Everyone’s Welcome to Edinburgh: Tradfest

Traverse Theatre, 6/5/2024

Robbie Greig, fiddle, with Jenn Butterworth, guitar/vocals, Signy Jakobsdottir, percussion, Duncan Lyall, bass/synth, Hannah Rarity, vocals, Ciaran Ryan, banjo/fiddle

‘Everyone’s Welcome to Edinburgh’, with its knowing nod to a popular tune title format, was traditional musician Robbie Greig’s paean to his native city. The outcome of an open call by Tradfest for commissions, Greig’s piece was less a through-composed work and more a collage of memories, impressions, allusions and historical references, embodied in fiddle and pipe tunes and an appropriate selection of songs. The elements were thoughtfully selected and juxtaposed making for a very satisfying whole. The overall excellence of the band assembled for the occasion only added to what was a quality event.

Part of the purpose of the piece was to demonstrate that Edinburgh could more than hold its own against the vibrant traditional music scene along the M8 and to remind people that some 30 or 40 years ago Edinburgh bore the palm as a centre of innovation and energy for the music. Despite not being born at that time, Greig as a habitué of Edinburgh’s session scene rubbed shoulders with those who had been around then, and his selection of tunes reflected popular sets that have been passed from older musicians to the coming generation. Ciaran Ryan’s tune, ‘The Folkie Triangle’ was a tribute to the glue-pots of Sandy Bell’s, the Captain’s Bar, and the Royal Oak. Tenor banjo maestro Ryan incidentally was a noticeable absentee, being fog-bound at the Shetland Folk Festival. His place was taken by the gifted young accordionist Megan Macdonald who, notified only that morning, had heroically learned the whole set in a matter of hours.

Lewis Spence’s poem ‘Capernaum’, with its dark, biblical references was given a more up-tempo reading than is often heard, while the Hydean undercurrent was given further play with Adam Holmes and Boo Hewerdine’s ‘I Saw the Devil’, Ed Miller’s (the setter of ‘Capernaum’) ‘Prince of Darkness’, and Julie Matthews’ Radio Ballad ‘Comes the Hour’ on the heroin and HIV epidemic that hit parts of the city in the 80s. Hannah Rarity’s smooth tones handled all of these songs, putting across the ideas and the feelings without being tempted into an over-emotional reading.

On a brighter note, Greig, a skeely fiddler, gave himself the opportunity to shine on a brisk ‘Pottinger’s Reel’ and the affecting ‘Tune for Angus’, Toby Shippey’s tribute to the late Shooglenifty front-man and session denizen, Angus Grant, with the crisp rhythm section of Signy Jakobsdottir (drums), Duncan Lyall (double bass) and Jenn Butterworth (guitar) driving or swinging as the situation demanded.

One of the highlights of the programme was a brace of street songs from the 1830s, attributed to one Duck Meg, a worthy who roamed the Leith waterfront in those days.

The concert was rounded off with Rod Paterson’s ‘Auld Toon Shuffle’, an affectionate and witty account of the city’s ambiguities and contradictions, and a fitting summary of the evening’s themes.

Photo credit: Adam Bulley