Healing music
Managed to go to work yesterday, and am feeling better today, thanks in no small part to my lovely love, and to a great folk gig we attended in Bury on Friday night.
Well, I say, great. The first half was less than promising, but at least it was short. Sorry, that’s mean, but since I’m not typing names I suppose I can say what I like. The band were inoffensive, but so very flat. I just think that the first thing a person needs for a performance - especially a folk perfomance - to work, is charisma, even before talent. I’ve been singing for enough years to know that when I’m performing, engaging the audience is half the battle, be it oratorio, lieder, folk, or opera. Once you’ve made friends with your audience, the rest is easy.
The second half of the gig was magical.
The refreshing Julie Fowlis is the winner of many folk music awards. She was brought up in the Hebrides, and performs traditional Scottish songs in Gaelic. Some are upbeat, especially the mouth-music in which she is a specialist, and some are hauntingly soft and sad. There are really no words to describe the charm and beauty of her performances, not just her voice, but her natural gift for storytelling, her personality, and the life she breathes into her songs.
Julie was very well supported, with Duncan Chisholm especially wonderful on fiddle. The reason why the act was so heartwarming and the music so good, was not just because these are four highly skilled musicians. I think that the respect and warmth they feel towards each other comes across so strongly that the audience too are embraced in this. If you get the chance to see Julie Fowlis, I urge you to go! Check out tour dates here.
In the meantime, my lovelier half has almost got over his cough, but I think I have caught it from him, which is very bad indeed. My voice has dropped the obligatory two octaves it always does when I have a week of singing engagements ahead - services on Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday (as the soprano part of a quartet) and a wedding on good Friday. I think it’s going to be "She moved through the fair" as sung by Tom Waits.
However, we have booked our flights to Budapest and are getting very excited about our holiday. For two days, my boyfriend will be in a translators’ conference, and I will be in a café somewhere revising for my 2nd year exams and trying to order wheat-free cake. And for the rest of the week, we’ll be doing what we do best, wandering about going "wow!", drinking lots of beer, gorging on culture, hearing great music, and taking photos of varying quality. More about our plans later, but for now, if you feel the need to tell me about places in Budapest not to be missed, feel free to leave a comment!
Yours, and feeling heaps better,
Despy x
