FolkWorld Live Review 12/02. By Michael Moll
Four years ago I trekked into the Heart of Scotland, to the charming
town of Aberfeldy, in the centre of gorgeous Scottish scenery. Back then, the
first Heart Of Scotland Festival took place. This year I decided to return to
the beloved place, to see how the 5th festival would compare to the first...
The
festival has changed significantly during those 5 years. It has been scaled
down compared to the ambitious first version - I well remember those excellent
concerts five years ago where you could at times though, easily count the audience.
The new festival size is more realistic, although it might be already a bit
too small to make the journey for the festival alone, worthwhile. Five years
ago I criticised the lack of bars in some of the venues; by now, all venues
do have beer on offer, so there are improvements.
After five years, a festival should have developed its style and some kind of maturity. What I noticed this year was that the average age of the audience at the festival concerts was comparably high, especially compared to some other Scottish festivals I have been to during the last few years - maybe this can be explained by the rather high ticket prices, or by the time of the year. Also, although there were some folk sessions in the pubs around Aberfeldy, there was not really as much festival atmosphere as there had been at the first edition of the festival. The festival simply did not manage to attract many musicians - workshops were once again not very well visited; for example, the songwriting workshop with Tommy Sands, announced in the programmes with "Book early as places are limited", was attended by only two people.
Nevermind, a journey to Aberfeldy is always worth it - the surroundings are stunning, perfect for long walks, and the festival acts as a welcome bonus.
Scotland has often the reputation of being a very wet place for holidays - I do not really know why; once again this year during the Heart of Scotland Festival we had the most beautiful weather the whole weekend long. We arrived only on Saturday afternoon, just in time for the main concert of the festival on Saturday night...
The festival had started on Friday with a showcase of local music, featuring the Fochabers Fiddlers Frontline as well as the Aberfeldy & District Gaelic Choir, plus the singer Jim Reid. Saturday afternoon offered a special concert in the Castle Menzies, labelled "Paintings Poetry and Music", with paintings from diverse Scottish artists, poetry reading by Ian Anderson and music by Patsy Seddon. The art work was based on a handful of selected poems. The differing interpretations were impressive.
Sunday
offered terrific weather again - too nice really to hang around in sessions
or concerts, much better for a decent walk around the famous and enchanting
Birks of Aberfeldy and along the banks of the River Tay. The alternative was
a piping concert in Castle Menzies, with some of the most famous Scottish pipers,
or a concert of local songwriters.
Shame though that the quality and theme of the evening changed considerably with the final act, Rab Noakes with Fraser Spiers. Their music has not much to do with Scottish or folk music. Rab Noakes is supposedly a popular Scottish songwriter; unfortunately he cannot sing, which does not stop him from singing though. He had been announced by the festival organiser as somebody who always makes out of a concert a happy party. Mmmh, I do not really know how Rab can make people happy, he himself looked rather miserable, and he did not show much of a sense of humour. The only positive light on the concert came from Fraser Spiers, who is a highly talented mouthie player; would love to see him in other collaborations!
Nevertheless,
a boring performer on stage gives you a wonderful opportunity to look around
in the audience. Plenty of big yawns everywhere. Then there was a German tourist
group. I caught a bit of their chat before the concert, when a woman told their
Scottish tour guide that she believed that she would get inspired by the concert.
She did not look inspired at all at this point in the evening, and neither did
she look inspired at the first half of the concert. Actually, most of the German
group looked the whole evening like they either had just eaten frogs, or were
thinking "I really do not know why I am sitting here". Looking a bit
further around, some people were already half asleep; others were looking more
and more impatient to get out of there. A dog tried his luck to get out through
a door, his owner running after him. A few were fully with the concert... However,
the sleeping majority was woken up during the last set of the concert by a shrill
smoke alarm; Rab just sang on during the alarm. Once it stopped, the last number
of the concert was just about over, and we could happily go home, after an evening
which was first astonishing, and then amusing. I can understand why the organiser
would like to invite him to a party - it is quite good fun to watch the audience
while he is playing...
It is good to see that the Heart of Scotland Festival has survived those five years - it is difficult to keep such an event going. I have to admit, I had expected a bit more of the 5th Heart of Scotland festival; however, it is definitely a good reason to travel to Aberfeldy; combining the beautiful autumn days in Scotland's stunning heart with some good concerts. Definitely recommended if combined with a walking shortbreak.
Festival Homepage: http://www.heartofscotland.info
FolkWorld Review of the First Heart of Scotland Festival: www.folkworld.de/7/aberfeld.html
Photo Credit: (1) Aberfeldy, (2) Deaf Shepherd, (3+4) Alyth McCormack (and band). All photos by the Mollis
To the content of FolkWorld
Features
To the content of FolkWorld No. 24
All material published in FolkWorld is © The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the Editors for permission. Although any external links from FolkWorld are chosen with greatest care, FolkWorld and its editors do not take any responsibility for the content of the linked external websites.