Galician piping superstar Carlos Nunez walked onstage to close the first half of the first concert of Celtic Connections 2010 and remarked that around the world the perception is growing that “…something exciting is happening in Scotland..”. It is, and one of the most exciting things that is happening is the True North Orchestra, brainchild of Jim Sutherland, fusing for the first time classical and traditional musicians. Oh, of course there have been collaborations and crossovers before now, but nothing that has been so fully unsegregated and inclusive. And big.

The theme of the evening turned out to be exploration; exploration of sound, textures, partnerships, by both the Orchestra and its guests: Chris Stout, the quintessential Shetland fiddler, foraying exuberantly into Latin jazz territory with two Brasilian musicians from Sao Paulo and one from Basle; more Brasiliana from Nunez and his bodhranist brother Xurxo; consummately innovative, smartly besuited trio Lau augmented by Stuart Nisbet on pedal steel and backing vocalists Inge Thomson, Corrinna Hewat and Bella Hardy; Fraser Fifield’s untitled piece which cannily tapped the potential of the National Youth Pipe Band, weaving mesmerising, echoing waves and rounds into a very fine work which deserves to be added to the repertoires of both classical minimalism and piping.

It takes a brave singer to stand in front of the True North Orchestra; both Kathleen MacInnes, utterly resplendent in scarlet stockings and shoes and Grammy-nominated Maura O’Connell both passed the test. MacInnes’ husky voice could wring tears from a lump of Lewisian gneiss, while O’Connell’s has so much power that it should probably be covered by the Geneva Convention.

TNO’s composition must be unique among orchestras. If I had any doubts about hiding a galaxy of trad fiddle talents, Chris Stout and Aidan O’Rourke among them, in a string section, they were instantly assuaged by the glittering perfection of the results . At the back, the ubiquitous James Mackintosh was one of four formidable percussionists swapping drumkits, bells and vibes, the brass section included Ryan Quigley’s haunting trumpet, and the bagpipe and whistle section (how many orchestras have ever ventured into this territory?) featuring Ross Ainslie, Ali Hutton and Fraser Fifield. Sutherland’s compositions succeeded in integrating the bagpipes fully into the orchestra, at last. Usually it’s like a drunken uncle singing at a wedding; everyone freezes till it’s over, then tries to pretend it didn’t happen…here strings and pipes augmented each other. The Orchestra was conducted with care and panache by Greg Lawson, the thinking Scotswoman’s pinup more usually seen in front of the podium as fiddler with McFall’s Chamber, sundry ‘proper’ orchestras and Moishe’s Bagel.

The perennial trouble with the Opening Concert at CC is that it is a sampler of concerts to come, which often tends to mean ‘a bit of a ragbag’, and so it proved. Such a fragmented programme renders pacing impossible and to make things worse, lengthy confusions over leads caused many longeurs while singers and musicians frantically searched for words to fill the gaps. However, it is a pleasure to report that there was none of the muddied sound that marred most of the concerts in the Main Auditorium last year. The sound was generally crisp, clear and nicely separated, no mean feat considering the unique orchestral ensemble on stage.

Check out this wonderful craziness.

I met Jim Sutherland last week at a Guardian event in Edinburgh. A really interesting and modest guy with a great vision for this orchestra.

I particularly liked the ideas of the four Hurdy Gurdies that feature in his orchestra.

He brought along a Japanese Saw player (Su-a Lee) who performed ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow on the saw’. Cracking and really beautiful.

You can hear some of the music on their myspace site here. I urge you to do so because it is stunning. Beautiful. Magical.

And this is what his myspace site says about the orchestra.

La Banda Europa is an extraordinary 35 piece band of virtuoso musicians assembled from some of the finest musicians across Europe

“The Hurdy Gurdies are amazing to look at, like Elizabethan ships, with a sound somewhere between the violin and the bagpipes. The nykelharpas are similar, having a strange, other-worldly sound to them.”

In 2006, composer, Jim Sutherland was awarded the Creative Scotland Prize for artists of distinction It is one of the richest arts awards to an individual in Europe….. The Award allowed him time to develop his ideas for an orchestra that could make a unique ’sound of Europe.

“All in all we’ve got some incredible musicians, some of the very best in the world on their particular instruments.”…… …..“The Armenians play an ancient instrument called the duduk made from the wood of the apricot tree and which sounds like a woman singing alto.”

The whole thing was initially Inspired by Jim’s score for the BAFTA and Brittish Comedy Award winning film Festival when they famously flew the Drambuie Pipe band over to Seville to record Jim’s score with La Banda Tres Caidas, an Eighty piece Semana Santa band.

“Instruments like the ancient Celtic carnyx will grab the eye – it’s the only one of its kind in the world and was reconstructed from one found in bogland in Scotland. It’s a bronze war horn which was 6ft long and held vertically above the player’s head.”

Jim initially put the orchestra together to perform his score for ‘Before the Wolf’, a theatrically presented outdoor production. Niel Butler of UZ events raised the funds and facilitated the shows. These first performances were very successful and have lead to enquiries from event organisers and festivals throughout Europe.

“Bagpipes of 5 countries, Swedish nyckelharpas, , Armenian duduks, Turkish drums, trumpeters from Scotland and Serbia……..Many of the players in the Banda Europa are exciting composers in their own right.”.

We are working on a La Banda Europa Youth Orchestra at the moment and intend to base the first summer camp in Aberdeen in August 2009. This will take the form of a three week summer camp including forays into the local community with a grand performance at the end of the three weeks.
We plan to site the youth orchestra and summer camp in a different European country each year over a three to five year cycle. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to tour the Youth orchestra/summer camp in this way?
La banda Europa is committed to increasing the number of people participating in and enjoying music in Europe and are developing developing a youth music education programme. We have educators on the team from all over Europe…. within La Banda, there are two music professors, the Head of a degree course in English folk music, the Head of the Scottish piping degree course in Glasgow, three university tutors, five members who teach at secondary school level and several workshop leaders with community education experience.
We are developing a workshop program that explores and compares indigenous European instruments and musical culture. The programme will offer workshops and master-classes on individual instruments including playing techniques and history.

(have a look at this quote from one of our board members)

Citizenship

“A key challenge for the European Union is to develop a common sense of a common citizenship which is enriched by cultural difference. Music – making it, performing it, listening to it – is potentially a unique way of constructing such an inclusive yet diverse civic identity. There is much talk about education for citizenship in the new Europe. Learning citizenship by making music could have a distinctive contribution to make to this process. In this sense, citizenship is the outcome of creative activity rather than the starting point for educational practice.”  Ian Martin, Reader in Adult and Community Education, University of Edinburgh

Slainte,  Jim Sutherland

I just arrived in Edinburgh from Inverness, last night with my car on the back of a recovery vehicle in the pissing rain. I was was immediately cheered up to find that we have had 42 views of the blog on our first day online!

I’m delighted to tell you that one or two members of the band  want to contribute to this blog. So far you can expect to hear from Pascal lefuevre (France), Dick Lee (Scotland), Paco Blasco (Spain), Rory Campbell (Scotland) and Eric Rydvall(Sweden), Anne-Lise Foy (France). People will write in  their own languages as well as English.

I know that other band members will also want to contribute. Expect to see regional European recipes and wine recommendations as well as music talk.

We do have other pages around the web including a facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6754935725 and a myspace page at www.myspace.com/labandaeuropa  If you fancy linking up with these pages please do. There are lots of photos to see and music to hear.

Slainte! Jim Sutherland