Woodend Barn

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Trembling Bells

The warming set up of Woodend Barn was gratefully welcomed by the audience coming in from the cool December night. The band got a good turn out and it was clear the audience were excited about tonight’s performance. First up was support act Lizzabett Russo. The young Transylvania born singer/songwriter came on stage with her acoustic guitar and looked slightly nervous when she began with her first song ‘Tonight’. However, she soon holds the audience in the palm of her hand due to her gorgeous and powerful voice. For the second song, she was joined by another guitarist who stayed for the duration of her set. The playful tune ‘Love me no matter what’ contained an unexpected twist: Lizzabett filled instrumentals with a kazoo playing the melody along with a shaker to give a percussive element. The rest of the set included a cover of the jazz number ‘Take Five’ and songs she wrote at a lonely time in her life when living in London.  The audience were captivated throughout the entire performance and were thoroughly impressed by the young musician’s gorgeous voice and song writing talents.

The Trembling Bells are a diverse band who tries to mix many genres in their music including folk, country, classic rock and psychedelia. They were met with a cheer from all (particularly some old fans who had travelled from further than most) as they came on stage. They began their set with an a cappella song performed by Lavinia Blackwall (vocals, guitar and organ) and Alex Neilson (drums and vocals). Lavinia’s haunting, high vocals resounded around the room. The rest of the band then entered to join them, Mike Hastings on guitar and vocals and Simon Shaw on bass and vocals. Their first full song as a band included some Jazzy sounding riffs and Lavinia creating some hypnotising sounds from both her organ and the delay effect on her microphone when the psychedelic passage came in at the end. The bands genre diversity was showed when the band played a slow major piece with Lavinia on guitar and then a more folk sounding piece, the audience swayed to the melodic catchy choruses. During one song in particular, we got to see guitarist Mike use a vast amount of techniques on his instrument, showing his talents and the amount of different sounds you can get from a guitar. The final song was mainly of psychedelic influence, almost making the Trembling Bells like a completely different band than the melodic folk songs played earlier in their set. The bands diversity was incredible however, their true talents were greater highlighted in the folk and country songs.

Written by Josephine Christie

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Duncan Chisholm

Duncan Chrisholm is one of the most accomplished violinists in Scotland today, so there was no doubt the Barn was packed on Friday December 6. The Inverness born musician was nominated for ‘Musician of the Year’ in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards this year due to his beautiful composing and playing. The performance began with songs from Duncan’s album, accompanied by musicians on acoustic guitar and piano. The slow air highlighted Duncan’s fantastic playing as the violin sounded the most beautiful, warming tone you have ever heard. The gorgeous melody played on the violin was complimented by chords from the piano and guitar. The second piece was decorated with harmonies and counter melodies from the guitar, perfectly suiting the sound of the violin. The lullaby like style made you feel totally relaxed and at ease. Before the break, the band played a set of reels, one of which was called ‘Running the Cross’. Duncan told the audience he was asked to write a song for the charity duathlon ‘Highland Cross’ which he ended up taking part in. The reels were fast paced, rhythmic and just made you want to get up and dance like you were at a ceilidh.

After the break, Duncan shows us his production ‘Kin’ which was made in 2007. He told us that his inspiration for the project came from a video of his grandmother speaking of what life was like in the Scottish Highlands. He spent four months in the highlands filming these places and writing music to accompany it. Duncan expresses that he is “very proud of it” however; the audience in Woodend Barn were the last to see it performed as it was his final time. The first shot was of a small cottage with a red roof, which was his grandmother’s house, the band played along with a slow and sad sounding tune. We then heard an excerpt from the video of his Grandmother, which highlighted her love for the Glens. The film continued with beautiful shots of scenery and pictures of Duncan’s grandmother and people who were living in the highlands at that time. We continued to get even more of a feel for what life was like in the highlands when we heard accounts from others about grandmothers and grandfathers who lived in the highlands and have stories to tell. One particular scene which stood out was the beautiful sunset over the sea. As the waves crashed in on the beach, the soft and gentle music created a real feel of warmness. The ending of the film showed Duncan playing the violin in front of his Grandmother’s cottage. When the band joined in to accompany the melody, a rich and full sound filled the Barn, making the impression that were many instruments playing. Overall, the entire performance was a delight, the music played was rich, pure and the beautiful sound from Duncan’s violin completely put your mind at ease.

Written by Josephine Christie 

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Son al Son

WHO KNEW that Tarland's MacRobert Hall could be turned into a Caribbean paradise for the night? The Cuban melodies which filled the hall contrast immensely from the cold, frosty Scottish winter night. Eleven tables filled the edges of the hall, leaving a space one could only assume was for dancing. The atmosphere was immediately mood lifting and welcoming. Candles on every table gave a warming feel from the freezing winter temperatures. Everyone sitting at the tables were relaxed, talking with their party and having drinks from the bar, clearly excited for what the evening will bring.

Son al Son are a salsa band which mix Son (a style of music made popular in 1920’s Havana) and Salsa in their songs. The salsa six-piece is made up of Cuban, Venezuelan and Scottish musicians all embracing the Cuban style.

