Bogbain Farm, Inverness, 1-2 June 2012

BILLED as the Highland’s answer to Celtic Connections, Northern Roots is considerably smaller, and noticeably quirkier.

EVEN though the Bogbain barn may not be as well appointed as the Concert Halls in Glasgow, the acts are no less interesting, chosen with care by musician, broadcaster and general all-rounder Bruce Macgregor. You may not always have heard of his choices beforehand, but you’ll never forget them afterwards.

Kathleen MacInnes (photo Sean Purser)

If you have heard of them, you can be sure they’ll deliver a top performance in the welcoming ambience of Bogbain. Kathleen MacInnes treats her audiences as though they were all members of her extended family. Her voice is as warm and aromatic as heather honey, and is beautifully supported by various members of Blazin’ Fiddles – “my warm-up band”. There is only one Kathleen MacInnes and hearing her sing is one of life’s enduring joys. “We’re all a bit in love with her,” confides a Blazer afterwards.

The Blazers have brashed most of the blether from their sets to great effect as their musical energy levels start high and, uninterrupted by chat, build from there. Iain McFarlane and Anna Massie’s speed metal fiddle duel is just one fine thing in an evening that’s full of them.

On Saturday night Groanbox, a trio whose performance is an abiding memory of the first Northern Roots in 2009, do not disappoint. They employ a bewildering variety of instruments and things, also, that are not instruments in their ceaseless quest to distil the whole world into music. Paul Clifford employs anything from a wire coathanger strung with keys to a hammer and what is essentially a small treetrunk festooned with bells to magnificent percussive effect.

Scotland has several excellent percussionists – but Clifford is in a class of his own. Cory Seznec can and does play guitar, banjo and pretty well anything with strings to perfection – and blows a mean moothie as well – while Michael Ward-Bergeman’s accordion solos are purely beautiful and his tribute to Tuvan throat singing hushes the rapt crowd. Why, oh why, aren’t they better known? They’re definitely the musicians’ musicians. “Write to Jools Holland!” Macgregor tells the audience. Heads nod enthusiastically.

They are preceded by the equally excellent, very likeable Halton Quartet, whose casual musical brilliance spans jazz and traditional, and whose set closes with an alarmingly convincing cover of Britney Spears ‘Toxic’, sung by Adam Bulley. Now that’s what I call ‘eclectic’.

Allan Henderson and Iain MacFarlane (photo Sean Purser)

Continuing the night’s eclecticism with some stunning freeform hurdy-gurdy solos (another phrase you won’t read every day) are Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord. Irresistibly charming, instrumentally brilliant, they point up the roots of the Auld Alliance with some mediaeval chansons which are every bit as tear-stained and blood-soaked as our own Border ballads, and some foot-thumping jigs and reels with a distinctly French-Canadian accent. Accordionist Réjean Brunet who does most of the introductions is the incarnation of the phrase “joie de vivre”, a phrase that sums up this whole festival.

© Jennie Macfie, 2012

Links

• Northern Roots
• Jennie Macfie