As
good music as wet weatherTønder Festival's 30th anniversary
FolkWorld Live Review issue 29 09/2004 by Michael G. Rose
As
good music as wet weatherThe Tønder Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, and the music was as good as the weather was wet. And the weather was very wet. While presenting the usual excellent cross-section of Celtic music, this year also featured a number of excellent Canadian bands, Appalachian and Old Time American acts and some very promising new Danish faces. And in keeping with the Danish tradition of throwing a huge birthday party on round brithdays, every 10 years, the organizers had a number of special birthday treats for in store for those who came early to the festival.
As is the tradition at Tønder, Thursday night featured two folk rock
bands. The first band, Vamp, was unusual
in that it is a Norwegian band, singing in Norwegian, with special guest Mick
O'Brien on uilleann pipes and whistle. 
Vamp
played an entertaining set, playing a range of tempos and styles. At their best
they captured the soulful longing and loneliness which is so typically Norwegian
while still performing with energy and playfulness. It was also a pleasure to
watch the musicianship of the band, and especially Øyvind Staveland,
as he coaxed so many different sounds out of his fiddle. The second act of the
evening was Runrig, who have become almost
synonomous with Thursday night at Tønder. They have been together about
as long as the festival, giving their first performance there 28 years ago,
and on this evening gave a polished performance of their own brand of stadium
folk rock.
One of my favorite aspects of the Tønder Festival is that the artists
perform several times, in different venues, and oftentimes as each other's guests.
One of this year's mix-n-match concerts found Richard
Wood and John Spillane joining
Danu at a late Friday night concert. Danu
had just played another concert earlier in the evening. This first concert showed
why Danu is one of Ireland's busiest and most versatile bands, with the seven
members sometimes playing as a full ensemble and for other tunes playing in
smaller groups of varied instrumentation. 
The
real treat was Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, her low and expressive voice gave a rare
and welcome depth to the songs. Earlier in the evening Richard Wood had given
a concert with his own rhythm section of Kimberly and Skip Holmes, on piano
and guitar respectively. The trio performed a fairly straight Cape Breton set
which focused attention on Wood's flair for showmanship. However when Wood was
Danu's guest for the late night concert he dropped the dancing and concentrated
on the music. It was a pleasure to listen to him in this setting. And as much
as I like John Spillane as a solo performer, there is an extra dimension to
his music when he is accompanied by musicians of the caliber of Danu.
Saturday afternoon gave a chance to hear a number of promising young bands in a dual event hosted by Harald Haugaard and Morten Alfred Høirup. Highlights of the afternoon included the Anna Massie Band, Karen Mose & Helen Blum, and the students from the Carl Nielsen Conservatory. Anna Massie is a young Scottish multi-instrumentalist who plays with a musical maturity far beyond her years. And her trio mates, Mairearad Green and Jenn Butterworth were equally accomplished, with surprising depth in their musicality. This trio was my favorite new find of the festival.
The Danish singers Karen Mose and Helene
Blum have recently begun singing together and working with the well known
duo Haugaard & Høirup. They are renewing
the old Danish ballads, lovely songs which have long lain neglected. The balance
between Karen's deeper voice and Helene's higher and younger sound is perfect,
reminding me of the sound of Maddy Prior and June Tabor in their Silly Sister's
recordings. 
Morten
Alfred Høirup has often worked as a tasteful accompanist to singers,
Harald Haugaard comes from a solo instrumental tradition and adds his fiddle's
voice to the songs in his own unique way. Harald is also the director of the
folk music program at the Carl Nielsen Conservatory in Denmark, and the students
take part in the afternoon concert as a big band. This year's concert was their
best yet. The students each get a chance to showcase their own compostions or
a tune from their home region. The pieces by fidder Sophia Erikkson and singer
Iouliana Svetlitchnaia were particularly good. Finally, another young Danish
fiddler, Henrik Jansberg used the occasion of the festival to release his new
CD. Signatur. Though Henrik plays mostly Danish tunes, there is a strong influence
of Western swing in his playing which gives his style a very good groove.
There was also a chance to hear some good music from Canada and the U.S.A. On Saturday night we were treated to Bruce Molsky and J.P. Cormier. Bruce Molsky has become a leading ambassador for Appalachian and southern U.S music. He draws the audience into his world and makes them feel as if they are sitting in his living room while he entertains with his pure clean voice and musicianship on fiddle and banjo. He has also mastered the art of accompanying himself on fiddle while singing. J.P. Cormier made a return trip to Tønder this year, and I was happy to finally catch his concert, with his wife Hilda. J.P. sings and plays virtually all of the string instruments and Hilda accompanies him on piano. Their repertoire covers a vast range of material but they are especially strong with their native Cape Breton tunes.
The finale concert on Sunday night began on an intimate note with the Irish
masters Seamus Begley and Jim Murray on button accordian and guitar. 
Their
music was rich with a full and energetic sound and was complemented by step
dancers Seosamh Ó Neachtain and Róisin Ní Mháinnín.
Murray was especially impressive for the full sound he drew out of his nylon
stringed guitar while complementing Begely note for note on the dance tunes.
Carlos Nunez followed, exuding his
natural Iberian exubernace. Nunez often draws on local talent whereever he performs,
so for this show he had the Danish piper Stig Bang-Mortensen join him for the
last few numbers. Bang-Mortensen marched onstage playing a well known Danish
ballad on his highland pipes, resulting in a spontaneous sing-along from the
appreciative crowd. The evening closed with family reunion, as Mary
Black was joined by her three brothers who also had given a concert at the
festival. It gave a warm look back into the Irish singing tradition and to the
Cork songwriting tradition, from which she draws much of her material. In fact
she added two John Spillane numbers to her show, to the delight of both him
and the audience.
Tønder Festival Homepage: www.tf.dk
In the next issue of FolkWorld will be another review (by the editors of FolkWorld) of the 30th bithday bash of this grat festival - look out for that!
Photo Credit: All photos by Michael G. Rose: (1) La Vent du Nord jams with the Bills; (2) Danu and Richard Wood; (3) Haugaard, Høirup and Helene Blum; (4) Sophia Erikkson and Hal Parfitt Murray from Carl Nielsen Academy; (5) Seamus Begley and Dancers at Session (at half past four in the morning...)
To the content of FolkWorld
Features
To the content of FolkWorld No. 29
All material published in FolkWorld is © The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the Editors for permission. Although any external links from FolkWorld are chosen with greatest care, FolkWorld and its editors do not take any responsibility for the content of the linked external websites.
