Black Isle Fiddle Weekend

9 Jul 2012 in Highland, Music, Showcase

Cromarty East Church, 7 July 2012

THE well-preserved but very much alive former county town of Cromarty often feels like the village that time forgot, with its picturesque streets unmarred by the breezeblock structures disfiguring so many settlements in the Highlands.

THAT feeling is compounded by stepping inside the East Church, recently restored with great sensitivity so that it’s still full of history, a history that often seems close enough to touch. The timeless atmosphere, and the design which amplifies sound by means of resonating surfaces rather than electronics is what attracted Lauren MacColl to suggest an entirely acoustic concert here as part of the second Black Isle Fiddle Weekend.

Anna Massie and Maireread Green at the Inverness Whisky Festival (© Inverness Whisky Festival)

Rarely these days do we hear non-classical music played without amplification of any kind, and it become apparent during the evening that balancing the instruments’ sound through the mixing desk has become the norm. The fiddle quartet RANT, who begin the evening, do not have that problem as each of their instruments carries the same acoustic weight, but it’s not surprising multi-instrumentalists Mairearad Green and Anna Massie run into difficulties.

Surprisingly Anna Massie’s fiddle holds it own better against Mairearad Green’s pipes than her guitar copes with accordion, but her banjo takes no prisoners. Anything that’s sacrificed in terms of balance, however, is gained in clarity and intimacy. Green and Massie’s gently humourous banter (“We’re not sure if this is allowed in a church”, says Green anxiously, as Massie picks up the banjo) is as endearing as their musicianship on the many instruments they play – guitar, banjo, fiddle, accordion and border pipes – is dazzling, their taste in tunes ancient and modern is exemplary and the audience is enthusiastic.

RANT

To return to RANT, a quartet of fine female fiddle players (Jenna and Bethany Reid, Sarah-Jane Summers and Lauren MacColl) from the Scottish tradition who have embraced something of the structure of chamber music; their name is the old Scots word for a lively tune, not the English word for an incoherent, emotional articulation. Their carefully crafted, intricate arrangements of old tunes and their own compositions, with lovely complex harmonies and toe-tapping counterpoint, are delightful.

It’s their first public performance and a little tentative at first, but by the time they turn to an extract from Jenna and Bethany Reid’s moving ode to Jan Baalstrud’s wartime escape, “The Shetland Bus”, they’re notched up the volume and the effect is just as powerful as at its multi-instrumental, amplified premiere at Celtic Connections back in 2010. At the conclusion RANT suddenly realise they’ve run out of repertoire and have nothing for an encore, resorting to a repeat the first set of tunes; it’s a great chance to appreciate the difference that greater confidence brings. An impressive debut for a quartet which should enrich both the traditional and classical music scenes in future.

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