THE really crucial football match taking place last Sunday – the annual Orkney vs The Rest Of The World fixture during the islands' justly celebrated Folk Festival – was tied 9-9 at full-time, so it came down to a sudden- death finish. In somewhat so
ggy conditions, the visitors – a motley, mud-covered crew of mostly befuddled musicians – attempted to steal victory by dint of literally moving the goalposts, but then blew it at the last minute by landing the ball in their own net. Karine Polwart, pictured – in between her succession of outstanding performances over the weekend – was crowned player of the match, by dint of some very nifty footwork out on the wing. Overall, though, Orkney emerged the winner, having also once again triumphed at its primary folk festival sport, namely the legendary impromptu jam sessions that resound through the hostelries of Stromness for four days and nights in May.
It might have been rainy for the football, but on Friday, amid glorious sunshine, the music was largely alfresco – that afternoon's main session being memorably anchored by headlining Shetlanders Fiddlers' Bid, while the core sound at others ranged from the Balcan/gypsy antics of the Jani Lang Band, a colourfully international line-up fronted by an ex-pat Hungarian fiddler, to some scorching jazz tunes hosted by Edinburgh stalwarts Tom and Phil Bancroft, elsewhere performing in the award-winning children's show Kidsamonium.
As for the officially programmed music – a grand total of some 25 concerts around Orkney, most of them sold out – the prevailing standard was stunningly high, across sounds and styles as diverse as the freewheeling concertina-led virtuosity of Irish trio Buille, the radiantly intertwined young voices of Jeana Leslie and Soibhan Miller, the scintillating verve and bounce of Quebecois outfit Genticorum, and the ruggedly reinvigorated English trad of John Spiers and Jon Boden. Leslie and Miller, together with the aforementioned Karine Polwart, featured among a wealth of sublime vocal highlights on this year's bill, as did Ireland's Karen Casey, who was in utterly spine-tingling form amid the lovely acoustic of Stromness Town Hall on Friday night, and US old-time troubadour Bruce Molsky, particularly with his haunting rendition of The Blackest Crow at Sunday's farewell concert.
Local talent also shone, including a resplendent set from eight-piece party machine The Chair, the sparkling twin sister double act of Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley, and the young instrumental quartet Skalder, who complemented striking original tunes with similarly imaginative arrangements.
All in all, it was another vintage Orkney spree, once again emphatically affirming the event's well earned pride of place in the Scottish festival calendar.
