Issue 6 10/98
FolkWorld Live Review
Martyn Bennet and Cuillin Music in Lorient
and Alan Stivell in Rosporden (not far from Lorient)
Lorient Interceltique Festival 1998, Brittany (France)
By Kathy Tan
These two acts couldn't be more disparate. One is 26, has
dreadlocks and hails from Edinburgh, the other has been an international
start of Celtic music since the seventies, is ...erm... follicly
challenged, shall we put it, and sings in Gaelic and English, which is
slightly strange, as he's French. But if you asked me which concert I
enjoyed more, I wouldn't be able to tell you.
Truly. Both musicians were
on top form, the material they played left the audiences chanting and
clapping for more, and believe me, if it's one thing French audiences are
good at, it's clapping their way to the music. A truly humbling experience
for me, who thought a little intrepid foot-tapping and singing along to
the tunes was good enough.
The language barrier wasn't an insurmountable one either. Martyn
Bennet introduced his band, said they were there to play some new and
experimental music, generated by pipes, fiddle, synthesizers, guitars with
pedal effects and distortion probably stolen from the set of 'Star Wars',
and the (dominantly) French audience lapped it up enthusiastically. And
the concert hadn't even started yet! Once he got going though, it wasn't
hard to see what all the magazines are raving about. Yep, they've all
been hailing Martyn as the hottest new talent in the frontiers of
Scottish/Celtic music. Even his Nova Scotian counterpart, Ashley MacIsaac,
could not compare. A four-piece band could not have produced more
intoxicating, rhythmic, spell-binding, mind-soaring, trance-inducing
Celtic/ folk music. Martyn himself was truly a virtuoso, playing fiddle,
highland and uilleann pipes, tin and low whistle and bagad, switching from
one instrument to the next with fludity and effortless ease. He didn't
even miss a beat! With two albums to date, this is definitely an artist to
watch out for. (You can find a review of the newer one of his albums in this issue, note by the editor.) Don't say I didn't warn you!
Alan Stivell, on the other hand, is a musician with such a vast
experience and expertise in Celtic music that it's gained him a devoted
following of fans over the years, across Europe. Thus, the exciting
promise of an unforgettable evening hung in the air, as the audience
waited patiently for him to come on stage. It didn't even matter that the
opening act was a lone German piper with ridiculously high white stockings
and bells to match, called 'Arthur'. The crowd were happy enough to look
at the array of instruments lugged on and off stage, whilst the soundcheck
guy kept tapping the mic, saying '1,2,3...' , yes, in French.
When he finally came on stage, Alan Stivell looked 100 times more
hip than I expected. Dressed all in black and sporting a casual ponytail,
the master of the Celtic harp launched into a track off his new album,
'One World', which was a collaboration with Youssour N'Dour, Paddy Moloney,
Khaled and other gurus of the World music scene. With the overwhelming
influx of new talents on the Celtic/Folk/World music scene, going to a
concert by one of the founders and invaluable contributors of this music
makes you appreciate it all the more, and understand why their distinctive
musical style and virtuosity has influenced and inspired the younger
generation of musicians.
My dream line-up for the biggest concert in the history of
mankind? Martyn Bennet on bagad and fiddle, Alan Stivell on harp and
pipes, Shane MacGowan on booze-slurred vocals, Davy Spillane on
uillean pipes, Steafan Hannigan on bodhran, Mike Scott on guitars and
vocals, and Nick Cave (?!) on demonic howls, growls and what else have
you. Well, it doesn't hurt to dream, does it?
Drawings by Annegret Haensel; more infos on the artist in the editorial.
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