THOSE who mock folk music events for their lack of sartorial elegance would have had to eat their words on this opening concert of Edinburgh's annual Scots fiddle festival as Rua Macmillan and his colleagues arrived onstage as if dressed for a fairly high-powered business meeting.
The suits, waistcoats, shirts and ties, black dress and in one case an Artful Dodger-style top hat certainly seemed to get the sextet in go-to-it frame of mind as although the music lacked the kind of finesse that would be on free-flow with Finnish group Frigg later in the weekend, there was no shortage of vigour in the playing.
One of three fiddlers in the frontline, Macmillan was flanked by two of his fellow former Young Scottish Traditional Musicians of the Year in Dan Thorpe and Kristan Harvey, who lent a sense of classy, measured pacing to tunes that drew on the jigs, reels and strathspeys repertoire but also borrowed from the American and Balkan traditions.
Double bassist Euan Burton gave these a strong, no-frills rootedness, guitarist Tia Files added rhythmic and harmonic propulsion and Adam Brown showed musicality as well as rhythmic power on bodhran, excelling particularly on his solo feature.
Fiddle and pipes generally combine as the main thrust in Rura, although guitarist Innes Watson made quite a weighty impression on his band debut with the arrival at strategic moments of his bass boost effect.
A fiery opening reading of Chris Stout's The Sheriff contrasted with gentler arrangements involving whistle and flute and sensitive accompaniments to Adam Holmes' three-song cameo in a set that warmed the audience up effectively.
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