Music review: Fèis Rois Aig 25: Fremhan is Gasan

Fèis Rois aig 25: Freumhan is Gasan

Strathpeffer Pavilion

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GIVEN that the Fèis movement as a whole – of which the Dingwall-based Fèis Rois is a longstanding redoubt – has Gaelic at its heart, and that this silver jubilee concert was part of a Gaelic-based festival, its seems only apt to give its title (translating as Fèis Rois is 25: Roots and Shoots) in the language of Eden.

A previous celebration having taken place at Celtic Connections in January, both line-up and format had been shrewdly rejigged for Blas, while still highlighting Fèis Rois’s key role in shaping today’s Scottish folk scene. Many early Fèis Rois participants – some having attended the inaugural gathering in 1986 – are now pursuing successful professional careers, and passing on their skills as tutors.

The programme this time spotlighted each key musical specialism in turn, with groups of pipers, fiddlers, harpers, singers and accordionists delivering successive short sets, before a mass finale with all 30 performers. Each group reflected the full generational span of a quarter-century, from relative veterans such as piper Dougie Pincock, harper Patsy Seddon and singer Eilidh Mackenzie, whose inspirational teaching helped inaugurate Fèis Rois’s ongoing ripple effect, to the current crop of gifted teenage aspirants – hence the “Roots and Shoots” subtitle.

The six-piece backing band, who richly fleshed out an array of beautifully configured and exhilarating arrangements – from exquisite acappella harmonies to Unusual Suspects-style barnstorming - displayed a similar age profile, with the three guitarists also stepping up for their own niftily picked slot.

sue wilson