 | | BODEGA BOUND FOR SUCCESS! | | |  Sandie, Gillian & Norrie of Bodega
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Bodega, a sextet from Scotland, have scooped this year's Radio 2 Young Folk Award. Their innovative, dynamic approach to Gaelic music won them the raft of prizes which have proved such a boost to previous winners' musical careers. Held for the first time outside London at the fabulous Sage Gateshead, the concert was a thrill from start to finish.
Newcastle's Southwind set the high standard for the evening with a superbly arranged suite of tunes. The four fiddles, flute and guitar of Georgia Ross, Lucy Walker, David Jones, Jane Brown, Julia Ross and Matthew Jones created a diverse, exciting soundscape, most of which was original work written for their home town's Tall Ships Race - an astonishingly mature performance from a group aged between 15 and 17 years old.
16 year old Joe O'Connor from Cumbria also demonstrated a musical sensitivity beyond his years. His two perfectly-judged tune sets ranged from spellbinding, melodic slow air to dazzlingly dextrous French-Canadian reel and demonstrated his own considerable compositional talent. Already a stunning melodeon player, Joe is set to become a notable talent on the scene.
First songs of the night came from Shona Donaldson, 20, from Aberdeenshire. Her resonant, characterful voice expressively delivered a Burns lament and a chilling Border ballad before her natural communication skills enticed the audience to join her in the chorus of a rousing bothy song. Confident and comfortable on stage, she'll surely be a familiar face before long.
19 year old Lincolnshire singer-songwriter James Chadwick supplied the evening's only contemporary offering. Unfazed by initial sound gremlins, he joked about morris dancers abseiling from the ceiling and sang two strong songs accompanied by supple fingerstyle guitar. Illustrating the friendship and support which underpins the YFA competition, he dedicated his opening number, Walking The Line, to one of his fellow contestants.
Multi-instrumentalism is common among Young Folk Award performers, as demonstrated by Matheu Watson from Ross-shire. One of the youngest performers at 15, he played his three tunes on three different instruments. Beginning on fiddle with a tune he'd written only two nights previously, he continued with a mellow, rolling guitar piece and finished up with two express-speed, finger-plaiting whistle hornpipes.
While the judges deliberated, YFA 2004/5 holder Lauren MacColl entertained with an assured, relaxed performance, accompanied by James Ross on piano and guitarist Barry Reid. Beautifully-orchestrated arrangements of pipe tunes, original compositions and elegiac airs transported the audience far away until the time came for Kathryn Tickell, current BBC Folk Awards Best Musician, to take the stage. She gave high praise to the variety of music on offer and the talent and commitment of all the performers before announcing the winners.
And on the night, it was the energetic Bodega who won over the judges. With a fluent Gaelic speaker in vocalist/djembe player Norrie MacIver, plus Gillian Chalmers (pipes), Ross Couper (fiddle), Tia Files (guitars), Sandie Forbes (fiddle, vox) and June Naylor (clarsach), the band were great ambassadors for the culture. Launching in with a compelling Gaelic song, their complex, ambitious set was packed full of dynamics from full-on percussive layers, inventive rhythms and fluid time-signatures to spare, atmospheric passages. After getting their breath back Bodega raised the roof with a jubilant encore before joining the rest of the finalists and many of the semi-finalists for a moving choral/instrumental ensemble piece created especially for the occasion.
Mel Ledgard
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Young Folk Award 2006
