Blazin' Fiddles' show a success

May 19 2009 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

IT didn’t quite all go to plan, but it was a cracking good night!

We all knew that the former seven-piece Blazin’ Fiddles would be a six-header after the departure of Aidan O’Rourke and Marc Clement, with talented multi-instrumentalist Anna Massie proving that one woman can take the place of two men.

And Anna certainly looked at home as a Blazer when she made her debut with the band in Perth Concert Hall.

What could not be foreseen was fiddler Catriona Macdonald having to leave the stage part-way through the evening, a bug taking its toll despite her initial attempts to play on regardless.

Despite the Blazers not firing on all cylinders, remaining members of the band did extremely well to produce that award-winning, fast-fiddling magic, interspersed with charming chat.

The best bit of the night came when Polish foursome Dautenis returned to the Concert Hall stage to join the depleted Blazers for a couple of scintillating sets.

Earlier in the evening Dautenis had greatly impressed the good-sized audience for what was to be the final event in Perth’s three month long Scottish Tides-Polish Spring celebrations.

In exceeding good English, Agnieszka Sroczynska had explained that their part of Poland – the north-east – is very cold, so the music has to be energetic for people to keep warm.

Even the ballads are rousingly full-on!

Malgorzata Makowska produced vocal power and her pedal accordion was an intriguing instrument.

With interesting rhythms and sound, excellent harmonies and well disciplined energy, the Dautenis set was both enjoyable and eye-opening – an inspiration indeed for the concert organisers to chose this band to support the Blazin’ Fiddles.