Soweto Gospel Choir (page 132)

Drams 0
Musicians Clifford Hocking; David Vigo & Andrew Kay; Soweto Gospel Choir
Date 7 August 2006
Venue Queen's Hall (Venue 72)
Address ClerkStreet
Reviewer Mairi Anderson

Soweto Gospel Choir 2005 Nelson Mandela's birthday

From the opening number the Soweto Gospel Choir captivates the audience with a dazzling fusion of music, dance and colour. This wonderful award-winning show is returning to the Fringe after well deserved sell-out performances across the world during 2004 and 2005.

The cast are an eclectic mix of ages, sizes and backgrounds, but all share fantastic musical ability, rhythm and a warmth & spontaneity that reaches out to touch the audience. They clearly have a lot of fun performing and their enthusiasm is infectious.

The soloists each have phenomenal voices and personalities to match, but it is in the blending and harmonies that they excel. My favourite piece was a group of seven men singing a measured, controlled, but incredibly moving harmony. Within the control you can sense raw power and limitless vocal ability.

The music is a mix of traditional and modern Zulu, Sotho and English gospel songs. Their new programme includes the most popular favourites from previous tours and new material. Highlights for me were Wimoweh / The lion sleeps Tonight, sung partly as the original Zulu hunting song Mbube, a powerful and magical rendition of Holy City / Bayete ,and an inspiring Hosanna. I also loved Tsepa Thapalo (Trust in prayer) which is lyrical and moving.

The two drummers on traditional Djembes set the stage alight with a range of breathtaking rhythms, particularly in the opening and closing of the show and in a showcase number.

All of the cast dance with style, individuality and humour. Their take on the jive is pure entertainment and they deliver some impossibly high kicks with ease and agility. The conductor/ singer/dancer of small stature but dazzling personality inspires and energises the group and was adored by the audience.

Soweto Gospel Choir

Lighting cleverly creates just the right colourful backdrop and the limited stage space is cleverly used. Sound quality is excellent and the costumes are richly colourful and expressive.

I often feel that performers from other cultures must find it odd that wild abandon in a Scottish audience can take the form of a gently tapping foot. This performance would encourage a stronger response and I would have gladly danced in the aisles. The initially reserved Edinburgh audience was moved to clapping, cheering and whistling by the finale Oh Happy Day and demanded an encore. Everyone was sad that the end had come, which is a sign of the excellent all round entertainment which this magical show delivers.

Unfortunately there were no programmes so I can’t name individual performers, but you can find out more about the choir and their fund raising for local orphanages at their web site at Soweto Gospel Choir

Run continues: August 7-10: 18.30 (1 hr) £12 (£11); 11-13, 15, 18, 28: 18.00 £14 (£13); 14, 16-17, 19-27: 18.30 £14 (£13)

© Mairi Anderson. Published on www.edinburghguide.com.

Songs My Grandfathers Taught Me (page 131) European Premiere

Drams
Music My Pretty Jane (Fitzball/Bishop), Elen Fywen (Hiraddag/R S Hughes), Mary Morison (Burns/Sullivan), Come Back Paddy Reilly (Percy French), Across the Bridge (Harrington/Le Brunn), Love's Old Sweet Song (Bingham/Molloy), The Lark Now Leaves His Watery Nest (Davenant/Hatton), Paddle Your Own Canoe (Clifton), Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green (Clifton), 'Time Was' from The Sorcerer (Gilbert/Sullivan), When London's Fast Asleep (Dacre), 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows' from Oh, Look! (McCarthy/Carroll), 'Michigan' from Easter Parade (Berlin)
Musicians Alan Felton (tenor), Eamonn Ramsay (piano)
Venue Sweet Grassmarket (Venue 18)
Address Apex City Hotel, 61 Grassmarket
Date 11 August 2006
Reviewer Bruce Haughan

The songs that our grandparents (and in some cases still, our parents) sang at the piano in the parlour represent a delightful nostalgia for music in the home, and all that it means in terms of family and community ties during the first half of the twentieth century. They originated in the drawing rooms and music halls of earlier generations, and in due course were joined by new songs, often from current American musicals on Broadway, brought across the Atlantic by wireless, the gramophone and the cinema, and which often addressed common themes of love, loss, and a yearning for 'golden' days gone by.

