Celtic Connections

Duncan Chisholm & Tanxugeiras

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Rob Adams, four stars

THERE was a neat tie-in between this final concert of the 25th Celtic Connections and the festival’s first-ever concert back in 1994. Not only did fiddler Duncan Chisholm appear in that initial gig, with folk-rockers Wolfstone, but Galician piper and percussionist Manuel Amigo, here accompanying the young female vocal trio Tanxugeiras, was with the opening act, Dhais, that night.

The joyful Tanxugeiras continue the Galician tradition of creating intricate, dancing rhythms on tambourine and frame drums to drive their exuberant ululations and they provided a superb opening set, aided by accordion and Amigo’s creative use of a pair of shells as well as his gaita (Galician pipes).

Duncan Chisholm’s music is more restrained by nature, although when he and his mini orchestra fired up a set of reels, there was plenty of energy in the room. The main business here was the live premiere of material from Chisholm’s new album, Sandwood, a collection of tunes that capture the fiddler’s fascination for Sandwood Bay in Sutherland.

Chisholm is a master at reflecting landscapes and geographical features in compositions, both original and borrowed, and his fiddle playing, melodically true with an almost tangible Highland soulfulness, conveys not only a sense of topography but the emotions these places stir in him.

His playing of Donald Shaw’s A Precious Place was particularly gorgeous and with arrangements that incorporated string trio, uilleann pipes and whistle, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard and piano, and percussion with finely applied weight, he delivered richly detailed, beautiful images for the mind’s eye. I can’t help thinking that there’s potential here for a Chisholm celebration by the Grit Orchestra.

Rob Adams