Shetland-Music.com

To many of us the letters FBI are normally associated with America's legendary crime fighting organisation, but last Friday night in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall the letters took on a whole new meaning - 'Fiddlers' Bid International'.

Fiddlers Bid International

The concert, part of the city's acclaimed 'Celtic Connections' festival, followed on from a very hectic week for Fiddlers' Bid and its members, with Chris Stout and Catriona McKay having performed as soloists at the festival the previous Saturday night in the company of the Scottish National Orchestra, premiering a piece specially composed for the event by Chris himself.

Immediately following this the full band then flew out to New York to successfully showcase at the USA's premier music industry convention, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) held annually in the city. Chris and Catriona also showcased as a duo at the same event.

Having made a serious impact on many of the American promoters who witnessed their sets in New York, and quite possibly securing appearances at a number of important American festivals later this year and next, the band immediately flew back to Glasgow and launched into rehearsals with their special guests for the concert - Olov Johansson from the Swedish band 'Vasen'; Faroese vocal sensation Eivor Palsdottir; flamboyant cellist Rushad Eggleston from the American band 'Crooked Still'; Cape Breton singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist J. P. Cormier and Winifred Horan (fiddle) and Seamus Eagan (whistles and banjo) from Irish group 'Solas'. It threatened to be a musical evening to remember and, as things turned out, it more than lived up to its billing and expectation.

'The Bid' took to the stage in a packed and welcoming, indeed buzzing, main auditorium in the Concert Hall, immediately launching into a Shetland set 'Peter D Scollay / Merran's Rant and Da Kirk Stack before being joined on stage by their first special guest Olov Johannson on the nyckelharpa, a large keyed fiddle, unique to Sweden, for a version of 'Da Shaalds'. The tune segued into the Faroese song 'Hjarta', which featured a striking and haunting vocal delivered by the equally visually striking, bare-footed Faroese singer Eivor, who one member of the audience described as a cross between a fairy, a north American Indian and a more melodic Bjork - a reasonably accurate observation and a quite awe-inspiring performance.

As always Maurice Henderson kept the audience enlivened and informed with his quips and the tales behind the tunes, inevitably and proudly in his native dialect. When Sweden's Olov Johansson went on to introduced a tune, Andrew Gifford casually observed that the audience appeared to understand Olov's English better than they did Maurice - drawing the biggest laugh of the night.

With the musicians visibly relaxing after the pressures of the previous few days and the audience warming still further and now responding with increased appreciation to all the international comings and goings and musical shenanigans, it was the turn of Irish musicians Winifred Horan and Seamus Egan to join the band onstage for another set of favourite 'Bid' tunes including 'Da Lass That Made the Bed For Me' and 'Shaldur Geo'. Winnie certainly falls into the demon fiddler bracket and although Sean's seated, laid-back and therefore perhaps less visual approach tends to draw less attention, this does nothing to mask his incredible musical skills and dexterity.

JP Cormier

Cape Breton's multi-instrumentalist / singer / songwriter JP Cormier is a massive presence both musically and physically on any stage in the world and his arrival on this one proved no exception. A phenomenal musician by any standards, he brought yet another dimension to an increasingly diverse show. The quite incredible and totally unrehearsed acoustic guitar 'dual' between him and Fiddlers Bid's guitarist Fionan de Barra, as they locked eyes and musical brains in the second half of the show, on the back of JP's crowd pleasing song 'Kilgarry's Glen', was for many one the highlights, not only of the night itself but perhaps of the festival to date - quite simply unmatchable and jaw droopingly amazing.

JP handles and plays the guitar like lesser mortals play mandolin - arms locked dead still, with his wrists and fingers doing the work and taking the strain, a technique that continually allows him to deliver incredibly complex musical fireworks. "Jeez, those guys know no limits", he said shaking his head and wiping away the sweat as he left the stage - an observation that pretty much summed the moment up.

The first half closed with another Shetland set including the intriguingly titled 'Du's Been Lang Awa and I'm Tocht Lang Tae See De', another tune title that required more of Maurice's explanation and interpretation skills to keep the audience fully briefed.

Fiddlers Bid with Eivor Palsdottir

With the band relaxing still further and by now interacting brilliantly, not only with each other but also with their guests and the audience and with everyone in the auditorium clearly revelling in the whole experience, the second half was likely to raise the musical bar and temperature still further - we were not to be disappointed.

Fiddlers Bid favourites mixed in with yet more international collaborations coaxed increasingly world-class performances from everyone on stage while the audience, by now clearly of the opinion that they were experiencing something very unique indeed, reacted accordingly, taking the atmosphere on the stage and inside the whole concert hall to increasingly electric proportions and new levels of appreciation.

The sight of Crooked Still's crazy (yes folks that's the only word for him) cellist Rushad Eggleston taking the stage in pink satin trousers, purple satin top and matching beret, not to mention wearing Eivor's jewel encrusted cowboy boots (which he had helped himself to backstage) was not for the faint hearted or those without sun-glasses, but his playing, like himself, also has to be seen to be believed. "God know how he does that" remarked one of the musicians while studying his technique - at times one that suggested he would be equally at home wielding a chain-saw. Rushad together with 'Crooked Still' will be at this years' Shetland Folk Festival - whatever you do don't miss them, you certainly wont miss him believe me.

But with all that was going on and down, ultimately the night triumphantly belonged to Fiddlers's Bid, with yet another second half highlight being a simply sublime, enhanced version of 'Swan LK 243' led by Catriona McKay - undoubtedly now Scotland premier clarsach exponent. Achingly breathtaking is about the only expletive that anyone could apply, with the tune acting as the fuse to an explosive finale, inevitably featuring all the participants on more Shetland tunes such as the 'Troila Knowe', 'Ahint Da Daeks o Voe' and 'Da Fustra'. The music soared, the sweat flew and the rafters of Glasgow's premier concert hall were well and truly lifted - Shetland style.

Fiddlers Bid with Seamus Eagan, Winifred Horan, Olov Johansson and Rushad Eggleston

The audience responded accordingly, rising as one at the end, and were rewarded with an encore featuring a Faroese song and the dynamic vocal range and presence of Eivor before everyone joined in again to literally cook the concert hall one last time.

There are many occasions when you are distinctly proud to be a Shetlander and this was without question one of them. Fiddlers Bid continue to take Shetland to the world and the world continues to respond approvingly.

In short the evening was a triumph and for those who were there the letters FBI are quite likely to never mean the same again.