Alan Bisset & co. at the Torvhaug
by Unknown - 12:33 on 14 May 2013
Kirkwall’s Torvhaug Inn has seen many sights in its time, however, Friday, May 11, 2013 might have been the first occasion that a poet, playwright and author played the part of a spider on and around a stool in the upstairs bar.
Alan Bissett was the star turn in an evening of music, song, poetry, prose and politics organised by Yes Orkney in collaboration with National Collective. The visiting artist had the audience spellbound with his performance of an excerpt of his play The Red Hourglass, in which he plays a number of spiders being held in a St Andrews laboratory. He bounded and whirled around the floor as he spun the story, before rounding off his slot with a rousing rendition of Vote Britain, the poem which he describes as his contribution to debate on Scottish independence.
Earlier in the evening local singer songwriter Bruce Mainland opened his set with Burns’s Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation, and also sang of the Highland Clearances.
A slightly frightening insight into what ‘No’ might look like came from Fiona MacInnes, before Emma Grieve entertained us to some of her own poetry, mainly focussed on the sense of place she feels from having her family home in Harray, where both sides of her family can trace a line back through generations.
Being told James Watson would be playing some fiddle tunes did little to prepare us for what followed in his set. The Torvhaug audience was mesmerised as, using a loop pedal, he built up layer after five-second layer – on fiddle (percussively as well as on the strings) and guitar – of rhythm to construct his pieces. He paid respects to the talents of the writers of two of the tunes in his set – Douglas Montgomery for Mutton Bannocks and Louise Bichan for Rhena’s 80th – but it is clear that Orkney has another bright young musician in James Watson. As MC for the evening Phemie Matheson said: “I’ve never seen a fiddle do that before!”
From constructing music to deconstructing politics – John Aberdein rounded off the first half with a bit of ‘dry politics’ (Seona Dunsmuir’s words, not mine). However, this turned out to be a very powerful and persuasive argument against the ‘chocolate box politics’ that we have at the moment, and in favour of a vote for change.
Seona herself preceded Alan Bissett to round off a highly entertaining evening, captivating the room with tales of coming home and what home means to her.
This was a fine night of entertainment for the first ever Yes Orkney social gathering, and with a bit of luck it will be by no means the last.
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