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Sunday, 29 May 2011

Folk Festival

It was a blustery trip across the Hoy Sound to Stromness lst night but it was worth the trip! I was at the the Folk Festival Club, listening to Habbadam (a Danish/Swedish? folk trio) and Daimh (from the Western Isles, singing in Gaelic).  Both groups were excellent and the concert was sold out. I never cease to be amazed at musicians who play multi instruments. Both groups had composed their own tunes too as well as performing more traditional ones. To be honest I'm not a fan of "folk" but I do enjoy live music and this concert didn't disappoint. The town of Stromness is always very buzzy when the festival is on. Lots of sessions going on in pubs and other venues, so lots of folk around.

The concert didn't begin till 10.30 pm though so first it was round to a friend's house for a "fish supper" from the Fish & Chip van that is at the pierhead every Saturday night and does brilliant fish and chips..... Then we watched the cult film "The Wicker Man" on DVD....any resemblance to Graemsay is purely coincidental!!!!!

The boat over to the concert was very lively too as it went via the island of Hoy and folk from concerts in the town were returning home. A local choir from Hoy, the Stromabank Choir (somebody record a YouTube song!), had been performing at the folk festival that afternoon and they were still in good voice on the boat. They are "twinned" with "Stamp and Go" a group from Cornwall who sing sea shanties and were also performing with them at the festival.  We had a burst of sea shanty as the boat came into dock!

There also seemed to be guests for a birthday party on the boat - all in fancy dress.  I was somewhat startled when I got on the boat at Graemsay to be faced with Banana Man!  I took his photo with a fellow reveller, who begged to remain anonymous as he was looking very fetching in a frock. All I can say is he is a brave man in more ways than one ;-)   I will also not reveal the identity of the embarrassed lady who got caught up in the revelry.... though she seemed to enjoy the fun too!


Off to another concert this afternoon on the island of Hoy. Thankfully the wind has died down a bit.... fingers crossed it stays calm....
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4 comments:

  1. pat29 May 2011 at 13:17

    To a concert by boat, fish and
    chips from the van, you are
    living the dream, enjoy it all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous29 May 2011 at 20:02

    A very entertaining post! The Wicker Man re. Graemsay, though: spooky. You islanders could do a terrific job of freaking out tourists by greeting the ferry at the pier with a chorus of 'Summer is a-comin' in'. Though it's maybe a wee bit blowy in Graemsay for all that dancing naked round maypoles...!! Snort!

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  3. Sian30 May 2011 at 22:50

    Pat - yes I do have to remind myself sometimes that I *am* living my dream!

    Dancingbeastie - Tee Hee - yes we need to keep our vests on!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kathy31 May 2011 at 11:29

    I love the thought of the Orkneys in festival mode - like a weeek-long party, it seems :-)

    ReplyDelete