FIONA MACKENZIE checks out the next generation of Scottish traditional music talent...

Imagine a younger version of The Unusual Suspects, say 25+ strong, mix in some of Harris Playfair’s commitment and musical passion, add a few exciting new commissions from Corrina Hewat, Dave Milligan and Aidan O’Rourke, and you have ‘Ceòl Mòr’ (and guys, if you’re going to use a Gaelic name, assuming you do mean literally Big Music, please spell it right – it needs the accents).

An eventual by-product of the Splore event in Aberdeen and directed by Dave Francis, this is a large scale Youth Folk Orchestra, although right from the initial bars you’d be fooled into thinking it was more of a rock and brass orchestra, with some fiddles and clarsach along the way too.

Donald Shaw’s ‘Harvest’ has set the pace for youth projects in the last few years at Celtic Connections, and it is encouraging that more exciting large-scale projects such as this are emerging to fill the gap for many young musicians who find themselves perhaps in between Fèisean and going professional.

Encouraging, too, to see that the vocal aspect of the piece was not all left up to the female of the species. The commitment and enjoyment of the participants was hugely encouraging for the future of ‘traditional’ music.

Three new commissions were performed alongside some of Playfair’s arrangements, including Hewat’s vocal arrangement ‘Boy Fae Kelso’ and Milligan’s’ How did we get to here?’ Aidan O’Rourke’s magical piece will surely become a staple of the repertoire for large groups now.

Solo opportunities for both vocalists and instrumentalists were afforded across the board, allowing each section of the ‘orchestra’ to shine at various points in the programme. The brass section lifted the arrangements out of the trad genre and into one all of its own at times, a sort of ‘jazzitional’, for want of a better word. The audience were baying for more.

Great potential here for future development and plaudits to the directors for the logistical problems a project such as this must present.

Harris Playfair - Piano/Musical Director
Ross Couper - Fiddle
Daniel Thorpe - Fiddle
Carly Bain - Fiddle
Victoria Atkinson - Fiddle
Holly Beckmyer - Fiddle
Naomi Ballantyne - Fiddle
Colin Cotter - Fiddle
Marike Cotter - Fiddle
Rachel Cross - Fiddle
Anna Currie - Fiddle
Graham McGillivray - Fiddle
Russell Murray - Fiddle
Sophie Heppel - Fiddle/Viola
Emma Beaton - Cello
Fergus Mutch - Pipes/Whistle
Gillian Chalmers - Pipes/Whistle
James Mackenzie - Pipes/Flute
Gillian Davidson - Recorder
Victoria Laurenson - Accordion
Scot Wilson - Accordion
Mhairi Briiton - Clarsach
James Lindsay - Bass guitar
Tia Files - Guitar/Bass guitar
James Law - Drums
Ryan Playfair - Percussion
Tom Pickles- Alto/Tenor sax
Jodie Gibb - Trumpet
Neil Cuthbertson - Trumpet
Craig Walker - Trombone
Natalie Chalmers - Voice

Aberdeen IYF: World Music Night, Music Hall

The ultimate source of the special atmosphere surrounding Aberdeen youth festival is its capacity for bringing together young musicians from every corner of the world in a spirit of co-operation. World Music Night was the very embodiment of this ideal. Ceol Mor, the Festival's Trad Music Big Band, featured performers from as far apart as Easter Ross and San Francisco, the Isle of Lewis and British Columbia. Their music is a fusion of many influences, Celtic, rock, jazz, classical, Latin and more. Aidan O'Rourke's Coriolis brought together Celtic fiddles and minimalism, while Corrina Hewat's The Wife O' Kelso underscored a Scots ballad with Latin rhythms. Harris Playfair's Movement 4 was the most convincing merging of rock, jazz and Celtic music. It sparked wild applause before an encore brought all the players together