The Unusual Suspects

QUEENS HALL, EDINBURGH

FOLK music bores me. Clichd, stereotypical, lacking in innovation, it invariably conjures up images of smoky pubs in wee highland villages, annoying fiddle players scratching away, accordionists ending every song the same way. On record, it's even worse. Today, the "modern" touch is emphasised by sequenced tribal drum beats or some exotic synthesised flute. In short, a dusty, nondescript genre best left for tourists and historians.

Then I saw The Unusual Suspects.

An amalgamation of Scotland's top folk musicians (22 players made up from top folk acts Blazin' Fiddles, Deaf Shepherd, Capercaille etc.) on paper it looked a good, yet overly ambitious concept. Wrong. Not only did these talented musos give the performance of a lifetime, they rewrote the book on how folk should look and sound.

Led by musical directors Corrina Howat and David Milligan, the show just about had it all. Traditional tunes were given a new, ringing clarity, a one-off all-female a capella sonnet was as arresting and seductive as the Sirens themselves; however it was the whizzing instrumentals - where bagpipe met saxophone, where Celtic met jazz - that stunned the most. In a world where nothing original exists any more, The Unusual Suspects managed to make the impossible possible.

If you witnessed this extraordinary performance, you can look back years from now and say: "I was there." Unforgettable.