Alan Felton has collected and researched these songs, many of which he gleaned from his family, especially his two grandfathers, whom he introduced as Charles and Fred; they learned and sang their songs as members of concert-parties and in the pubs of the East End of London, sometimes sharing bills with notable singers of the day like Sims Reeves. Ably supported by his accompanist Eamonn Ramsay, Mr Felton's 45-minute presentation conjured up memories of parlours of the past with a gentle charm.

The small venue, however, may not have been the best for his voice. His volume had to be restrained, and his low tenor, perhaps nearer the baritone range, struggled to reach the higher notes of his more lyrical songs, especially My Pretty Jane, Elen Fywen, Mary Morison and The lark now leaves his watery nest. More successful were the songs which were almost spoken rather than sung, including Percy French's Come back Paddy Reilly (to Ballyjamesduff), Paddle Yyur own canoe, When London's fast asleep, and the dramatic monologue Across the bridge by J P Harrington and George LeBrunn, in which Mr Ramsay's skills at the keyboard came well to the fore. The programme included Dr Daly's sad little song Time was from Gilbert's and Sullivan's seldom-performed operetta The Sorcerer, closed with I'm always chasing rainbows from the 1918 Broadway show Oh, Look! by Joseph McCarthy and Harry Carroll, and Michigan from Irving Berlin's Easter Parade (1914).

The printed programme indicates the list of songs from which Mr Felton makes a different selection for each show. For future performances he might prefer to concentrate on those that best suit the limitations of this particular venue.

© Bruce Haughan, 12 August 2006. Published on www.edinburghguide.com
For more information about Alan Felton click on www.victorian-entertainment.com
Run 5-26 August 2006

TonTheFringe

Snow Patrol (p.131)
Ton the Fringe Series

Drams
Music Pop
Band SnowPatrol: Gary Lightbody (guitar,vocals); Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals); Paul Wilson (bass, backing vocals); Jonny Quinn (drums); Tom Simpson (samples, keys)
Support Band Elbow: Guy Garvey (vocals/guitar); Mark Potter (guitar); Pete Turner (bass); Craig Potter (keyboards); Richard Jupp (drums)
Venue Meadowbank Stadium (Venue 333)
Address 139 London Road
Date 25 August 2006
Reviewer Steven Johre

Elbow © Tom Sheehan

Elbow
Elbow was a brilliant band to have as support for Snow Patrol. They have a gorgeous sound and produced some beautifully hypnotic vibes that the crowd warmed to nicely. It was a shame for me because the show would have been greatly enhanced under the cover of night where the full effect of a good light show and better sound would have brought more focus on the band, engaging all a little more fully. Never the less it was great music.

Snow Patrol, Isle of Wight 2005 © Bradley Quinn

SNOW PATROL
Snow Patrol played to their largest Scottish audience ever and the excitement of all that was clearly expressed by singer and guitarist Gary Lightbody as he bounded onto the stage hopping around like the Easter Bunny who had just the previous moment lost his virginity!

I thought to myself with gleeful anticipation "ok let's go, I'm ready too!"

Snow Patrol, known in a past life as Polar Bear, originated from Northern Irish descent at Dundee Unversity. Subsequently they set up shop in Glasgow where they have gone from strength to strength but not without certain upset including the exodus of founding member Mark McClelland in 2005 replaced by Rickenbacher wielding Paul Wilson. The band line-up now includes Nathan Connolly on guitar, Johnny Quinn on drums and Tim Simpson on keyboards. It is a solid and formidable one indeed.

Final Straw of 2003 found SP souring to new heights of success and incessant touring since has culminated the finely polished and beautifully crafted present offering of Eyes Open. Not to mention hugely successful.

Now, fresh from touring all over the place, Snow Patrol were eager and ready to show off the Eyes Open material, and that they did. >From the outset you felt some kind of kinship with the band and somehow a rare sense of intimacy transpired despite the presence of about 30,000 other people.

Gary Lightbody, Dublin 2006 © Bradley Quinn

The performance was very powerful and paradoxically soothing, laced with real drive and interspersed with beautiful and moving vocal harmonies and sweet sounds of all manner and form.

The crowd bopped wildly to the beat of It's Beginning to Get to Me, You're All I Have, Chasing Cars, stood transfixed by the beautiful and enigmatic groove of Shut You Eyes and swayed to the classic Run.

A constant and very genuine wave of appreciation and gratitude emanated from the band to the Scots crowd that I'm certain touched the hearts of all who were present. I would very much concur with Gary Lightfoot's statement that they get you somewhere different. That of course would be the heart.

Steven Johre 30 August 2006. Published on www.edinburghguide.com.

