Celtic Connections

Went through to Celtic connections on Saturday.  We saw the 10th anniversary concert of Le Vent du Nord.  Great band.  Its the first time I have seen them.  They had invited a few guests including Breabach, Vasen and Dervish.  The fiddler, Olivier Demers in Le Vent du Nord is quite amazing.  

---

Fiddle singing is difficult to do.  But Olivier Demers, the fiddler was not only fiddling and singing, but also doing the whole rythmn section - with has feet!  

So he was tapping, fiddling and singing - all at the same time.  What good coordination has he????  Unbelievable.  It looked VERY hard work. 

This performance was a once in lifetime complete with birthday cake and birthday song sung by the audience. 

I wasn't the only one to think this was great. 

---

The Scotsman said  "Things were threatening to become quite tearful, in a totally joyful way, by the end of this unforgettable show. A marvellous mutual love-in was hosted by Québécois quartet Le Vent du Nord – in whose decade-long coming of age Celtic Connections has played a significant springboard role – with three other top acts from Sweden, Ireland and Scotland, and a near-sellout Saturday night crowd. 

Nothing was ever going to go far wrong, what with both the birthday and the mouth-watering line-up – completed by not one, but two string quartets, comprising the likes of Greg Lawson, Christine Hanson and Fiona Cuthill – but all concerned rose resoundingly to the occasion by evident dint of diligent preparation and rehearsal, which shone through in silky-smooth, sumptuously swinging ensemble interplay, delivering two hours of virtually non-stop musical highlights.In amongst a veritable feast of instrumental colours and textures, the rich and rare alignment of Väsen’s Olov Johansson, on nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle) and Mikael Marin on five-string viola, with Le Vent du Nord’s Nicolas Boulerice on hurdy-gurdy (ancient French keyed fiddle) was particularly revelatory – but no less so, once again, were the Canadians’ immaculately radiant, red-blooded four-part vocals, a sound as lusciously suave as it is resonantly earthy.

The set-list roamed seamlessly between material from each band’s repertoire, spanning and transcending traditions – not least in Boulerice’s breathtaking hurdy-gurdy solo, itself a mesh of the medieval with the futuristic – while vibrantly affirming each one’s uniqueness. An early contender for this year’s top Celtic Connections gig."

Nicolas Boulerice, one of the group played the hurry-gurdy.  This seems to be making a come back as I have heard of a few folk players but its the first time I've seen t being played on stage.  


Its an amazing sound.  

---

I bought a couple of albumns.  Le Vent du Nord's, Le Part du Feu  -which is great. I recommend it. 


I also bought Rule of Three's Pleasure Coin, which has a couple of the tunes I learned at the Sage last week