...as part of the Orkney folk festival. This time it was on the island of Hoy, yesterday. The weather was...um.... inclement (eg torrential rain as we got off the ferry!). We all arrived at the Hoy Kirk rather wet, though all the visitors had been given a lift from the pier in mini-buses or by kindly folk. We gently steamed dry in the warmth of the Kirk as the concert began.
The first group were Habbadam, the group I'd seen in Stromness the night before. They were again brilliant. I was pleased that we, the audience, gave them rapturous applause at the end and demanded an encore. The audience the night before had been muted for a folk festival night. Maybe everyone was just tired from three nights of partying! But the audience on Hoy made up for any shortcomings from the audience the night before! The trio again gave us a mixture of traditional Swedish and Danish songs and music.
After a short interval we were then entertained by The Poozies, an all women group playing a mixture of instruments including two harps! I'd never heard of a bass harp before - oooh boy I loved the sound from that! As well as the harps there were the usual array of "folk" instruments - the fiddle, guitar and accordian. The music was great but for me the best song was the last one which they sang unaccompanied - called The Last Train. Sent shivers down my spine!
Fortunately the weather cleared up and the ferry journey home was dry and we could stand on the back deck and admire the view and chat with our fellow passengers.
Photos are of the island of Hoy. The one at the top of the post is of Ward Hill - the highest hill in Orkney, just a few metre short of a mountain! Below is Ward Hill wearing a hat!
And here after the concert, the sky brightened
