"A time of friendship, fun and, above all, stimulating music"

THERE is nothing quite like it in the whole of the glorious calendar of events in Orkney. It is a time when everyone lets go of their inhibitions and lifts their spirits in the name of folk music.
The 24th annual Orkney Folk Festival did not disappoint and was blessed with fine warm weather from start to finish defying the forecasters’ predictions of rain.

Proving its growth in stature on the UK music scene, it attracted more guests than ever and almost 95% of all tickets were sold with many events completely sold out. Emphasis was again placed on fun, friendship and informality, with visitors, locals and artists all rubbing shoulders together.

In Stromness, music was playing everywhere, drifting from bars and the open windows of homes and in the open air with impromptu sessions starting up in the streets and in all pubs and hotels.
While clearly exhausted after four frenetic days of organisation, Festival President Johnny Mowat told Orkney Today on Monday: “According to the feedback from the public and artists, they had a tremendous time, but from an organisational point of view it was manic, in particular with transport and travel and ensuring all the artists got to their venues in time.

“In general, ticket sales increased but there were one or two exceptions, most notably the Stomp in Fusion in Kirkwall where numbers were down on last year.

“In contrast to that numbers were well up at our Festival Club 2 event in Stromness which we moved from the Community Centre back to its original location in the Royal Hotel. The Open Stage event on Saturday was also a resounding success.”

Asked to select the highlight, Johnny – ever reluctant to put one act above another – said: “I never saw anything, but the feedback from the ceilidhs has been particularly good. I think the highlight for me is the ongoing build up of friendships that the festival provides. We have friends who met up years ago now arranging holidays back here each year. It’s great.”

The four-day extravaganza began in spectacular fashion with one of the most memorable opening concerts in years which included top acts Old Blind Dogs and Lau. The sell-out event, in Stromness Academy Lecture Theatre, began with the customary welcome by Johnny Mowat who thanked visitors from Canada, America and across Europe for making the trip to Orkney as well as those from “the Far East” (Kirkwall) and “Overseas” (Thurso). He suggested that the interest from further afield had been so great this year that the festival should be renamed as an “International Folk Festival”.

Compere for the evening Bob Sharp, who even at one point gave us an unaccompanied song of his own while waiting on Lau to tune up, then introduced the 13-strong Kirkwall City Pipe Band Juvenile Section, got the evening off to a blazing start with a collection of chanters, reels and jigs. Of particular note was a composition called ‘The Tourist’ – a hornpipe, complete with Kevin Gray on Bongo drums. The drumming section proved extremely entertaining throughout with Gray and young Sinclair Peace vying with each other for attention and getting it. Roll upon roll of the drums weaved into precise bagpipe playing to provide a tapestry of sound which almost had those in the packed hall on their feet. Phenomenal stuff, and evidence that the pipe band’s future is secure.

Next came Tania Opland and Mike Freeman, complete with their hammered dulcimer (classed by Tania as “a box with a lot of strings”) which gave something of a Baroque sound to the proceedings. Their act, which had a sort of English Minstrel feel about it with song titles like ‘Julian of Norwich’ then progressed on to a song composed by Cotton Field workers with a rousing chorus that had everyone joining in. The Anglo-Alaskan duo interacted well with the audience. Their harmonies were tight and the overall sound they made was surrounding. Mike – who played guitar and bongos – also gained loud applause for acclaiming Orkney Folk Festival as “The best-run festival we have ever been to.”

There was an air of anticipation then as visitors and locals alike got ready to hear Lau, the latest band featuring Orkney’s own Kris Drever. The trio ended up outright showstoppers on the night and one of the great successes of this year’s festival. Their performance was truly phenomenal, infectious and hyper-energetic, we bowed to them as they gave folk music back its youthful exuberance. This was something really special and different. So much so that one couldn’t help thinking we were witnessing an early flower from an outfit which, if they stay together, could be one of the best UK folk acts ever.

Drever seemed to use the guitar as percussion with almost footstep strumming. This merged with enthusiastic fiddle gushes from Aidan O’Rourke and completely over-the-top accordion playing by Martin Green. Waving and weaving the music built in a huge crescendo of sound and the energy expounded by the trio led to whoops and wails from the audience even after the first number! But on it went, Green rocking in his chair like a Status Quo headbanger doing things to the accordion that I have never seen done before, O’Rourke almost fly-tie fishing with his bow and Drever on fire, with one leg bouncing up and down to the beat.

The actions were interspersed with humorous comments, most particularly from Martin Green, clearly a comic in the making, who said things like: “We’ve been on holiday all day. You’ve got some pretty old stuff here! We had an ice-cream. It was good. And we enjoyed it so much we’d forgotten we came here to play a gig!”

When it came to vocals Kris Drever, sounded not unlike his father (Ivan) and when it came to the set of jigs, they performed as if there was no tomorrow, dazzling, acrobatic and refreshingly original.
They rattled on through a repertoire which veered into jazz at times, with mainly original works - including the amazing ‘Lau Jigs’ – but peppered with lesser known Jo Stafford and Cab Calloway songs. The applause at the conclusion was overwhelming and many rushed from the hall to search for a CD only to find that, as yet there is no such thing as a Lau CD!

That left headliners Old Blind Dogs with the unenviable task of finishing off the proceeding.
This they did with professional finesse. Hailed now as one of Scotland’s favourite folk bands, the five-piece – with Jim Malcolm at the helm – offered a distinct blend of stirring sound made by instruments ranging from pipes, whistle, bouzouki, fiddle, electric bass and all types of percussion. They were on form and quite superb. Jim startled everyone after the first number by admitting that he had never been in Orkney before. But he followed the statement up by adding: “But I have drunk a lot of Highland Park.” Among the highlights were ‘Come on you Kincardine Lads’, ‘Rolling Home’ and Malcolm’s own renowned ‘Battle of Waterloo’.

Malcolm’s distinctive voice – almost a merger between Cat Stevens and Donovan – was backed up by resounding harmonies throughout. The performance grew in structure and power as it progressed with Rory Campbell, formerly of Deaf Shepherd, switching from whistle to Border pipes and Aaon Jones’s bass riff joining in neatly with a cacophony of percussion sounds from hyperactive Fraser Stone. Jonny Hardie’s fiddling was also a highlight on most of the instrumental numbers and particularly on the Campbell-penned ‘Lovely Basket Of Nice Smelling Flowers’.

The humour from Malcolm also seemed apt. “We’re now going to sing ‘A Man’s a Man for A’ That’” he said. “It was written by Robert Burns for the opening of the Scottish Parliament.” The rendition of that song, in particular, was outstanding and put Old Blind Dogs in pole position, just ahead of the ‘Young Pretender’, Lau.

This was a spectacular show of real contrasts and an excellent scene setter for one of the best ever folk festivals here in Orkney. Afterwards ‘Orkney Today’ caught up with Lau’s Aidan O’Rourke and Martin Green as they prepared to tuck into well-deserved meals at Julia’s. Martin, who has in the past played with Joan Baez and Linda Thompson, said: “It has been great so far. I’ve only once been here in Orkney before at a wedding at Skara Brae. I was quite hung over so didn’t remember a lot about that. My girlfriend comes from Fair Isle so, before now I’ve flown over Orkney a lot. It is great to be here at last and we are delighted by the response to our act.”