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Festival season has well and truly begun, and I have recently been performing in opposite ends of Scotland at Moniaive and Orkney Folk Festivals.
I love the community feel at folk festivals, and I couldn’t have felt more at home in Moniaive. (Mainly as it’s only half an hour from where my parents live!) Roddy and Sarah were my lovely hosts, so I was able to stay in the village from Friday straight through to Sunday. In it’s 14th year, Moniaive Folk Festival is a much loved festival by both locals and visitors. In the running for Scotland’s Creative Place Award this year, it is the perfect hub for a festival, with live music being played in every nook and cranny – including the newsagents! The main events are held in the large marquee at the back of the Craigdarroch Hotel, with other performances and workshops held in various other venues in the village, all within a 5 minute walk of each other. One of my favourite areas was the Old Coach House; a semi-outdoor stage next to the Craigdarroch, which played host to many established and amateur performers over the weekend. It was also the setting for ‘Paddy Callaghan’s Trad Disco’ on the Saturday night! I sang a few songs at the opening ceilidh on the Friday night, performed ‘Mother Glasgow’ with the Paddy Callaghan Trio at the main concert on Saturday night, with my main performance being the Sunday afternoon song concert with Brian Millar. I also led a traditional song workshop for around twenty keen singers, which was a lot of fun. Alongside Paddy and his trio, the headliners on the Saturday this year were Chris Wood and The Shee, who went down a storm. From start to finish I had a wonderful time at Moniaive, and it certainly proved why the village deserves to win the Creative Place Award for 2015!
Two weeks later I boarded the tiny plane bound for Kirkwall, for my first ever Orkney Folk Festival. I had only visited Orkney once before when I was 5 years old, and I had a feeling that this was going to be a very different kind of trip! I was staying with my school friend Suzi in Kirkwall, but we spent most of our time in Stromness, which seemed to host the bulk of the festival. On Friday night I performed the opening spot for Saltfishforty and Seth Lakeman at the town hall – what a gig! It was great meeting Douglas and Brain, firm local favourites, and it was lovely chatting to Seth also, who explained he was bravely travelling with his wife and young twins in a campervan!
I wasn’t performing on the Saturday, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing with Suzi. After finally getting to bed at 5.30am Saturday morning following a lively night at the Stromness Hotel, we didn’t get off to the best start! I managed to see quite a bit of the island however, including Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, and we squeezed in a visit to Birsay Bay Tearoom for tea and cake with a view. We attended the concert at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall that evening to see local bands Gnoss and Fara coupled with Seth Lakeman and Sharon Shannon. It was a phenomenal line up, which finished with a standing ovation for the wonderful Sharon Shannon, who performed with her incredible accompanist Alan Connor. After the concert we headed for the Royal Hotel in Stromness for the Song Club. We managed to catch the end of The Lowland Linties’ set, which was followed by a singaround led by Scott Gardiner. After that we hot-footed it back to the Stromness Hotel to continue the festival fun into the wee hours. We just managed to get to bed before daylight!
The following day I performed at the Sunday Song Club, but was unable to listen to the other singers as I had a plane to catch back to Glasgow. I was disappointed to be cutting the final day short, but I was teaching in Dumfries on the Monday morning, so unfortunately it wasn’t an option to extend my stay.
I am so glad I finally made it to this fantastic festival! I was made to feel welcome right from the beginning, and I feel I have made some new folky friends. I am confident I won’t be leaving it another twenty years to visit this beautiful island!
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Photo by ABCassidy Photography
Claire Hastings
http://www.clairehastings.com
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