I DICK GAUGHAN Consistently voted top British iolk singer, Dick's : home-town periorrnances
sell out, so be warned. An evening oi passion,
political commitment and superb guitar playing.
Oueens Hall, Clerk Street. Thurs 16. 8pm, £5(£3).
I SAVOUHNA STEVENSON Solo small harp. mainly original compositions, periormed with virtuosity. Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace. Mon 13 and Tue 14, Noon; Thurs 16-Sat18. 7pm. £3.50(£3). I CAULD BLAST ORCHESTRA instrumental eight-piece oi mixed classical. rock, jazz. talk and theatre players with original music. Ornette Coleman meetsJimmy Shand on hallucinogens. Acoustic Music Centre, Chambers Street. Sun 12 and Mon 13, 10.30pm. £4 (£3).
I SILEAS Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster are two oi Scotland's currenttine clutch ol clarsach players. mixing songs with harp duets, respecting tradition but deliantly oi the moment. Acoustic Music Centre, Chambers Street, Sun 12 and Mon 13, 7.30pm, £4 (£3).
I DAVE HOBB and THE FILMMAKEBS Bouzoukl-based contemporary acoustic roots/rock. original songs in
an unusual and iull band sound.
Acoustic Music Centre, 5 Chambers Street, 13. 20. 27 3 Aug andi Sept10.30pm. £4 1
(£3).
I ALCHEMY Fine lemale singer in occasional Scots guitar. keyboard, iiddle and flute band who keep a bluesy edge among the traditional ballads. Acoustic Music Centre. Chambers Street, Mon 13. 8.30pm, £3 (£2).
FESTIVAL —
music/FOtL___
Acoustic musrc centre
The Macs. as they are known to their legion of fans. still pack them in.
' Whygive upawinningformulaafter '
quarter of a century“? Traditional and Scots songs in strong three-part harmony. not too sophisticated instrumental accompaniment and
; unfailing.self-deprecatinghumouris
the essence of a professional show that takes the McCalmans round the world.
But for their latest. umpteenth album. they have given their audience something to think about. All the songs in the excellent Flames (m the Water are written by top
contemporary Scottish songwriters.
and the group is augmented by ex—member Hamish Bayne. Phil Cunningham and Charlie Soane. among others.
For their Edinburgh Festival shows. songs from the new album will be done in the Macs‘ traditional. but no less telling manner ofstrong
Winds of change
From the streets at Soweto come this vibrant, energetic group oi gospel singers. But cast aside any prejudice about church choirs: this nine-strong vocal ensemble is a youthiul mix of culture and race, using popular township rhythms and styles to carry their message, as much for political and social justice in this world as tor spiritual reward in the next. The South Airican Council oi Churches are supporting their tour and they play St John's World Music Centre at the West End at Princes Street.
The wind oi change that has swept through iolk, jazz, and now rock and popular music during the 80s has been the iniluence of ethnic sounds from around the world, to the extent that exotic localised styles can become very popular here in Scotland through recordings and tours by, tor instance, Malian bluesman Ali Farka Toure, Bulgarian choral groups or Inca bands irom the Andean altiplano.
Emerging all over the world is a stream at music which absorbs or borrows ioreign lolk iniluences and merges them with the national or cultural idiom and the universal language of electric guitar, bass and drums. This contemporary but traditionally based music is
n‘
three-part harmony.
The Acoustic Music Centre. the Macs‘ venue. is essentially the hub of the folk music scene at the Festival. Hundreds ofconcerts. ceilidhs. exhibitions and events are scheduled over the three weeks. It could never be called exclusively folk. whatever that means. being home to jazz. cabaret and even children‘s theatre. Food is always available. the bars are open till very late. and it serves as a continuous nightly session by a cross section of Edinburgh‘s fine players. Festival artists and casual visitors.
Rod Paterson is one of the finest. that is to say sensitive and intelligent. singers to have emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the last 30
Airican band Winds of Change international in its appeal, and the term ‘World Music’ has been coined to put a handle on what is an extremely wide range of musical experience.
Edinburgh’s Heart Beat World Music organisation presents groups with a heady tang oi cross-culturalism in the St John’s venue through the whole Festival.
Next week Heart Beat presents Cock and Bull, a subtle Franglais roots bagpipe, sax and keyboards trio who pillage all oi Europe iortheirtunes. It's not often realised how widespread an instrument the bagpipe was, and still is. The association with the Celtic lringes is only halt the story. Varieties of mouth and bellows-blown pipes are still commonly played all over Europe,
48'l'he List 10— 16 August 199i)
x \‘v I \ I
’ _ . Scots iolk trio THE McCALMANS years. He also has a superb voice. and a determination not to be pigeonholed. llis treatmentsof traditional ballads or the great Burns songs are beautiful and moving but he will then turn round with a jazzy lyric from the pen of Rogers and Hart or Cole Porter. or some of his own fine vocal and guitar compositions. Away from 'l‘he liasy ('lub. and before he starts rehearsals for Bill Bryden‘s The Ship in (iovan. Rod plays solo in the AM(‘. I The McCalmans Acoustic Music Centre. (‘hambers Streetfil‘ue 1-1. 10.30pm. £3.50; Wed 15 and 'l‘hurs 1(1.7.3ilpm.£~l. I Hod Paterson Venue as above. 'l'hurs 16. 10.30pm. £4. and one oi the greatest nations tor pipes is France.
England too can claim distinct species of bagpipes. at least retrospectively. From pa" ‘ings, drawings and written descriptions some zealous craftspersons. including Edinburgh’s Julian Goodacre, have reinstated various extinct instruments, including the Leicestershire small pipe and the Great English Bagpipe. The repertoire at these French and English pipes, and an absorbing selection of the instruments themselves are all displayed under the lingers oi Cock and Bull's line piperJohn Pierre Haste.
As Eastern Europe opens up, the richness at its iolk culture will become more apparent as the groups travel to the large audience in the West. St John'sthis week welcomes Carpathian Crown irom Humania. Formed around some oi the star periormers in the State Folk Ballet, they play the typical instruments oithe area, including the pan pipes. a la George Zamphir, the tympanon—a grand hammered dulcimer-and various ilutes and shawms. Songs mingle with complex dances and the whole group perform in brightly coloured costume, the men decked out in what looks remarkably like the uniform oi a Cotswold Morris side.
Winds 0i Change, World Music at St
Johns, West End at Princes Street,
13—18 Aug, 3.30pm, £4; 20-25 Aug.
6.30pm, £4.
Cock and Bull,13—17Aug, 1pm. £4.
Carpathian Crown, 13—18 Aug.
6.30pm. £4; 20—25 Aug, 3.30pm, £4. #J