Review by Northings
Nòs Ur
23 Jun 2009 in Gaelic, Highland, Music
Empire & OneTouch Theatres, Eden Court, Inverness, 19-20 June 2009
Sunrise not Secular
NÒS ÙR, or New Style, is the name given to the weekend event celebrating the minority languages of Celtic Europe and the growing numbers of singers and bands performing in those minority languages. A partnership between GoEvents and Anam Communications, the event is in its second year and is one of a series of international song contests in Europe, designed to highlight the fragility and cultural worth of these minority tongues.
The final will be held in 2010 and it is hoped that this major event will also take place in Inverness. I had the opportunity to experience different elements of the Festival this year, both from a performers point of view and an audience member. Here are a few , I hope interesting, observations!
Friday afternoon saw myself in the Eden Court restaurant meeting the Gaelic youth vocal harmony group Fionnar, who were performing that evening, as the Scottish representatives in the Nòs Òg, or ‘Young Style’ strand of the weekend. In contrast to the Saturday nights entertainment, Nòs Òg is entirely non-competitive and designed to showcase some of the best up-and-coming musical talent in the minority language countries – in this case, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Fionnar were given the chance to premier the Gaelic songs they had written themselves over the past six months in their Sgoil Roc project, which gave them the opportunity to work with professional Gaelic writers and mainstream rock musicians to produce their own EP of new style Gaelic music. Their set of three songs, written about topics as diverse as Bebo, Facebook and the decline of minority languages when faced with celebrity news, made for a beautiful and arresting performance slot.
The Stilletoes from Wales are a self-described “pop punk rock” group and their set was indeed a stark contrast to Fionnar – demonstrating how far ahead of Gaelic the Welsh language is in terms of normalising mainstream music. Likewise, The Temporary from Ireland gave a different slant to the face of Youth Music from another Celtic nation.
The groups, although so entirely different, were all great examples to other young people of how to reach contemporary audiences with contemporary issues and styles. Fionnar’s nerves were not helped by the fact that a team from the BBC Rapal” music show tailed them during the afternoon…
Saturday morning saw me attend a music industry seminar at Eden Court to discuss the topic “To be successful you have to sing in English”. This seminar was run in conjunction with the Voices of the West conference which also took place within Eden Court. The seminar did indeed provoke a lively discussion amongst the few who attended, and the emerging agreement was that the topic could be answered by the question “depends on what you define as success…..”
The afternoon saw me make a swift departure to sing with Inverness Gaelic Choir in the Inverness Provincial Mod (who won the main competition of the afternoon against stiff opposition from Dingwall Gaelic Choir). The tartan stilletoes were much admired but had to be removed before the evening stint…
The main event of the weekend was the competition element, which took place in the Empire Theatre but could perhaps have filled the OneTouch more effectively. Opened with a Gaelic song by Inverness choral group Canntaireachd, and compered by actor Tony Kierney and singer/songwriter Karine Polwart, the programme consisted of ten bands and singers from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany and Cornwall who had all battled it through the selection rounds to represent their countries.
I doubt whether a more diverse selection of styles could be found anywhere else in the world. From Gaelic rock, Breton rap, traditional Ulster Scots, Cornish punk to Gaelic punk, we were given the gamut of musical and cultural innovation.
In a noticeable departure, the Scottish Gaelic entries were much more upbeat and contemporary than last year when the entries, whilst of a very high standard of musicality and style within their genre, were much less ‘nòs ur’. Mary Ann Kennedy certainly provided audience members with a style rather different from her usual but she looked and sounded equally at home as a “rock chick” rather than oa “Rodel Chick”… .
After the voting process which, in true Eurovision style had its technical difficulties, the winners of the house and web vote were announced as Stornoway band Sunrise Not Secular, which delighted the teenage girls from Canntaireachd. Sunrise” have been gradually establishing themselves as the front runners in new wave Gaelic rock music and they, together with Irish singer Fiach, go forward to represent their respective languages at the Liet Lavlut 2009 final in Friesland in October.
Nòs Ur is expected to move elsewhere in 2010 but here is no doubt that wherever the host country is next year, they will have learned from the experiences of Inverness organiser Brian Ó hEadhra, who himself participated in the event in Europe a few years ago. It is encouraging to see the diversity of the minority cultures and the strength of feeling, particularly amongst the young performers who are passionately proud and defensive of their languages.
There may be a long way to go until the mainstream totally accepts a minority language as chart material, but with young bands such as we saw in Inverness this weekend, we can be hopeful that it will come eventually.
