Music Review: The Woods by Hamish Napier

Music is always a solace in difficult times like these. Much music is inspired by the outdoors and that's the case with a new album I've been listening to over the last few days, The Woods, by local musician and composer Hamish Napier. Commissioned by Cairngorms Connect The Woods is inspired by the Caledonian Forest.

There is a tune for each of the eighteen letters of the Gaelic alphabet, traditionally taught as the old names of native trees, plus ones for various forest fauna and flora. The music, which Hamish Napier says is 'rooted in traditional Scottish folk dance tunes forms', is rich and complex, a weaving together of many elements, just like a forest. It's repaying many listens.

A booklet accompanies the CD with a page on each tree packed with information plus lovely artwork by Somhairle MacDonald and photos by David Russell.

This is a tremendous piece of work and highly recommended. It can be bought from Hamish Napier's website. 

Cultural Interlude: Richard Thompson, Vikings & Cloud Atlas

 Straight after my days in the hills with Terry Abraham working on the Cairngorms in Winter film I took the train to Edinburgh for a quick visit during which I attended a concert, an exhibition and a film in less than 24 hours, an urban cultural interlude.

The concert was by Richard Thompson, arguably Britain’s greatest living songwriter and guitarist. He played with a band, unlike last summer when I also saw him in Edinburgh, and the emphasis was on electric guitar, to go along with his new album Electric, from which he played half a dozen songs. He also went through a selection from his now vast back catalogue and threw in a superb version of Hendrix’s Hey Joe as a nod to sixties power trios. The songs, with Thompson’s witty, thought-provoking and sometimes downright disturbing lyrics, were all excellent but it was the musicianship that stood out with Thompson playing some astounding guitar and the drummer and base player adding flair and skill of their own. There are still some UK dates left – I really recommend going if you can.

The exhibition was Vikings at the National Museum of Scotland, which features over 500 objects from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. This well-laid out and designed exhibition tells the story of the Vikings and their explorations and shows that they were far more than just raiders and fighters (though they were definitely these). I found the exhibition fascinating, with the displays really bringing the artefacts to life. Some particularly stood-out. One was a tiny Buddha from Northern India, excavated from a Viking site in Sweden. This really spoke of the connectedness of that world of over a thousand years ago and the trade that linked Scandinavia and India. On the outdoors side I was intrigued by the little spikes the Vikings used to get grip on ice and hard snow. Micro spikes are not new! There was no mention of skiing though, which was used for travel over snow in Viking times.

The film was Cloud Atlas, based on the novel by David Mitchell, which I had read and enjoyed last year. The film has had mixed reviews. I think it is superb. However as it consists of six stories set in six different periods, two of them in the future, and the actors play several roles each, appearing in each story in a different guise, it does require some concentration. The novel has different literary styles for each story. Reflecting this, the film has different cinematic styles for the stories and jumps rapidly from seafaring sagas through slapstick comedy to dystopian sci-fi. I picked up many film references and probably missed many more. One of those I did get was Bladerunner and like that film I think that Cloud Atlas will take time to be a success but will eventually become a highly-respected cult film. It’s beautifully filmed and acted –  I reckon the actors must have really enjoyed playing so many different parts in one film – and a real visual delight (there is some good outdoors footage too, shot on Majorca). I’m looking forward to seeing it again. I’ll reread the book soon too.

Once Upon A Time In The Distant Past .......

Myself, David & Bob (plus unidentified backside) at the Bickershaw Festival, May 1972. Photo: Pete Crick.

Yesterday the magic of the internet brought a wonderful email from a friend from college days I'd had no contact with for nearly 40 years. David Folkes had been reading and enjoying my book Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams. Noticing that I mentioned the music of The Grateful Dead, which was playing at the Bonaparte Lake Resort, he dug out a few old pictures from the Bickershaw Festival, which I went to mainly to see the Dead. I had forgotten such pictures were ever taken. I remember that the weather was wet and windy - a bit of research found some stuff on the web about it (is there anything that isn't online somewhere?) that says it was "definitely one of the wettest rock festivals of all time". I really enjoyed it though, especially the Grateful Dead.