However, in order to get a real feel for the music, first up was a salsa dance taster led by Eliecer Reyes, a Venezuelan dance teacher based in the midlands. His energetic personality immediately got everyone on their feet, starting with a follow-the-leader warm up. The teaching of the specific steps came next, including the sol, salsa, mambo, cha cha. The class wasn’t serious, and every group had a giggle or two amongst themselves when they did the step incorrectly. The partners exercise gave everyone a chance to dance with the others and try out the steps just learnt. What the dancing really made you realise was the importance of rhythm in Latin music. The Cuban culture clearly came across as being very social, fun and active, making sure everyone has a great time. And it certainly was active – a couple of glasses of ice cold water were much appreciated afterwards.

The stage was already set up for the musicians who introduced themselves to the now warmed up audience. Ricardo Fernandes Pompa (congas) and Lino Rocha (hand percussion) provided the main vocals, with added harmonies from pianist Simon Gall. Breaks in vocals were decorated with superb melodies from trumpet player Lorne Cowieson, with the constant feel of bassist Bob Thomson. The clear percussive instruments forced you to feel the rhythm making it almost impossible to not at least tap your foot, if not get up and dance. What added immensely to the entertainment of the band, were the couples dancing throughout their performance. Who knew Deeside had so many talented salsa dancers? The rhythmic patterns were highlighted further due to the vibrating floor from the dancer’s steps. There was not one face in the room without a smile and, if you closed your eyes, you were transported to Cuba in the heat with cocktails and good times. All in all, it was a night to remember and I would love to do it again.

Written by Josephine Christie

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Torsten Lauschmann

Upon entering the Barn, I was welcomed by the sound of the musicians tuning their instruments. In the centre was the group of instruments which included a contrabass recorder, melodica, cello and saxophone. The unexpected set up included the audience surrounding the group which automatically produced a feeling of involvement with the performance and also created a very social atmosphere. What seemed to catch most people’s attention was the very dated looking vacuum cleaner beside the instruments. First up was Lauschmann and Hammond’s ten minutes film ‘Matter in the Wrong Place’, “It is based around the idea of chaos and chance as productive strategies” revealed artist Charlie Hammond. He later went on to explain that the creation of it came about through “quick decisions” and “two people playing with materials”. The production included effective use of lighting on the silver foil backdrop which had very hypnotising qualities.

Nine musicians from the Red Note Ensemble then entered to begin the performance of ‘Inconsistent Whisper’, taking their positions, each facing a different direction. Robert Irvine (Cello) said this was to simply “add to the randomization”. The performance was led by Lauschmann who was controlling which coloured spotlight shone on which musician at the given time. Irvine explained the lighting commands to the musicians “The blue spotlight meant you are to play an excerpt from a Mozart piece... The red means to copy the dominant sound... And the green is to sustain a sound”. The musician’s talents were greatly highlighted through their improvisation skill and ability to produce music on the spot. The lighting structures stretch the ability of each instrument by urging the musicians to use different playing techniques and at some points even turn each instrument percussive. What worked so well with the structure and group of instruments was that although the texture was mostly polyphonic, each instrument could easily be singled out and heard clearly. The end of the performance was tied up by a reversal of roles: the musicians played in the darkness then abruptly stopped when the spotlights turned on. It was a truly mesmerising performance which was both a visual and aural experience. 

Written by Josephine Christie

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TORSTEN LAUSCHMANN and CHARLIE HAMMOND: Matter in the wrong place, TORSTEN LAUSCHMANN and RED NOTE ENSEMBLE: Inconsistent Whisper

You will be familiar with the expression “weird and wonderful” possibly without giving much thought to what it actually means. This is the best description I can come up with for what I have just experienced at Woodend Barn tonight. The event was in two parts, both of them definitely weird – yes - but wonderful too!

The first part, the fruit of a week’s collaboration between visual artists Torsten Lauschmann and Charlie Hammond both Glasgow based visual artists was entitled Matter in the wrong place an exploration of dirt “as material and system”. That is what the programme note said – but what did we actually experience? It was a film and yet not just a film, there was something of son et lumière about it too. I know that art form usually takes place out of doors at a famous location and tells the history of the place. This was inside and gave a completely new slant on the creation often with a spicing of humour, but visually it did have that son et lumière grand scale fantasy about it. The film content was projected onto a huge screen made of crinkled aluminium foil and included silhouettes, dramatic patches of colour and much more too. A vacuum cleaner with a light attachment played a teasing role in the visual sense and added to the soundtrack as well. It was imaginative, disconcerting and great fun too.

The second part of the experience brought together Torsten Lauschmann with musicians from the Red Note Ensemble along with local performers. Inconsistent Whisper used nine performers playing an unlikely combination of instruments and at one point a bit of singing as well. There were two guitars, a harmonium, two recorders, one of these a contrabass, a cello, a saxophone, percussion and to my delight a melodica which somehow brought back a flavour of Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera music. Percussionist Tom Hunter set things moving and patches of different coloured lights, blue, green, red and amber triggered the playing of the other instruments, whether singly or in different groups. Improvisations were set off by one player and then taken up sometimes literally or else as a nicely fitting accompaniment by others. Obviously there were powerful elements of chance at work here. What lights would trigger which players and how would they respond to what the others were doing? What was truly amazing was how well the whole musical experience hung together. Perhaps if our world and indeed we ourselves are a product of chance, this performance displayed how things can come amazingly well together to produce something that does not seem to be the result of chance at all. That anyway is what the performance conveyed to me.

There were no seats in the auditorium for the audience although those who wanted one could easily get it. I just sat on the floor and I enjoyed the experience of that too – it reminded me of student days in the now very remote past. On my way home I thought that this is exactly the kind of experience SOUND should be offering to us – something unlike anything I have experienced before.

     Written by Alan Cooper