On a chilly Friday evening in November we headed to Edinburgh's Pleasance Theatre for the opening concert of the 2024 Scots Fiddle Festival. In previous years I had squeezed in a session beforehand, but this year was a family occasion so there was no pre-concert music-making. We took our seats in an almost full auditorium, and waited for the lights to go up on the Ewen Henderson Trio.
Ewen is from the Lochaber family of musical siblings, and may be familiar from his years as a fiddler and piper with Battlefield Band - or from his Tweed-clad Gaelic song videos extolling the medicinal benefits of brandy - or even from his role as front man of young whippersnappers Mànran. His fiddle sports the red tassel awarded by West Highland fiddle icon Aonghas Grant to all his promising pupils. Ewen was joined on this occasion by the equally talented Su-a lee on cello and Alastair Iain Paterson on keyboards, who both took a wee solo during the concert set.
The bulk of the material in almost an hour of excellent performances by this trio was Ewen's own compositions from his new album Lèirsinn - conceived during COVID lockdown as Ewen travelled in his imagination from Glasgow to familiar and unknown destinations around his family home. Each place produced music expressing its imagined character. Many of these mental journeys were then followed up with physical visits, producing more music based on a combination of perception and previous imaginings. The pieces presented in this concert ranged from airs and marches inspired by Scottish west coast and Hebridean landscapes, to reels celebrating extreme hikes in the mountains, and even an evocation of a football match at the abandoned Cathkin Park stadium in Glasgow. Ewen and friends ran us through a broad gamut of emotions, and I doubt of there was a face which was not smiling by the end of their set.
This was a double-header concert, two very different but equally skilled trios, so after a much needed break for refreshment and merchandise we returned to our seats for a performance by the wonderful Northern Resonance from Scandinavia. I hadn't seen this group live before - in fact this was their first ever Scottish concert - but after two very impressive albums I was really looking forward to their festival set. I wasn't disappointed: Anna, JJ and Petrus filled the room with rich arrangements of their own compositions in a mainly Swedish style.
Northern Resonance play instruments with sympathetic strings - viola d'amore, Hardanger fiddle from Norway, and of course the Swedish nyckelharpa. All are members of the extended fiddle family - as they said, the Hardanger instrument is like a fiddle but better, and the nyckelharpa is like a fiddle but worse. Anna Ekborg's viola d'amore is a five-string fiddle with extra resonant strings, and together these three instruments sound like a chamber orchestra, with multiple melody and harmony lines, percussive bowing and plucked notes. I've often heard the phrase "plucking nyckelharpa" or something similar, but I'd never seen it done before: Petrus Dillner made it look easy as he laid down rhythms for Anna and JJ Hans-Ers to follow. Among several pieces from their recent album Vision of Three, I was particularly impressed by the live performances of Quarantine Waltz and Nobody's Marsch.
Sadly there was no Festival Club after the Friday concert - funding cuts meant that the Scots Fiddle Festival focused on Saturday and Sunday activities this year, with just the opening concert on Friday - so fiddlers crammed the sessions in local pubs and the music continued off site until the wee small hours. The Pleasance site is extensive, providing ample space for workshops, recitals, sessions, trade stalls and a ceilidh as well as the two main concerts. Saturday was packed with fiddlers, learners, parents of the younger players and quite a few older players too. The morning workshops included three on Scandinavian music by the Northern Resonance members, plus several on highland fiddle tunes and other traditions related to Scottish music, and a double helping of fiddle and cello magic from maestros Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas who had flown in for their concert that night.
The afternoon recitals were well attended, with a large group of youngsters from Aberdeenshire starting things off on fiddles and many other instruments. Laura Harrington and Kirsty Campbell had their work cut out herding teens and twentysomethings on and off stage, but the loons and quines were composed and competent in their performance. They were followed by the Capstan Quartet from Glasgow, two fiddles and two guitars playing tasty modern Scottish tunes with a bedtime song from Luc McNally. Luc stayed on for more music with Tom Callister, a mainly Irish set which continued the bedtime theme with Kitty Lie Over at a speed which would keep you awake all night. Gentler tunes came from Laura Wilkie and Gillie Ó Flaherty, inspired by Hebridean song and oldtime fiddling as well as the Scots fiddle repertoire. With tea time approaching, Innes Watson and Jack Badcock wrapped up the afternoon performances with a virtuoso set on fiddle and guitar.
Saturday night was the big concert - Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas with their world class duo act on fiddle and cello, plus a more local trio, and of course the graduating performance of the Youth Engagement Project which every year works with youngsters from across Scotland to build their technique and repertoire for a showcase performance. 2024 saw Graham Rorie coaching a dozen YEP students, mostly teenagers, who opened the concert with a great selection of tunes. Among the highlights were Reel du Forgeron from Quebec, Pat and Al's by Chicago Irish fiddle icon Liz Carroll, and the lovely Orkney air Waterfront Shore. As well as providing a great stage for young fiddlers, this concert gave me an additional insight into the mind of the festival's artistic director Graham Rorie: not only does Graham play fiddle right-handed and mandolin left-handed, he also swaps the fiddle from right to left to pluck the pizzicato arrangements here. That takes a special kind of brain, I think.
YEP left the stage to huge applause, and were followed by the almost equally young but considerably less numerous trio Bryce MacDonald and McIlroy. They are in the market for a better name, but all three are well known on the Glasgow music scene. Chloë Bryce on fiddle, Megan MacDonald on piano accordion, and Calum McIlroy on guitar performed a number of highland tunes, some of their own compositions, and two Gaelic songs with Chloë switching to vocals. I particular enjoyed a set of Sutherland tunes and the final rousing reels. What a rollercoaster ride, and we were only half way through with the main act still to come. As most of the audience headed downstairs for various liquid-focused activities, I took the opportunity to speak to Natalie Haas who had sat and applauded enthusiastically for both the trio set and the YEP student performance. One of the best things about traditional music is the inclusivity and approachability of people at all stages and levels of musicianship, and to have a global star such as Natalie watching a concert of younger players before her own performance is such a great sign of the health and vibrancy of Scottish fiddle music.
