Angus MacKenzie with his brothers Calum and Angus
Fred Morrison
The Deadly Duos: The Ross Ainslie Trio and the Jarlath Henderson trio
The National Piping Centre • January 28, 2012 ROSS and Jarlath may be Partners in Crime, as suggested by the title of their CD — one of the best releases of recent years — but here they got one third of the concert to go solo, well nearly solo. Ross kicked things off, with support from Ali Hut- ton and James Macintosh, and on the Great Highland Bagpipe he blasted full tilt into the Jig o’Beer in a loud, proud and impressive start. For the rest of his set he switched between pipes and whistles with consum- mate ease and from Breton to Irish to Scots and back again with the same ease. Jarlath, with James Watson and Duncan Lyall riding shotgun, was equally impressive on uilleann pipes. Duncan’s relaxed double bass playing gave a number of the sets a laid-back jazzy feel that was a joy to listen to. As well as the uilleann pipes, Jarlath also exercised his vocal pipes giving impressive renditions of both the Two Brothers and The Lowlands Low. The finale saw all six on stage with Ross switching to Border pipes as they racked the tempo up and rocked the packed hall. By the encore of Thunderstruck there was so much energy in the room that had it been harnessed it could have powered Glasgow for the rest of the winter. Another great night at Celtic Connections. l CHRIS MACKENZIE
New Voices: Laura-Beth Salter Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite
January 29, 2012 A MEMBER of The Shee, Laura-Beth is a mando- lin player and vocalist from Linconshire. This concert featured an all original suite of songs and instrumentals titled Breathe. An infusion of blues,
PIPING TODAY • 28
The Ceolas concert finale
oldtime and bluegrass, Laura-Beth’s take on English folk is terrific and she is certainly an artist to look out for. l ANDREA BOYD
Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn, Andy Irvine and Paddy Glackin with ‘Outlands’ featuring Fred Morrison Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium
January 31, 2012 FRED was first up in the main auditorium for this superstar concert, and flanked by his Outland associates Ron Block, Tim O’Brien, Matheu Watson and Martin O’Neill, he was immediately on to the Highland pipes and the scene was set for the next hour. Fred was in peerless form getting into his groove
and moving effortlessly from Highland pipes to uilleann pipes to reel pipes (even if he did have to go and get them after forgetting to take them on stage) and to whistle while the ‘outlanders’ wrapped his playing in a warm blanket of Celtic/bluegrass sounds. The band rocked through all of their already classic
album, with the title track providing a good excuse for everyone to get a well-earned solo spot. The penultimate Kansas City Hornpipe set came around all too quickly and as the band played out with the furiously paced The Hard Drive the audience roared their appreciation. Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn, Andy Irvine and Paddy Glackin don’t so much have the T-shirt, as grew the cotton, cut it, shaped it and stitched it to make the shirt. Variously founder members of such seminal groups as Planxty and the Bothy Band, their reputation precedes them wherever they go.
This concert saw them cover a lot of familiar ground in an easy and relaxed manner. Songs included Indiana, Arthur McBride (of course) and As I Roved Out while the instrumental sets had Liam O’Flynn’s
sweet uilleann pipe playing at their heart. Some gentle banter between the players added to the feel- ing of a cosy night by the fire with some old friends. l CHRIS MACKENZIE
Four Men and a Dog Big Band and Broken Strings
Old Fruitmarket • February 2, 2012 THIS gig did not get off to a great start as the opening act came on more than half an hour late. Winners of the Danny Kyle Stage at Celtic Connec- tions 2011, Broken Strings are a collective of young musicians from Shetland. They have heaps of enthu- siasm which just needs a bit of guidance to harness it into more polished sets.
The tunes in their sets indicate that they are obvi- ously listening to all the current trends in traditional music and their set featured a number of Gordon Duncan and Donald MacLeod compositions. The lads in the line-up were humorously self- deprecating about some of the titles of their own compositions and they finished their set with a rousing rendition of Roddy MacDonald’s Fancy. It is hard to describe the awesomeness of Four
Men and a Dog Big Band — a sound similar to Sharon Shannon’s Big Band but playing proper big sets of tunes, rather than theme music.
The band started with two instrumental sets,
and followed with a tribute to James Joyce, infusing calypso rhythms in the traditional Irish folk sound. Box player Donal Murphy delivered a driving set of Kerry polkas and Gerry ‘Banjo’ O’Connor was aptly supported in his touching composition Song for PJ. The duelling banjos set that followed from Gerry and Cathal Hayden was one of the best pieces of music I saw over the whole festival. While the gig was seated cabaret-style, the band
had the whole audience on its feet for the encore. l ANDREA BOYD
All photos: John Slavin@Designfolk Ltd
FESTIVAL
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