Folking Great
Posted Mon, May 19th 2008, 10:27A surefire way to discover the best festivals is to ask the musicians who play them. Musicians love coming to Orkney, whether it's for the islands themselves, with their remote, Norse-influenced otherness, stark sea-girt beauty and wealth of archaeological treasures, the wholehearted welcome they receive from a music-loving population, or the thriving local music scene that this year contributes 20 home-grown acts to the 2008 festival programme that starts this week, May 22nd-25th.
"No other festival I've been to can compare with the atmosphere in Stromness that weekend," says Bob Gibbon, who took over this year as chairman of the organising committee. "A lot of festivals take place in community centres, village halls, fields or whatever, but Orkney Festival is just in the air."
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"It's like a party that just goes on for four days," says Kris Drever, the Orkney-born singer and guitarist who is now one of the UK folk scene's fastest-rising stars, as both a solo artist and a member of Lau, and who features among this year's festival headliners.
This stylistic cross-pollination is a strong feature of Orkney's music today. Underlying the scene is a solid foundation of traditional music tuition, both in schools and through independent ventures such as the Wrigley Sisters' Centre of Music, established by native-born duo Jennifer and Hazel in 2004 after years of international touring, and now seeking to expand.
Besides Drever's homecoming appearance, a very strong line-up for Orkney 2008 includes the superb Irish-American band Solas, multi-award-winning English singer-guitarist Martin Simpson, turbocharged Balkan/jazz dance music from Moishe's Bagel and the Highland ceilidh king himself, accordionist Fergie MacDonald. There's also a first-ever folk festival appearance by the acclaimed Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.