The twin stars which are Fraser and Haas took their places on stage for the second half, close enough to touch: although they seem to have developed a telepathic bond after two decades of duo performances, it only works at very short range. So close were they, in fact, that at one point Alasdair's fiddle scroll intruded upon the arc of Natalie's cello bow, adding a touch of percussion to the arrangement of the newly-composed but unnamed piece they were playing: I suggested the title "A Scroll in the Arc", but I'm not sure they will go with that. The good news is that no instruments were harmed in the encounter, and the duo continued with their performance of music from their forthcoming seventh album. Reels and jigs, airs and waltzes, a polka or two, and at least one strathspey stepped boldly from fiddle and cello to strut their funky stuff in the limelight. Fraser and Haas play in a mostly very traditional style, but they emphasise the groove and they are keen to explore the potential of their instruments. Natalie is famed for her chopping accompaniments, but also takes the lead on challenging dance tunes, while Alasdair's swooping harmonies illustrate the power of the fiddle to inspire dancers and listeners alike. If this is the sound that reverberated through the halls of 18th-century Edinburgh, no wonder the city set the fashion for entertainment throughout Britain and beyond.
The finale to a fabulous concert saw YEP and the Glasgow trio back on stage with Fraser and Haas for a last blast of tunes, including the iconic jig Calliope House by Dave Richardson and the popular Frank's Reel by John McCusker. A full stage and a full round of applause: a sea of smiling faces stepped down to the main lobby and out into the night air, or turned left and headed for the cozy intimacy of the Festival Club. From eleven to one and beyond, a much smaller stage played host to music from Innes Watson and Jack Badcock, Roo Geddes and guitarist Hugo Franco Abril, Graham Rorie and Sarah Brown, a couple of powerful Shetland lady fiddlers and a wandering cellist from some Norse saga. Reels, jigs, swing and salsa, a waltz or two and a hint of rock and roll made a fine informal end to the night.
Sunday dawned bright and clear, probably: certainly by 11am or so the sun was warming the sandstone and cobbles of the Pleasance compound as I made my way to the later morning workshops. I wanted to catch Isla Ratcliff before her exposition of Cape Breton tunes: her album The Castalia was a highlight of 2022, and she is in high demand to perform that material on both sides of the Atlantic. After a quick dip into one of the informal sessions, and a small purchase or two from the music stalls in the main bar/café area, it was time for the afternoon recitals. This selection began with another group of youngsters- YMI Tolbooth Trad from Stirling - who are forming bands and developing performance skills before they leave school, jump-starting the traditional music scene in Scotland. Alastair Savage gave a solo recital of some classic Scots fiddle pieces, from Gow to Skinner, as well as some of his own compositions. Cellist Juliette Lemoine and innovative accompanist Chris Amer wove fascinating patterns around some old Scottish material, producing complex shifting forms which went down surprisingly well with the audience: Juliette's recent album is an eye-opener for contemporary trad.
One of several fiddlers who was unable to attend this year's festival for personal reasons was Mayo's Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín, which left her Léda partner Amy Laurenson with forty minutes to fill on solo piano: she did brilliantly. Despite hailing from Shetland, Amy is a recent convert to traditional music who has quickly built up a huge repertoire of good tunes. Winner of 2023's BBC Young Traditional Musician competition, Laurenson seems to have built on the Shetland accompaniment traditions of Ronnie Cooper and Peerie Willie Johnson among others: it was a revelation to hear old and new Shetland material arranged and performed as a piano solo. Sunday ended with another surprise, a trio of young Hebridean fiddlers who also played other instruments and sang. Calling themselves Teud, Claire Frances MacNeil, Shona Masson and Jamie MacDonald define a neat triangle around the Minch with roots on Barra, Uist, Skye and Tiree. Their exploration of the Gaelic-influenced tunes and songs of the Hebrides was a welcome reminder of the musical treasures from an area which is sometimes forgotten in the tapestry of Scots music.
As the 2024 Scots Fiddle Festival wrapped up, I headed off for my own wrap from a very nice wee falafel and kebab shop off Nicholson Square, and then onwards to Bells for a long evening of sessions. The early shift on a Sunday is led by moothie master George Current, playing mainly Scots and Northumbrian tunes: it was busy enough as waifs and strays from the fiddle festival drifted in. We had some great medleys with the Cumbrian crowd who are stalwarts of the festival, before we were joined by locals Kathryn Nicoll and Fred Thomson for the 9pm to 1am slot. Kathryn plays mostly Irish music, with considerable skill and pace, which Fred accompanies in jazzy style. This evening they were hosting visitors from Cork on fiddle and button box, which increased the tempo and made for a varied and energetic workout, the perfect end to a weekend of music in Edinburgh. I was still buzzing on the train home the next day, another crisp sunny Edinburgh morning, leaving the East Lothian coast with enough reels and strathspeys in my head to keep me smiling until the next Scots Fiddle Festival (14-16 November 2025).
Photo Credits:
(1) Finale Scots Fiddle Festival,
(2) Ewen Henderson Trio
(3) Northern Resonance
(4) Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
(5) Bryce
MacDonald
McIlroy Trio
(by Rob Shields);
Graham Rorie & Friends at the Festival Club (by Moira Weitzen).
