Review by Northings
Celtic Connections 2009: BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year
City Hall, Glasgow, 1 February 2009
Ruairidh Macmillan
FIDDLER Ruairidh Macmillan from Nairn became the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2009 in a final that had a big Highlands and Islands and north of Scotland presence, and lived up to its reputation for being closely contested in a spirit of genuine camaraderie.
Chairman of the judges, Alasdair Campbell of the Tolbooth venue in Stirling, waved aside the notion that his panel had had a difficult decision to make, preferring the term “tricky” and praising all six musicians onstage for their amazing talent, skill and musicality and for providing a final that was, he said, great fun and a pleasure to listen to.
In the first all-male final since the competition began in 2001, the judges were looking for someone with an extra spark, and Macmillan, who recently graduated from the Scottish Music course at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, emerged as a popular choice.
Macmillan impressed with his playing in the West Coast “pipey” style of his chief influence, Aonghas Grant, the left-handed fiddler from Lochaber, his warm, friendly presentation style and his close interaction with his accompanists, Tia Files (guitar) and Adam Brown (bodhran).
His solo rendition of ‘The Ulsterman’, which he learned from his grandmother’s singing, was especially strong, again showing piping influences, and his introduction of a typically beguiling new tune by Capercaillie fiddler Charlie McKerron in an excitingly arranged closing set also made a big impression.
Not for the first time, it was a night that was notable for the musicians’ variety of approaches and content as well as their quality. Fiddlers Jack Smedley and Daniel Thorpe – from Buckie and Inverurie respectively – both played with a strong north-east accent, Smedley opening the final with a set that honoured the purity of his native style with great poise and produced no little excitement with his reading of Scott Skinner’s aptly titled ‘The Hurricane’.
A player with a big sound and fluent attack, Thorpe favoured slightly more contemporary arrangements highlighted by a freewheeling final selection that found him working profitably as a unit with Mike Bryan (guitar) and James Lindsay (double bass).
Gaelic singer Kenneth Nicolson, from Lochs on the Isle of Lewis, sang both weighty songs and more light-hearted material with a wonderful tone and great self-possession. Piper Lorne MacDougall from Carradale emerged onstage playing a really confident, cleanly articulated march, strathspey and reel set and continued with witty introductions, a fine low whistle reading of ‘The Earl of Jura’, and managed to work all the piper’s skills, including pibroch (briefly), into his allocated span.
And if Edinburgh singer-songwriter Adam Holmes seemed a little overawed by the occasion, his dry wit and soft, clear singing still won favour with an audience that is traditionally rather partisan but always supportive.
As winner, Ruairidh Macmillan will go on to record a CD at Watercolour Studios in Ardgour and will perform at prestigious folk festivals internationally through the year, kicking off with an appearance The Blend festival in Stirling in March.
© Rob Adams, 2009
