Perhaps a better title for "The Bastard Children of Australian Folk", would be "The entirely legitimate children of country rock with an aussie accent and an accordion".
Similarly C Venue's "Cabaret Bar" would be better described as a "dingy function suite in the basement of a hotel". Although by Fringe standards it was perfectly acceptable. However the "Bastard Children" failed to grasp the restricted size of their venue and the show was made literarily uncomfortable by the extreme volume they decided to plough through their PA system. The mandolin was so shrill that I found myself constantly wincing every time its owner so much as stroked it. Their act seemed designed for a stadium, and they never really embraced the potential for intimacy.
I was hoping for an interesting re-working of that elusive, but surely interesting traditional music of the antipodes. Immigration and varying strands of tradition mingling together in a single country must make for fascinating listening. However this group did not share any of their roots with us. There was little or no explanation of the "folk" (albeit bastardised) that their name suggested.
I should point out that these are a group of very talented musicians. Chris Winterton has excellent ability on harmonica and accordion, and the band he fronted was exceptionally tight. However this tightness, rather than being put to good use became a vehicle for bashing out crescendos after crescendo in the majority of their songs. At moments there were glimmers of a Fairport like approach to finishing a song with a blistering tune based rampage. Sadly these moments were few and far between.
They had also decided to indulge in the apparently obligatory uniform of the Australian at the Edinburgh Festival (hats, ties, braces, waistcoats etc). Sadly however the taste displayed by the quality of their vintage garb was not apparent in their music. Attempts at a bit of theatricality were ham-fisted and consisted of fairly pointless wanderings amongst the audience, that criminally overdone "what shall we toast to?" routine, and asking if there were any Australians in.
In their blurb the group promised: "A multi-instrumental globe-hopping jaunt through Australian musical landscapes with wheezing accordions, bleeding harmonicas, tearing guitars, scraping mandolins and more."
Someone should let "The Bastard Children of Australian Folk" know that if their instruments sound like a list of medical symptoms, they should either turn their PA down substantially, or re-brand their music as a matter of urgency. The scraping of that mandolin will remain with me for a long time.
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As I left the safety of Edinburgh on a warm summers evening to head west and enter the beast that is Glasgow the only thing holding my Edinburgh trepidation at bay was the prospect of a fantastic line up including Lori Watson (pictured), Archie Fisher, Dick Gaughan and a host more of the great and the good of folk music and the promise of a celebration of all that is, and has been, best about the Danny Kyle Open Stage. The Open Stage is now ten years old and has over those years carried on the work of the great man who created it and his original intention of promoting traditional music and up and coming artist. Over it's time the stage has seen a plethora of acts from Maeve McKinnon to Garden Sessions own Frank Burkitt and “the Danny” has been awarded to names like Lori Watson and David Ferrard, just two of the acts invited back along with friends and former colleagues of the great man to including Dick Gaughan and Brian McNeil to perform in a concert honouring the invaluable contribution the Open Stage has made to Folk in Scotland. The evening began with what was to my mine an astonishing first set from Brian McNeil a man who has written a wealth of songs many of which you have to include in your repertoire if you want to call yourself a folk singer. It's a rare thing to see a performer who has been so heavily involved in the folk scene and this was only the first of many highlights of the night. From the classic folk to the new blood and as always a thoroughly enjoyable and customarily accomplished performance from Lori Watson and The Rule Of Three entertaining the crowd with some of the best of their first album as well as a sneaky track from what sounds like a very anticipated new album that we have been promised soon. As the night rolled on the standard refused to drop and I sat enthralled in a world of classic, and future classic, folk music with many a notable performance. Unfortunately it would be impossible to list all the high points of the night but special note has to go to what was a moment that many of the people who introduced me to Folk have never witnessed. I am sorry to sound in anyway star struck but, I saw Dick Gaughan and Brian McNeil on stage together playing “No Gods And Precious Few Heroes, ” Oh yes, it was very special and I know for a fact that certain members of the Garden Sessions team are a bit jealous of me and rightly so. The concert was a great success and one the likes of which may not be seen for another 10 years. The only thing the unfortunately sticks in the mind as a draw back was the arrangement of the audience. The evening was fully seated, it's a small point to mention but for me a celebration, particularly a Folk celebration needs to be more of an upbeat raucous affair and tables with seating tends to make people sit not dance. Though I found at points the atmosphere was a little stale the music made up for it and though, in my opinion, the music isn't all Folk is about it's the most important part and the performers on display at the Danny Kyle Open Stage 10th Anniversary were the best group of artist I have ever seen in one place.
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It's the 20th festival on Knockengorroch Farm and glorious sunshine lights up the hills. Like a secret Garden, twice yearly this isolated glen is repopulated with a kaleidoscopic mix of hippie chicks, folky families and roots music believers.
Friday headliners' Dreadzone sound as fresh today as they did in the 90's. MC Spee waves his crutches like a pirate, addressing the crowd with the call: "ahoy me hearties", warming us up for the weekend, and the festival season ahead.
Saturday kicks off with Asazi Space Funk Explosion. On 'Madafaka', Asazi sings "if you call me a hippie, watch your back/That stereo you love so much, I sold it for crack" – it's world music, but without airs and graces.
Thinking I hear another band starting, I move. Amazingly the sound is all coming from one man's mouth. With a microphone to his mouth and one to his neck beat-boxer Shlomo is a human juke box, even blasting out White Stripes hit 'Seven Nation Army'. Later he extends his multitasking ability by using live loop-sampling technology to build up layers of mouth made sound – he's good, and he knows it.
Capercaillie headline on Saturday and like their namesake, Karen Matheson's haunting vocals belong to the hills. It's the perfect mid evening chill. Later, the Peatbog Faeries set the heather on fire with furious fiddling to get our feet moving.
At midnight the crowd splits and the children are packed off to bed, exhausted after a days entertainment of storytellers' and workshops. Glasgow's Mungos Hi Fi oversee matters in the Sheiling tent, as dub steppers thrash their dreads to bass lines you can feel in your colon. Meanwhile the Long House hosts an ongoing folk session and with the fire stoked, we contemplate whether sleep is really necessary.
Security stop us to insist that we have a good time and the last I saw the police they were checking the festival programme to plan their evening. Too soon it's time to say "goodbye Knock', see you in September". You never know, the weather might last.
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