NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
What we said about
THE POOZIES
THE POOZIES GIVE IT SOME WELLY
I've always thought of harp music as sort of insipid, tinkly tinkly stuff with angelic feathered strings. In the same way, one might think of the strengths of music by women: plaintive yearning; deep sorrow, quiet and fragile harmonies -- certainly women in the traditional genres have carved out that musical territory pretty comprehensively.
So it was with something approaching rapture that these idiomatic concepts were resolutely shattered, as the Poozies, a supergroup of traditional musicians, put some premier league welly into their powerful concert, this past Sunday at the Winter Gardens, otherwise known as the Hydro Conservatory.
Not for nothing was this concert the launch of 'Women with Welly' -- the new promotions wheeze of the Northumbrian Music Nights organisation. Everyone knew the pedigree of the musicians, Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster on harps, with Karen Tweed on accordion, joined by newcomer Eilidh Shaw on fiddle. These are well-proved musicians of impeccable renown.
Even youngster Eilidh, whose infectious ceilidh smile and bouncing fiddle bow moved many a number along, with her family background could hardly be considered a novice in musical circles. But few in the audience were quite prepared for the pathos and breathy undertones of pain survived, that enveloped the room during her featured vocal spots.
'Wouldn't it be lovely', certainly the high point of the first set, managed to set one's emotional nerves a-jangle with such power and resonance, as the last chord literally hung transfigured in the empty space before the break. A moment, a sound, an aching yearning rapture one felt one could nearly reach out and touch.
The double acts of Karen and Eilidh in the first set, and then the astonishing a capella vocal challenges delivered by Patsy and Mary in the second, conspired to provide the impression that whether alone, doubly or in quartet, these women have a certain strength which is expressed musically in absolutely clear terms.
I was impressed with the quiet -- might one say reverential -- respect accorded the band by the audience. And this quiet space was rewarded by a sensitive sound that, given the critical mass provided by the attentive crowd, turned out to be bright and perfect. The venue needed the audience to create a memorable concert, and so it turned out. Without the audience, it would have been as boomy and as echoey as the sound check earlier had implied. The Winter Gardens really are, in the hands of a sensitive sound engineer and quality equipment, and a sensitively attuned audience, a sensational venue. With a proper stage, the room could be a superlative one.
Welly, or the power to overwhelm, was always clear in this concert, but the roar, the imploring of the unsated audience for more, only became unstoppable for the encore, even with such songs as the whimsical 'Sör Stronning' with the smell of fermented Swedish fish, or Patsy's heart-broken 'This is my plaid', or the James Taylor number 'All by myself' slipped in like a dagger refined by the purest metals, deep into your heart. It was the anonymous set of lively jigs and reels at the end, which Karen's accordian muscled along so cheerfully, the ones just after an incredible spot of harp virtuosity with multiple key changes, that elicited the tumultuous stamping cheer. Or was that because it was all too apparent that the concert was drawing to an inevitable close?
'Hey-ho, my Johnny lad', insouciant though its lyrics were, with an innocent-feeling segue to a beguiling jig or was it a reel, finished off the evening promptly at 10:30. Unless you knew, you'd find it scarcely credible that the electric harp could produce such a bass line, such a performance of sheer welly, and I for one could scarcely bear to say good-bye to those deep, clear and harmonic notes.
And could a band of four women musicians totally and utterly capture their audience, persuading all within earshot of their power and strength? This audience knew they could, and they did. It was a superlative launch to the 'WwW' programme, and a wonderful introduction to the power of the various women artistes lined up for some superb performances in the coming months.