See also www.snowpatrol.com and www.elbow.co.uk

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TonTheFringe

Simple Minds (p.131)
Ton the Fringe Series

Drams 0
Music Rock
Band Jim Kerr (vocals); Charlie Burchill (guitar); Mel Gaynor (drums)
Support Band
Venue West Princes Street Gardens (Venue 52)
Address Princes Street
Date 28 August 2006
Reviewer Steven Johre

Simple Minds: T on the Fringe 2006 © Colin Robertson

Simple Minds has shown that experience and professionalism is what you need to produce a performance of such high quality.

The band ended its current Black and White tour in Princes Street Gardens on Monday the 28th to a full house that was treated to a show jam packed full of great Simple Minds tunes from past and present.

The band was welcomed by an audience who were well aware of what was in store, showing huge appreciation from beginning to end.

West Princes Street Gardens proved to be a perfect venue to allow Jim Kerr to invite seemingly every last person onto the stage and join in the fun with his polish, allure and pure exhilaration.

The very rich, layered and eclectic Simple Minds sound that flowed out to embrace the crowd was performed flawlessly by the band well in step after a year of touring.

When I first encountered Simple Minds in Canada on MTV and the like in the 80s their sound caught my ear straight away. These were the days in North America when bands like Van Halen, Rush and REM etc were in their hay day and great big shows and fancy dress were as much a part of it all as the music. The Simple Minds fit in beautifully with the big presence, sound and excellent musicianship expected of a top act.

Jim Kerr Simple Minds

By now many of these bands which I love have all but disappeared and been forgotten. Simple Minds although having been quiet in the 90s has produced a quality album in Black and White and backed it up with a performance that has for me easily matched the excellent shows of some of the more "current" artists I have seen on T on the Fringe in terms of performance, musicianship and most importantly danceability factor.

Yeah it's true that time marches on and all that but, as I said, nothing can replace the finely honed craftsmanship and artistry that comes with experience and that is what the Simple Minds show had in abundance.

There was no feigned attempt by the crowd to raise hands and groove, it just happened!

© Steven Johre. 29 August 2006. Published on www.edinburghguide.com. See also

 

 

TonTheFringe

Sandi Thom (p.133)
T on the Fringe Series

Drams
Music Folk/Rock
Band Sandi Thom (vocals and guitar)
Venue The Liquid Room (venue 173)
Address 9c Victoria Street
Date 30 August 2006
Reviewer Jamie Mackenzie

Sandi Thom

"You're what?!" Pretty much the response I got from everyone when I told them I was going to see Sandi Thom. So the song I wish I was a punk rocker can be a bit annoying and she may have little else to offer, but she is a Scot from Banff and she did make it big by playing live gigs from her front room in London over the internet. Surely that must be enough to warrant me attending one of her gigs…shouldn't it?

Well I was going to see her and that was that. No turning back. I told myself that I would be open to new musical experiences and try keep an open mind - which, coincidently, is very hard to do when you're in a room predominantly filled with women and most of the men who were there had obviously been dragged to the show by their girlfriends.

Its hard for me to say that Sandi Thom was terrible, because she wasn't. Her voice is delicate and pleasing to the ear, very similar to Cyndi Lauper, yet a lot of her songs are too alike. Having just made it big in the UK, Sandi looked very comfortable on stage and had a nice flow to the set (despite a slight technical problem with one of the guitars during during the encore). Probably the one really good thing I took from the gig was her cover version of Gnarls Barkley's hit single Crazy. It was actually really good, but then she seemed to lapse into singing songs that, to me, sounded the same, but to the female audience were obviously very moving and emotional.

Sandi in Edinburgh Sandi Thom

Having only really known one of her songs prior to the show, that being what she ironically labelled "that song" (I wish I was a punk rocker), I must admit that I did find myself nodding along to it when she did finally play it, and it was a little more creative than the original version, with a simple beat being tapped away on a box by one of her supporting band members, and Sandi simply singing acapella.

But it wasn't enough to make me really want to see her again. It is easy to see why she did reach number one, her voice and catchy rhythms standing out, but her talent seemed to be lost on me. She is definitely one for the ladies. I'd also add that her gigs would be perfect for guys wanting to treat their girlfriends to a night out… just be sure to take a few drams before you go, just to help you through the night.

And be warned, "that song" can get stuck in your head for days upon end!

© Jamie Mackenzie. 2 September 2006. Published on www.edinburghguide.com

(S) 7 out of 59