Review by Jennie Macfie
Union Hill
19 Dec 2011 in Highland, Music, Showcase
Bogbain Farm, Inverness, 18 December 2011
IT’S NOT smart, it’s not shiny, it’s not that comfy and parts of it are at the ambient temperature of the snow covered fields outside.
But it has a welcoming warmth that the best appointed venues cannot match, and venue manager and bottle-washer Bruce MacGregor programmes with a beautifully tuned musician’s ear, so there was barely an unclaimed seat in Bogbain Farm on the last Sunday night before Christmas.
Duncan Chisholm (photo © Annie Tuite)
Union Hill is Duncan Chisholm, Iain MacFarlane and Marc Clement – arguably a spinoff from the original lineup of Blazin’ Fiddles, a lineup put together by MacGregor as a supposedly one-off project for the 1997 Highland Festival. The Festival is no more, but the Blazers are still going strong – a funny old thing, life, eh?
Though Union Hill only appears occasionally and there cannot be that many occasions to practise, they play with the smooth ease and comfortable fit that comes only from long musical association.
Macfarlane switches from fiddle to whistle to accordion and back again without a fuss. There are no bells, no fireworks, just warm, skilful musicianship – less is more, without a doubt. The trio are past masters at inter-tune banter, something attempted by many but achieved by very few. Any aspiring performer should attend a Union Hill gig to see how it’s done – and then resolve to stick to plain and simple introductions.
Their repertoire showcases well- and lesser-known traditional tunes interleaved with a fine selection of modern composers, including the Macdonald brothers of Glenuig, the late Johnny Cunningham, Blair Douglas, Aidan O’Rourke, and Karine Polwart, as well as some tunes penned by Chisholm and MacFarlane which do not suffer by comparison.
For the encore they’re joined by MacGregor and young rising star Graham Mackenzie, and MacFarlane switches back to accordion “to spare me the sound of a band with four fiddlers, again” says ex-Blazer Clement. A fine evening all round.
© Jennie Macfie, 2011
Links
Yes indeed a very enjoyable night. The good news is we will have heating, a new bar and a new restaurant all running by March – big changes but still the same feel and welcome! Check out Northern roots festival (1/2/3 June) with Blazin Fiddles, Kathleen MacInnes, Le Vent du Nord, The Groanbox Boys, Wizz Jones, Edwina Hayes and many more to come. Tickets available now from http://www.ticketsoup.com
Also Inverness whisky festival (6th/7th weekend in APril) and Brew at the Bog (5th May). Its all go up here! Cheers Bruce