Posted by Mike Hough 25 October 2011
This October, EFDSS hosted a one-off evening featuring Sam Sweeney playing his first solo gig in 10 years, followed by Rua Macmillan, the 2009 winner of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year. In the intimate venue of the lower hall of Cecil Sharp House, the audience were treated to several hours of instrumental magic from two of the outstanding young fiddle players of recent years.
Sam’s entertaining 45 minute solo set was interspersed with stories of his visit to Norway where he learned the Hardanger fiddle (several Hardanger compositions were played) and his meeting with Dave Swarbrick for the Bright Young Folk ’In the Footsteps’ series. A little later, it was revealed that Sam was in fact playing the fiddle Swarbrick had used for his recordings over several years.
Accompanying himself with some energetic toe tapping, Sam provided fine entertainment with old favourites such as ’Swaggering Boney’, a couple of hornpipes, the morris slow ’Leapfrog’ and a Norwegian inspired Halling dance.
A short break was followed by a set from Rua Macmillan, accompanied by Tom Oates on guitar and Bodhran player Adam Brown. Rua’s style is fast and furious and the audience were quickly clapping along and stamping their feet to a series of lively jigs and reels. The material was largely drawn from the west coast of Scotland, including ’Barney from Killarney’, ’St Catherine’ and ’Battered Hake Polka’. A well-judged change of pace came from a sensitive version of the Gaelic ballad ’Men of Ulster’ drawing an enthusiastic encore. A particular highlight was a spectacular Bodhran solo from Adam Brown, surely a young musician with a very bright future!
The finale was an excellent joint set from all the artists, which it was revealed included all 5 pieces of music that were known to both Rua and Sam.