Talking Gigs presents Garefowl 15th May 2025. Drama Studio.

 

What an amazing evening the gig with Garefowl turned out to be! It all started with an idea from playing a Garefowl tune on my weekly radio programme “Global Sounds with WorldCelt” 7 months ago, and ended with an absorbing performance from Garefowl at the Drama Studio.

 

It was very well attended by an appreciative audience who were also generous in their donations to Assist raising over £125 on the night. We even had a book for sale about the Great Auk with the author,Tim Birkenhead, in attendance. Many people shared their positive comments and enthusiasm for the event after the gig. Much appreciated.

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Garefowl review - Olivia Cox

 

"An inspiring Talking Gigs evening with Garefowl. It went deep but with a real contemporary sound...wonderful"    Tony Francis Bowring (Rafiki Jazz)

 

The Garefowl concert with Talking Gigs, can only be described as fully immersive musical storytelling inspired by the history and dramatic nature of a remote Scottish Isle.  The band filled the stage with an array of instruments and technology, Alasdair introduced the event in Gaelic and Kilt and, woven into the performance was original footage of the inhabitants of St Kilda who evacuated the island in 1930 after millennia of habitation.

 

Having set the scene with movie images of the challenges of island life and a glimpse into its looming and spectacular scenery, Garefowl introduced us to their version of ‘St. Kilda’s Wedding’.  Against the drone of the harmonium we were transported to the joyful festivities of the long-gone, Hebridean inhabitants. With soaring violin and cello, the journey had begun.

 

What is the connection of the band to this island?  We heard that the last Great Auk of the UK, a now-extinct giant seabird, died at the hands of one of the band members’ ancestors in the 1840's.  We discovered that the band recently visited the island to record their next album whilst immersed in the inspiration of wild environs and historical remnants of familial history.  Their personal experiences of the trip, from the rocky sea journey, enjoying bountiful bird life and making music within wide open vistas, has woven this composition into a tapestry of sound in honour of the variety of birds that still inhabit the island.

 

Near the end of the first half, before Garefowl played us out with Òran Hiortach, local writer Carolyn Waudby read her poignant poem “Incident on St Kilda”  about the demise of the Great Auk ‘in its own voice’.

 

In the second set we then progressed into music conceived on location and infused with field recordings of island sounds.  There was a haunting quality to the performance.  Sometimes quiet and reflective and at others discordant and unsettling, the music soared, roared and repeated phrases as if evoking birds, storms, fishing boats and lost memories.  We were transported to the soundscapes of St Kilda. 

 

This was dramatic storytelling enhanced by the attention to backstory.  We could almost feel the presence of the villagers amongst us and sense the changing tides on pebbled shores.  The talented band members clearly enjoyed their performance. The music was beautiful and inspired and the presentation, with interview and multimedia, swept the audience on a Hebridean adventure.

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Garefowl are; Ewan MacDonald  -fiddle; Nathan Bontrager - viola da gamba and harmonium; Stuart Graham -  bouzouki and harmonium/harmonica: Chris Jones - concertina and mandolin; Jess Whelligan – cello, Richard O'Flynn – bodhran, percussion and sounds

 

Words - Olivia Cox; Pictures - Colin Perkins