Festival 2006 Reviews
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Welcome to Heb Celt Fest 2006
Hello and welcome to the Heb Celt Fest 2006 review page! Before we get into the business of describing some of the exciting things that have been happening this week, let us introduce ourselves. We are Susan Szymborski and Sarah Hunter, the lucky winners of a competition to work as gig reviewers for this year's festival. We are both 20-something aspiring journalists from Scotland, with a passion for both writing and music. So, whether you are unable to attend the festival this year and reading from afar or simply trying to jog your memory of the previous night after one shandy too many, we hope we can give you at least a taste of the electric atmosphere that is Heb Celt Fest 2006!
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Lewis Women - Wednesday 12th July
Taking off from Inverness airport, I was nervous on more than one level. Not only was I being launched into the air in what might favourably be described as a 'quaint old plane', I was also being propelled into a culture I knew little about. But, within half a day of arriving in Stornoway, these feelings had dissipated. The locals and festival organisers were very welcoming. I enjoyed orientating myself along the narrow streets and sweeping roads of the town and experienced the 'buzz' of the festival first hand.
And when it was time to sit down for the first concert of the festival, I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Scottish Traditional Music than the Lewis Women. A group of six talented and well-established Gaelic singers of a variety of ages, all from Lewis, (Mairi Smith, Anna Murray, Alyth McCormack and the three Mackenzie sisters, Eilidh, Gillian and Fiona) opened the festival with a dizzying array of solo and combined performances, original compositions and well-known favourites with power, emotion and humour. They were ably accompanied by Dublin's Brian O'Headhra on guitar.
The gig was a sell-out with over 200 people packed into the brilliantly designed An Lanntair arts centre. The audience were moved from thoughtful awe to foot-tapping, sing-along participation as the set included love songs, lullabies and jaunty fast-paced tunes. These accomplished ladies provided a perfect start to the festival, opening arms to both visitor and locals alike, by showcasing the wealth of home-grown talent and rooting the festival firmly in the history and traditions of the island.
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Festival Club
The opening evening was rounded off with a fantastic ceilidh at the festival club, also in An Lanntair. Brian O'Headhra played guitar and Sandy Brechin provided the accordion and witty, laconic comment! The venue really came into its own, transformed in minutes from a tiered auditorium into a great place for a party. A range of people took to the floor for classics such as the Gay Gordons and the Dashing White Sergeant. It was a brilliant, warm atmosphere with seasoned pros helping visitors unfamiliar with Scottish dance get into the swing of things too; indeed, many people were positively roasting by the end of the night!
The club will be open to people who have attended main events every night of the festival in An Lanntair. It will offer a variety of acts and stay open until the wee small hours of the morning. You have little excuse not to come for a dance!
Susan Szymborski
Julie Fowlis - Wednesday 12th July
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It was impossible not to approach the Julie Fowlis concert in the Breasclete Community Centre with high expectations. The young Gaelic singer from North Uist has won a host of awards in recent years, including one at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards having been the first Gaelic singer ever to have been nominated.
The gig - which was sold out - did not disappoint.
Julie Fowlis sings with a passion and strength of someone truly in love with their music, with a voice piercingly sweet yet strong and incredibly and undeniably pure.
It was after the first two haunting Gaelic ballads that the first jigs and reels were introduced and the evening really caught fire. The music skipped and jumped and whirled along faster and faster while the audience whooped and whistled, feet and fingers a-tapping. When Julie played the whistle, the temptation to dance was almost inescapable. In fact, Julie almost did and I wanted to do the same.
This reviewer's favourite part was when we were treated to a style of singing in which the artist tries to use their voice like an instrument; these songs are fast, furious, repetitive and fantastic. Difficult to describe, they are like little melodic Gaelic raps, and I apologise if this only confuses.
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What was perhaps most touching was the relationship between Julie and her three accompanists - the easy banter and constant smiles mirrored perfectly the cosy, family like atmosphere of the hall, where by the end of the evening one child was fast asleep under a blanket in front of the stage. No chance of the rest of us following suit!
This mood was unlike any I have ever encountered at a gig, never before have I seen a singer enjoy a cup of tea on stage, or chat to the crowd as if we were old friends, gently explaining the story behind every song.
Of the 200 traditional music fans in attendance, parents, children and older couples mostly, every single one - except perhaps for the sleeping child - responded with enthusiasm and delight.
For the encore we were cajoled - fairly easily it has to be said - into joining in for the chorus of what must be a famous Gaelic song (Nuair a Rainig mi'm Baile), known it seemed to every person there but me. It allowed me to perform a valiant impression of a footballer at the World Cup who suddenly realises he barely knows his own national anthem and attempts to pretend otherwise. I managed a very poor: "na hoo a ho, hoo a ho..." And you know what? I still don't think that's half bad for a Southerner from Edinburgh.
If you missed Julie last night or just fancy a repeat performance she will be on stage with Dochas on Saturday in the Marquee (supporting Afro Celt Sound System), taking part in the Great Big Session today and tomorrow from 1.30pm in An Lanntair, where her Thursday night gig is already sold out.
Sarah Hunter
