lev Atlas and Oleg Ponomarev and Scots guitar supremo Nigel Clark – count as a Glasgow band, having formed and debuted at The Tron in 2001. Atlas performs to acclaim on both the classical and world music stages, while the leather-waistcoated Ponomarev’s passionate gypsy playing has inspired audiences all around the world. What brings them together with Nigel Clark, probably best known for his work with acts as diverse as the Scottish Guitar Quartet and Hue & Cry, is a shared musical virtuosity and a genre-transcending love of good music.

At the City Halls on Saturday night, backed by a full orchestra, their playing is dazzling. This is real virtuosity and I silently vow never to use the word again for less than this level of sheer, jaw-droppingly high calibre. Although the music skips from classical to world/folk to Hot Club jazz in style, it is mostly their own compositions and boy, can they pen a good tune.

The first half is wonderful, but the second half introduces Lialia Shishkova, Russian gypsy guitarist and singer descended from the troupes imported to Moscow by, if I understood Lev’s introduction correctly, Empress Catherine the Great. (Atlas has, incidentally, told us of a comment early in Koshka’s career when a reviewer castigated his “phoney Russian accent”. It is charming, but sometimes a little difficult to make out).

Shishkova, resplendent in flounced turquoise and black silk, sings and plays with her troupe and then introduces her dancers. A young woman (who could be harpist Catriona McKay’s long lost twin sister) dances mesmerising Russian-accented flamenco in vertiginous stiletto heels, accompanied by her young son. The passion in Shishkova’s voice is matched by the passion in the dance and the urbane setting of the City Halls fades away – for a moment we could be round a campfire on the steppes.

The trio follow this with a set of reels, bringing us back to home territory, and then the well-known ‘Moldova’ is the setting for a fiddle duel between Ponomarev and Atlas, during which they produce the most extraordinary range of sounds from their instruments, from trilling birdsong to grinding cacaphony. It is not often that you see an entire orchestra applaud along with the audience, but it is not often you hear playing of this brilliance.

© Jennie Macfie, 2008

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