One of the nice features of Stonehaven Folk Festival is a long standing committment to promoting the Scots Ballad and tradition of unaccompanied song, as Dick Gaughan once said "one of the oldest surviving forms of literature in Europe".

 

This year Geordie Murison presented a stellar cast of Tradition Bearers at the annual Tradition Bearers Concert to brighten a dreich mid summer's sunday afternoon.  One of my few criticisms would be that this event was held much earlier than the evening concert, suggestive of a "second priority" rating to the contemporary folk music on display later, and most unkind to those whom like myself, were overly "tired and emotional" following the excesses of a Saturday night at a lively folk festival.

Nevertheless, sustained by a somewhat soggy Stonehaven Sea Cadet's full Scottish Breakfast I crawled dripping wet from the campsite to St Bridget's hall to watch some of Scotland's best exponents of traditional song.  

 

Backed by paper mache casts of Folkie legends past (I couldn't help pondering how I would feel to be looking down from the great gig in the sky to see myself cast in paper mache being dragged from village hall to village hall), Karine Polwart, Aileen Carr, Tom Spiers and Norman Kennedy delivered a series of rousing performances of traditional song to a damp crowd which must have numbered several hundred.  

 

Outshining the pack by far (and, I'll confess, my primary motivation for forgoing the relative comfort and dryness of my tent), was Karine Polwart.  The ethereal quality of her voice and freshness of her compositions was a joy to hear as she breathed new life into dusty classics with an openess and honesty that warmed the heart and stirred a celtic pride in the soul.  Even old nursery rythmes such as "Ali Bali Bee", which I'd not heard since I was on my Mum's knee, sounded fresh, new and exciting.  The very fact that a performer of Karine's stature was willing to dedicate time to this event (as well as performing with her trio later in the evening) speaks volumes for the seriousness which she has for her roots and passion for traditional song.  Her performance was best encapsulated by the life she breathed into a snippet of forgotten poetry (the name of the poet escapes me), in the process getting several hundred wet and hung-over folkies to join her in rousing song.  

 

Next in line was Tom Spiers who's lusty voice and delicate accompaniment with fiddle was both entertaining and stirring, especially in a number dedicated to the birth of Robin Hood.  

 

Aileen Carr was at times a little terse, but delivered some nice songs in the vein of Archie Fisher and Barbara Dickson.  Norman Kennedy spun some entertaining yarns, even if my Kiwi partner could not understand one word he said.  He had something of the aura of a venerable Red Indian chief as he sang a rousing version of MacPherson's Rant.  

 

In brief, I left well satisfied that the future of Scots Traditional Song is in safe hands with custodians such as these to safeguard our collective heritage.  

Comments