Concerto Caledonia

Dance Band

Perth Concert Hall, Thursday 31st January, 2008

Ever wondered what Scottish dance music sounded like before Sir Jimmy Shand? Concerto Caledonia have assembled an all-star dance band to play tunes from before the days of accordions and fiddles.

Featuring Canadian wooden flute virtuoso Chris Norman, and harpist Catriona McKay, instrumentalist of the year at 2007's Traditional Music Awards, expect an evening of toe-tapping tunes, exciting sounds, and perhaps even the odd singalong.

Border pipe tunes, Gypsy tunes, lute tunes, court dances, and Robert Burns's version of Old King Cole (yes, it does exist) are all just part of a uniquely entertaining and enlightening night out.

• Chris Norman flute, smallpipes
• Catriona McKay harp
• Rob MacKillop lute, guitar
• Clare Salaman hurdy-gurdy, nyckelharpa
• Alison McGillivray bass viol
• Alan Emslie percussion
• David McGuinness harpsichord, harmonium, melodica

David McGuinness writes:

It’s struck me that even in Scotland, people have a very narrow idea of what Scottish music is and what it sounds like. Concerto Caledonia has always been about widening people’s expectations of Scots music, and working with John Purser for the last couple of years on the Scotland’s Music radio series has been a real ear-opener for me in lots of directions.

Even now with the recent explosion of talent in traditional music, the range of music that’s played and sung is still quite narrow. Music for instruments is usually based around fiddle tunes, pipes or accordions, and to widen our palette we look outside of our shores. But even without leaving Scotland’s own traditions, there’s an astonishing wealth of different music waiting to be played and enjoyed. What we wanted to do with this band is to look deliberately outside of the usual places for our tunes and songs, and to play Scottish dance music that you’d never hear in a pub session.

Alison McGillivray and I sat down and thought ‘Who would we have in this band if we formed one?’, we made up a list of people, and when we called them up, they all said yes!

Catriona McKay, fresh from winning Instrumentalist of the Year at the Trad Music Awards, is as inventive and exciting a player as you could wish for, right at the top of her game. Chris Norman from Canada has single-handedly re-established the wooden flute as a part of the Scottish tradition, and is a wizard on the smallpipes too. Rob MacKillop knows more about Scottish lute tunes than anybody and has the kind of sardonic wit that every band needs. Clare Salaman plays all kinds of droney instruments with the finesse of the violin virtuoso that she is, and Alan Emslie can steal a show completely just by playing a couple of notes, as well as being a formidable groove merchant.

What a band!

What will it sound like? Well, I really don’t know, but I just can’t wait to find out.

© David McGuinness January 2008