JENNIE MACFIE enjoys a bit of geographical sandwiching in Aviemore

Michael Marra on piano

ANOTHER BLAS evening with an interesting concept. East Meets West sandwiched one of Scotland’s finest singer/songwriters, gravel-voiced Dundonian Michael Marra, between two of the finest Gaelic singers; jewel of the West Coast and voice of Capercaillie, Karen Matheson, and Lochinver’s James Graham, the first Gaelic singer – and first male – to win a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year award (in 2004).

Graham opened the show, accompanied by Wick’s James Ross, who is a star of Scotland’s music scene in his own right, both as pianist and as a composer of increasing renown – his Chasing the Sun was a commission of last year’s Blas Festival.

Those in the audience who, like this reviewer, were not as well versed in Gaelic song as they might be, were soon won over by the unassuming Graham’s lyrical voice and gentle delivery, and Ross’ exquisite touch. The highlight of his set was perhaps the sung pibroch, in which he has been tutored by Allan Macdonald of Glenuig (whose tunes have been a leitmotif of Blas), but the puirt a beul was a close second.

Alternating between grand piano and guitar, with the occasional addition of moothie, Michael Marra played an interesting selection from his back catalogue, beginning with the evergreen ‘Schenectady Calling’ (about Shetland guitar legend Peerie Willie Johnson), followed by the elegaic ‘Pius Porteous’ and darting hither and thither before ending superbly with a song from one of his finest albums, Posted Sober – ‘Frida Kahlo’s Visit to the Taybridge Bar’, in which the stage was, appropriately, flooded with a scarlet light. A treat from beginning to end.

After the interval, Fear-an-tigh Brian Ó hEadhra introduced Karen Matheson and her Band, comprising Capercaillie colleagues Ewan Vernal (double bass) and Donald Shaw (piano, accordion), Glasgow troubadour and regular collaborator James Grant (guitar and vocals), Blazin Fiddles’ latest recruit Anna Massie (guitar and mandolin), and New Zealand harmonica maestro Brendan Power. Quality indeed.

Neatly bridging the gap between East and West, Matheson’s set included songs in English and Gaelic by a range of songwriters including Sandy Denny and Sorley Maclean. She put her whole self into each song in turn, holding nothing back, the exquisitely beautiful voice holding the audience willingly captive under her spell. Seeing her perform live for the first time, Sean Connery’s often quoted remark about ‘a voice touched by God’ seems nothing short of the truth.

Graham, Ross and Marra returned onstage for an ensemble encore of Burns’ ‘Green grow the rashes O’, which is, as Marra pointed out, a bit of a feminist ode; with little prompting, the audience sang along. Even in the corporate ambience of the Aviemore Conference Centre, East Meets West was a very fine evening; in more congenial surroundings, it would have been outstanding.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

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