Julie Fowlis with Megan Henwood: St George's Bristol

Wednesday 7th October 2009

This is a Crackerjack review of Julie Fowlis with special guest Megan Henwood.

Crackerjack rating: 8 / 10.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously wrote that music is “the universal language of mankind”.

If he were alive today, the 19th century American poet could easily single out the success of Julie Fowlis to illustrate his point.

For the singer and multi-instrumentalist from the Hebridean island of North Uist sings traditional folk songs in Gaidhlig or Scottish Gaelic, a language that even very few Scots understand.

And yet, the fact that few people can understand what she is singing about hasn’t stopped her becoming something of an international singing sensation.

Accompanied by a small and extremely talented band featuring hubby Eamon Doorley, the heavily pregnant singer sang only in Gaelic, although thankfully she introduced her songs and explained what they were about in English.  And did so with a lot of natural wit and charm.

Of course, it wouldn’t be folk music without murder ballads like the rather sad A Chatrion’ Og in which a man shoots his lover by accident and the much heavier Thig Am Bata, which was about a girl who horribly drowns her sister.

But many of the songs covered much lighter themes, like Brogan Ur Agam A Nochd, which she explained was about having new shoes.

There were also lots of uptempo jigs and reels to keep the audience clapping along and there was even a cover of The Beatles’ Blackbird, although, inevitably, it was sung in Gaelic.

Trying to teach the audience the chorus of Biodh An Deoch Seo ‘N Laimh Mo Ruin may have seemed foolhardy but it says an awful lot about Julie Fowlis’ engaging personality that she succeeded in getting so many people to sing along with her.

It was, however, on the quieter numbers, particularly the gorgeous Bothan Airigh Am Braigh Raithneach, that you really heard the full mesmerising beauty of Julie Fowlis’ voice, and the sensitivity of her accompanying musicians.

The real stand-out of the night, however, was Ho Bha Mi which was sung unaccompanied except for the astounding bodhran playing of Martin O’Neill. It was just a pity that this was the only song she sung unaccompanied.

Julie Fowlis is certainly a remarkable talent who really did manage to make her age-old Hebridean music seem like a universal language.

A couple of years ago Julie Fowlis won the coveted BBC Young Folk Singer Of The Year Award and this year’s recipient of that honour, Megan Henwood, opened this concert.

A tiny figure with long Pre-Raphaelite hair, the 21-year old singer-songwriter from Oxfordshire only did a very short set, but it was long enough to demonstrate that the award committee had chosen extremely well.

Keith Clark

http://www.crackerjack.co.uk/bristol/review/julie-fowlis-megan-henwood-st-georges-bristol/music