A Bhanais Ghaidhealach / The Highland Wedding
2012 Blas Festival commission by Margaret Stewart
This piece is inspired by a review, by Jennie MacFie, of the opening night at Aigas.
Having been awarded the Blas 2012 Musical Commision and taking the theme of Highland wedding nuptials, Margaret created a feast of glorious singing and top notch music linked by gently informative narration and seasoned with the earthy humour that is the wellspring of Gaeldom.
The earthiness was, it must be said, often supplied by the cream of Highland musicians, chiefly Allan Henderson, abetted by his fellow Blazin’ Fiddler Iain MacFarlane, Ingrid Henderson on clarsach, and piper Angus Nicholson. Cows were the chief catalyst, representing the major part of a bride’s dowry in the days when dowries were an integral part of marriage customs.
The stage was set with a gentle lullaby to a young heir, promising him that all the nobility of Gaeldom will dance at his wedding; this segued into a sprightly new composition by Margaret, evoking "lads going a-courting", leading to an idiosyncratically Gaelic custom, ‘night visiting’, evoked yet again another her new musical creations, accompanied by some rather humorous background images of a certain band member climbing through a window. A challenging volume of piping tunes followed, from the MacInnes Collection, where every sequence has a different variation, and there did indeed seem to be a noticeable air of concentration on the musicians’ faces.
Longing and Yearning was the next section; that stage in a relationship which leads to the proposal of marriage, helped along by the wonderful off-stage singing of Murdo MacDonald (Lewis). Margaret's a capella rendition as a reply led into a newly composed pibroch by Margaret & Angus Nicolson, in duet with Angus, which was the high point of the evening for this reviewer, as her exquisite, pure silver tones mingled perfectly with the pipes (a set, it turns out, which were made specifically to match her voice – a practice which could be more widespread). It was fabulously good to hear.
An Cordadh – the dowry agreement – was historically expressed in the number of cattle the bride brought to the marriage, and led to A’ Reiteach (the betrothal) which was an occasion for considerable celebration. Each section of the evening was illustrated with projected images and for this Stewart had chosen a David Wilkie painting. As the musicians played a Cape Breton wedding reel, the figures almost seemed to be dancing along with it.
The second half opened with Stewart, solo, singing Salm XVI, the biblical Royal Wedding psalm, in the Lewis style, a coup de theatre which was very moving in its simplicity, but as we moved on to yet another new Stewart composition, ‘Clach a Phosaidh’ (the marriage stone), things were swiftly brought down to earth by a risque but very funny joke, featuring some of those dowry cows, from Allan Henderson… and so on to the actual wedding celebrations, and the wedding night itself, evoked by a charmingly sultry video, nicely directed by Margaret herself. The evening finished with some tunes for ‘A Bhanais Taigh’, the second day of celebrations, traditionally held at the groom’s house.
As well as scouring her repertoire for suitable tunes, and unearthing many lovely treasures, Stewart had written several herself which more than stood comparison with them, and will hopefully encourage her not to hide that particular light under a bushel in future. An evening full of delights and surprises to begin Blas 2012.
© Jennie Macfie, 2012
An Cordadh – the dowry agreement – was historically expressed in the number of cattle the bride brought to the marriage, and led to A’ Reiteach (the betrothal) which was an occasion for considerable celebration. Each section of the evening was illustrated with projected images and for this Stewart had chosen a David Wilkie painting. As the musicians played a Cape Breton wedding reel, the figures almost seemed to be dancing along with it.
The second half opened with Stewart, solo, singing Salm XVI, the biblical Royal Wedding psalm, in the Lewis style, a coup de theatre which was very moving in its simplicity, but as we moved on to yet another new Stewart composition, ‘Clach a Phosaidh’ (the marriage stone), things were swiftly brought down to earth by a risque but very funny joke, featuring some of those dowry cows, from Allan Henderson… and so on to the actual wedding celebrations, and the wedding night itself, evoked by a charmingly sultry video, nicely directed by Margaret herself. The evening finished with some tunes for ‘A Bhanais Taigh’, the second day of celebrations, traditionally held at the groom’s house.
As well as scouring her repertoire for suitable tunes, and unearthing many lovely treasures, Stewart had written several herself which more than stood comparison with them, and will hopefully encourage her not to hide that particular light under a bushel in future. An evening full of delights and surprises to begin Blas 2012.
© Jennie Macfie, 2012