I have of course been playing some Grateful Dead to go along with the photo and the memories, especially those tracks on the Europe '72 album that were recorded at Bickershaw - the version of Dark Star from the festival is playing as I write this. I'm also currently downloading the free tracks from 30 Days of Dead - the third year running the band has given away tracks each day of November.

By the way, I hope no-one is going to ask me what the tent is in the photo. I haven't a clue!

Edinburgh Festivals: Music

The cast of This Land giving an encore on the steps of the venue.

At my almost annual urban interlude at the Edinburgh Festivals ('almost' because other activities, such as the Pacific Northwest Trail, do sometimes intrude) I've been to several musical shows, my attendance at one of which surprised even me. All of them are worth seeing though only one is still on in Edinburgh. My review starts with this.

This Land: The Story of Woody Guthrie

Described as a musical rollercoaster this is an exuberant, enjoyable and inspirational celebration of the life of Woody Guthrie, undoubtedly one of the most significant figures in American popular music of the last century, from Interplay of Leeds. The versatile cast play a variety of characters and swap instruments regularly. All seven male cast play Woody at different stages of his life with the lone woman member playing everyone from his mother to both his wives to a BBC presenter. Using a basic but effective set the cast conjure up freight trains, hobo life, houses and hospitals. The music is great of course and much of it familiar -  I knew most of the songs despite not owning any Woody Guthrie music (a defect I have now remedied). The singing and playing are both excellent and really capture the feeling of a time when folk music really was popular music of the masses. Whilst mostly energetic and upbeat there are poignant moments - deaths, divorce, illness - but Guthrie is always shown as being strong and positive right up to the time when near his death after years in hospital he is shown handing on the spirit of his music, not this time to the next stage in his own life but to a successor - Bob Dylan.


The Makropulos Case

I am not an opera lover. In fact it's fair to say that I've spent most of my life with a strong dislike of opera. So  my ever attending a full opera seemed unlikely. However a friend in Opera North was playing violin in a production of Janacek's The Makropolos Case at the Edinburgh International Festival so I surprised my partner, who does like opera, by saying I would go along, even though an opera about a legal case didn't  sound too promising. What I found was that actually going to an opera both confirmed and confounded my prejudices. The music was dramatic and thrilling with great dynamics. It surged and rolled and faded and really powered the production along. The singing was, well, okay. I didn't dislike it but it's not a style of singing I warm to - it sounds rather emotionless to my ear. The acting and melodrama conveyed the feelings well however. The sets were surprisingly interesting, given they consist of a lawyers office and a hotel. The story, which I didn't know, was strong enough to hold my interest. I appreciated having the words displayed as I couldn't always follow the singing and anyway sometimes I concentrated more on the music and let the words run as background. The audience and my companions were all enthusiastic so for those who like and understand opera it's obviously good. I guess I was pleasantly surprised but not so much that I'll be dashing off to more opera anytime soon.

Richard Thompson

If there was one performance I'd have been very surprised and disappointed if I hadn't found enthralling it was this solo show by one of Britain's greatest songwriters and guitarists of the last forty plus years. Somehow I'd managed not to see Richard Thompson since the early 1970s, on his farewell tour with Fairport Convention, so I was very pleased to finally manage to attend a concert and even more pleased that it was even better than I expected. Over the years Thompson's voice has grown in depth, range and emotional intensity and he is now a very good singer indeed, which was shown especially on the slower, sadder songs. As to his guitar playing, well, it's always been good but on this occasion it was really stunning, especially when he let rip on the uptempo numbers. At times I could swear I could hear bass, rhythm and lead at the same time, all from one acoustic guitar. The songs were a mix of old favourites from his now vast back catalogue and four good-sounding new ones from an album coming out next year. It was a good range of songs too - everything from the pathos of Beeswing through the rock'n roll of Valerie to the humour of Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands. A brilliant hour and half's music.