Out on the streets of Bristol there is a real sense of excitement and fun this weekend. Everywhere you look smiles spread across faces as illuminated birds flutter overhead, or coloured blinds dance in an office block. The Bristol Light festival is spreading joy. Much the same can be said of Scottish folk fellas Breabach at The Folk House. They bring absolute joy from the moment they step on to the stage.
Fifteen years into an award-studded career and Breabach are relishing being back on the road. Like most touring musicians they must have missed a full Folk House whooping and hollering on a Sunday night. Missed a stamping, grinning crowd. Missed bring this much joy.
This is contemporary folk with not a single quarter given. Mainly set after set of wildly danceable instrumental tunes; guitar, fiddle, double bass and pipes meshing seamlessly. Each tune builds, builds, builds and, just like the very best dancefloor destroying bangers, you wait for the drop. Then it hits. Those smiles again. More whooping. More hollers. All of that joy.
There are five musicians on stage, each an absolute virtuoso. James Lindsay’s double bass throbs gently behind each tune, Ewan Robertson adds subtle guitar and Megan Henderson plays a transcendental fiddle, sings with the most elegiac, timeless voice and step dances at a dizzying pace – how she keeps up is anyone’s guess. It’s Calum MacCrimmon and Conal McDonagh that come very close to stealing the show though. Tackling an array of whistles and pipes (including twin attack bagpipes!) they simply add a manic energy.
In an evening of standout tunes perhaps Muriwai is the winner. Inspired by a trip to New Zealand and with Haka dances firmly in mind, the instruments simply chase each other around, excited as puppies, joyous as lights, giddy as a kid out after bedtime.
Just in case Bristol needed anything else to celebrate this weekend, Breabach lit the place up.
Gavin McNamara
(A version of this review was published on the Bristol 24/7 website)
TallFolk 