On a surprise trip to Glasgow I was delighted to be able to catch some of the Cottier Chamber Project, part of the West End Festival. I was there as a guest of my brother-in-law, Lenny Sayers, one of the composers featured in the festival, and Andy Saunders, the Artistic Director. So I got a brief glimpse into the organisation of the festival, the behind-the-scenes preparations, the rehearsals, the boxes of CDs hidden behind the couch. Almost as soon as I’d arrived we were whisked off to Òran Mór, the nightclub-in-a-crypt of a former church, where the PaCoRa Trio and Salsa Celtica would be performing a night of jazz, folk and celtic fusion. The Czech trio were up first and delivered a fantastic mix of furious Eastern European folk melodies and jazz bass lines, the violinist deftly alternating between incredible dexterity and strong rhythmic thrusts on the strings with the heel of his bow. The double bassist danced, and didn’t stop smiling for the entire set. The cimbalom, part-guitar, part-piano, finished off this fabulous, energetic trio, the audience warming up gradually and slowly creeping onto the dance floor.
Any shyness had disappeared by the time Salsa Celtica came on; the dance floor was packed with couples salsa-ing and jiving. A front line of pipes, banjo and fiddle performed traditional Scottish style melodies, with a powerful salsa back line of trombone, saxophones and rhythm section, including two congo drums and Brazilian vocals. By and large the two contrasting styles worked well together, the strident celtic melodies sitting comfortably on top of the underlying salsa rhythms. What was the most captivating was the incredible energy of the music and the musicians, the hip-swaying of the violinist soon replicated throughout the room.
The next day, Cottier’s Theatre (another converted church, done very tastefully) was the setting for a family concert featuring compositions by Lenny Sayers and performed by chamber group Daniel’s Beard, named after the rather impressive facial hair of Daniel Cottier whose portrait hangs in the bar. The pieces were delightful, the text of the nonsense poems delivered engagingly by Lenny himself, from the charming story of the Quangle Wangle’s Hat, upon which hundreds of animals take residence, to the beautifully lyrical accompaniment to The Owl and the Pussycat, where the children were invited to help tell the tale by waving a blue cloth for the sea. The audience participation continued in Stomp Like a Dinosaur — we all helped sing the chorus, then hid Lenny from the Tyrannosaurus Rex as it chased him round the hall.
In the programme notes we were told that Lenny has “developed a strong relationship with Daniel’s Beard,” a statement that appeared to be literally true when he emerged for the final poem dressed in a silly hat and a very bushy beard. ‘How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear’ completed a charmingly entertaining first half.
The concert was wrapped up with Peter and the Wolf — a wonderful rendition of the piece with Glaswegian transcript, ably read by Kaye Adams. The audience was captivated by each part of the tale, from the plucky ducky of the viola to the tweeting birdie of the violin, the stomping Grandfather cello to the clarinetist’s cat, the big bad French Horn wolf and finally Peter, our hero, who is No Feart o’ the wolf. Liz Lochhead’s translation was witty and fresh, and the performance as a whole thoroughly enjoyable.
All in all, a lovely concert and a very entertaining weekend.
www.annacycles.co.uk
@eatsleepcycle
No comments:
Post a Comment