Paul Simon Hydro July 2018

Magical and spiritual music which lifts the heart and soul. 

As we dance, have our hearts broken, enjoy nostalgia and our dreams can fly too, Simon began contemplatively with America And Fifty Ways, before taking up the energy with his full band for his wonderful Boy in the Bubble.  

Simon later reclaimed his fond child Bridge Over Troubled Water. He said this song simply passed through him.  He talked about his musical journeys and songwriting. 

Simon writes some of the best and most poignant lyrics. 

He sang more Surrealist songs -

If you and I were an accident 

Then the road offers no resistance,

I’m beneath the stars,

Dazzling blue

His set was interspersed with his hit songs, while he left the best for last. So many highlights! – Mother and Child Reunion, Slip Sliding Away, along with his fun dance tune such as Me and  Jolio Down by the Schoolyard. As well as his outstanding lyrics, Simon songs have those well known riffs 

What a joyful encore when Simon treated us to his best loved songs – Homeward Bound. Sounds of Silence….

There was lots of love in the room and all those spiritual voices.

Simon's Song Odysseys.  

‘Bothy Culture and Beyond’ Celtic Connections 2018

At a packed Glasgow Hydro, the audience was enthralled with a world premier performance of Martyn Bennett’s, Bothy Culture and Beyond, as part of Celtic Connections. The GRIT orchestra and was arranged and conducted by Greg Lawson.

Three years ago I went to the Celtic Connections opening concert Nae Regrets – and what a night it was!  The GRIT orchestra played Martyn Bennett’s first album (conducted by Lawson). Bennett composed Celtic fusion music that successfully mixed the old and the new, Celtic traditions along with electronic techno. He was known as the Techo Piper with his deadlocks and innovative playing. He sadly died young at 33 from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He performed at Edinburgh Hogmanay and T in the Park.

Aerial dancers All or Nothing

*Lawson introduced the players and the stage was set for an outstanding performance of pipes, dance and celebration. He told us, “To find identity, we need different perspectives (all welcoming Scotland) to find truth and embrace difference, so both sides are enhanced and everyone is enriched – an evolution.”  As well as classical and jazz musicians the orchestra featured renowned folk fiddlers  - Duncan Chisholm, Aidan O’Rourke, Chris Stout, Megan Henderson, Sarah Jane Summers, Charlie McKerron, Eilidh Shaw and Laura Wilkie

This concert was full of ‘joie de vivre’ and the drama of Scotland’s landscapes, from its tallest peaks to its rushing waters and in-between the cultural melting pots of her vibrant cities. Bennet’s music tells of youth, the ancient stone hilltop Bothys along with the rich cultural voices he inherited from his mother, folklorist Margaret Bennett.

Many tracks transcended time and place. The concert began with the sweeping Orcadian Strip the Willow. Then the concert was brought alive visually by aerial dancers All or Nothing who shimmied on hoops and ropes for Aye. There was powerhouse brass and Celtic whistles with Shputnik in Glenshiel. While others tracks had the ‘get up and groove’ to the pipes, such as on Ud the Doudouk.

Fiona Hunter haunting vocals were followed by the Glasgow chapel choir, who were eerily ethereal on Blackbird, when ancient voices met contemporary vibes. At this point stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill rode on his mountain bike around a track laid out around the arena, and then on the Skye mountain backdrop behind the stage.  (His ride of the Black Cuillin Ridge Skye, is sound tracked by Bennett’s Blackbird , 55m Views YouTube).

On the moving track Hallaig, Sorley Maclean’s poem was read by the actor David Hayman -

“A wood going up beside the stream, Heartbreak of the tale.”

The crowd in the Hydro were all ages and danced and sang along to Bennett’s life-enhancing music. The set closed with the drama of the lone piper Finlay Macdonald for Waltz by Hector. 

Bennett challenged the norms – with whistles, brass, electronic beats and his chanter.

There were several web kent faces in the crowd  Well done to all the talented performers and to Bennett himself. This was the biggest audience I’ve seen at Celtic Connections and festival director Donald Shaw says he wants to focus on more larger scale productions.

Niteworks

**Skye outfit Niteworks played a blistering set of electronica meets  Gaelic voice to open the concert  - hypnotic. Ruairidh Graham, Allan MacDonald, Christopher Nicolson and Innes Strachan.

