Shetland-Music.com

This years 'Fiery Sessions', the concert promoted by Shetland Arts on Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa day (Tuesday 31st January), has once again been hailed a great success by the organisers.

For the first time ever the concert was promoted in two Lerwick venues (the Garrison Theatre and Islesburgh Community Centre) to take account of the ever-increasing demand for tickets.

The concert, aimed primarily at providing visitors to Shetland with a taste of our musical culture while they are in town for the festival, is promoted during the afternoon of Up-Helly-Aa day, at what is generally a fairly quiet time during an otherwise hectic day and night. (In fact two hectic days and nights if truth be told)

This years concert line up included 'The Scollay Family', featuring local musical stalwarts Margaret and Alan Scollay, accompanied by Margaret's son's Ryan (current 'Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year' and also a member of the band 'Shaela' who had just returned from an appearance on the Celtic Connections Open Stage in Glasgow), Ross (a member of up-and-coming Scottish band 'Bodega' - who won last years BBC2 Young Folk Musicians of the Year award) daughter Marianne (who had also just returned from an appearance on Celtic Connections Open Stage in Glasgow with 'Shaela') and Margaret's 80 year old fiddler father Lell - making his debut on the Garrison Theatre stage.

The group, who have a combined age of 219 years and used an amazing 17 instruments during the performance, played a 16 minute non-stop set, covering everything from tunes from their native island of Yell and Shetland in general, through jazz, Johnny Cash and finally rounding off with more tunes from Yell.

Their performance in Islesburgh Community Centre earned them a well-deserved standing ovation.

Also on the bill were Scalloway's very own Erin Sandison - Shetland's new vocal sensation, who had also just returned from a successful appearance on Celtic Connections Open Stage in Glasgow and fiddle fronted band 'Craw Dang Pussy' featuring Maurice Henderson (Fiddlers' Bid) on fiddle, Mark Laurenson (former Scottish Young Traditional Musician of the Year finalist) on fiddle, Ewen Thomson (guitar) and Patrick Ross Smith (bodhran). The band provided the audience with a set of authentic traditional Shetland fiddle music, not to mention trowie stories and laughs into the bargain.

Completing the line up was the James Leask Dance Band (James Leask - Acccordion, Linda Irvine - fiddle, Alan Nicolson - piano and John Leask - drums) who, along with compere Gordon 'Hank' Smith, provided the audience with a short historical overview of the development of dance music in the islands from the 1920's to the present day, not to mention full on taste of what they could expect in the halls later on that evening for the Up-Helly-Aa celebrations themselves.

The concerts also received a visit from the Junior Jarl Squad let by Jarl Alistair Scott, son of Shetland MSP Tavish Scott.

All in all another successful year for Shetland Arts 'Fiery Sessions' which seems to be going from strength to strength and with a two venue option available this year, this ensured that no one was left out in the cold so to speak.