Hearing Double, 3*

Well, I kind of shot myself in the foot with the whole "it will all be duets" proclamation. As always, I probably want to say more about each selection than really needs to be said. . .and there hasn't been overmuch time to say it. So doubtless there will still be duets and more duets upcoming, mixed in with whatever else makes it onto the blog in the meantime, but I'm not going to insist on a series right now.

This video, though, left me no choice but to up and post it with scarcely any further ado. I really like Daimh, but like a lot of bands (and other things) that I like, I don't know a lot about them. The impressions I've had so far of them incline me to be a bit superlative. With any band that I like enough to post on here, I try to only mention the aspects that I enjoy, and ignore the ones that I don't since taste is a very subjective thing. With Daimh, though, if you catch me only saying good things about them, it is honestly because all I can think of to say about them are very good things.

Their fiddler, Gabe McVarish, for instance, has what I would consider the best Scottish fiddle sound there is. Yes, he does play like he listens to a lot of pipes! It occurred to me yesterday, when I was poking around looking for visuals to help students with bowing techniques that with a sound like that, he ought to make an above-average example of how to bow. So I searched for a video of Daimh playing live, and found this, which somebody had thoughtfully filmed from an angle congenial to bow-observers. . .he does indeed have as exemplary an approach to bowing as one could wish for. But after all of a measure, I was busier enjoying the music than trying to get much practical application out of it!

Nova Scotian Angus MacKenzie, the first piper in the video, recorded what remains one of my all-time favourite albums, Píob is Fidheall  with his brother Kenneth on the fiddle some years back. This performance naturally put me in mind of that, not only for the combination of instruments, but for the vibrancy of the playing. While I might be much more tolerant of blatant innovation in folk music than I was when I was younger, I still prefer the heartily traditional ninety-nine times out of a hundred, and this is both about as hearty as one could wish for, and brought to life with quite enviable skill!



*It starts with a duet. . .