I’ve arrived at venues for sound checks when they are cold blue, empty – it’s a strange transformation. People gradually start to arrive – music is played as all changes to the vibrant joy and energy of reds and oranges. Those hilltops Bothys were like this too -  fires were lit, warm drinks were had and traditional songs were sung. It’s the all embracing warmth of the human connection and celebration. Why should we remember? Why does it matter? We live in glossy, shallow times. It’s important to look beyond – to seek truth.

What really matters in the end. On our journeys, over sea or land – to pause, to wonder, to seek renewals. To hope.. To seek shared human joy.  ‘Bothy Culture”

Seeking difference enhances perspective of who we are. ‘

Scotland does not want to silence ‘other’ voices but to embrace them – while we keep our rich heritage alive and well and so she sings for all. * I might have wished for more info on Martin Bennett himself with perhaps clips of him telling his colourful story in the interval before the GRIT performance.

(Scottish Independence is not about ‘identity’ – rather how we can embrace our past, have understanding and build a better Scotland for all.)

1.    "Aye?" (6:22)

2.    "Shputnik In Glenshiel" (5:50)

3.    "Hallaig" (8:19)

4.    "Ud The Doudouk" (5:44)

5.    "4 Notes" (5:55)

6.    "Joik" (3:26)

7.    "Yer Man From Athlone" (6:25)

8.    "Waltz For Hector" (9:20)

All or Nothing Aerial dance

Vocalist Innes Watson

Fiona Hunter vocals

Sorley Maclean’s poem, read by actor David Hayman

2014: Scotland’s High Profile Year

The Hydro Glasgow

2014 has proved a dramatic year of change with big highs and lows and expectations.

Winds of change have swept away old orders with a tide of political engagement in Scotland the like of which I have never experienced in my lifetime. Scotland 2014 proved to be a world record in democratic voting, with over 82% turned out to vote.

Iain MacWhirter writes Sunday Herald 28.12.14, comparing 2014 to the Summer of Love in 1967 - when social and political landscapes were changed forever, ' The old order of deference, conformity, convention was swept away by a colourful tide of positivity and sometimes wacky togetherness.'

Scottish Independence is a journey we have taken massive leaps towards. As it becomes clearer and clearer how unworkable devolution is, and with the SNP, Greens and others now holding the narrative it is only a matter of time on the road to Independence. 

Ten years ago I wondered was devolution enough but not today. Scotland's voice has woken up from centuries of silence and apathy and of believing our voices made no difference - and will not now be easily silenced. Many now realise they can have a voice and can shape their future.  

Highlights

Glasgow hosted an ecstatic summer of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Later in October Gleneagles held the golfing highlight of the Ryder Cup amid the splendour of the Perthshire countryside.

The Glasgow Hydro brought in 130m for Glasgow with big acts like Beyonce, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake.  

Del Amitri

There was great tragedy too with the fire at the iconic Rennie MacIntosh Glasgow Art School which left the beautiful library destroyed. We hope the building can be rebuilt. Then also just three days before Christmas tragedy struck in George Square Glasgow when a bin lorry lost control and ploughed through shoppers, sadly killing six and injuring seven. Glasgow grieved again just a year after the Clutha tragedy when a helicopter landed on the bar. We are reminded of the fragility of life. 

MUSIC 2014

Music icons tended to over shadow younger artists this year.

Bob Dylan released his Basement Tapes of 1967 (also the Summer of love) Kate Bush performed a month of theatrical sold out shows in London.

Sometimes it is no easy task to rediscover innovative creativity with clear, meaningful messages.  I also enjoyed this year - Mary Chapman Carpenter, White Denim, Sarah McLachlan, Head and Heart, Hozier,

The Big Dish

SCOTTISH MUSIC 2014 - produced many top quality and award winning albums, completely ignored by the London mainstream Record Labels and the BBC Sound of Poll.

There was rather bland London singer songwriters like Ed Sheeran, I am no fan of, and he received a lot of attention this year – but for myself give me these Scottish singer songwriters to listen to -  Withered Hand, King Creoste, Hazey Janes, RM Hubbert, Poalo Nutini, Julie Fowlis, Chvrches, Biffy Clyro.   

Alan Morrison, writing in the Herald lists his top Scottish albums of 2014 here –

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music/top-50-scottish-albums-of-2014

I attended many top quality gigs art Celtic Connections and at my local folk club.

The National

A new newspaper was launched in Scotland offering a new voice and democracy of press. Great to see.

99% of the Scottish media and press during the Scottish referendum questions was controlled by a hostile Westminster - this was anti-democracy.  In Scandinavia it is illegal not to have a balanced press.