There was a truly international flavour to this showcase of artists on Peter Gabriel's Real World record label, with all the musical diversity that implies. Mauritanian singer/songwriter Daby Toure was first up, with his organic blend of voice and percussive guitar easing the crowd into his instinctive musical realm. In slick contrast to his almost improvisatory approach, Sevara Nazarkhan, previously a Radio 3 World Music Award-winner, turned out to be the Uzbek Enya, with a sound as pristine and floaty as her white dress. There were hints of a Bjork-like eccentricity to her soaring voice, but mostly her quirkiness was tempered by a practised professionalism.
Closer to home, special guests Cuillin Music continued to celebrate the memory of piper Martyn Bennett, under the direction of his widow Kirsten. Their urgent, dynamic assault with three fiddles, pipes, whistles and beats was particularly poignant as it marked the precise anniversary of Bennett's untimely death two years ago.
It was a shame the crowd had thinned out slightly by the time guitarist Skip McDonald, aka Little Axe, took the stage, accompanied by his Tackhead compatriots, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc, plus a soulful chorus of bluesy singers led by Bernard Fowler, as theirs was the most assured set of the night, anchored by a low-slung dub groove over which McDonald and Wimbish laid out some impressive flourishes.
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The Herald
The Celtic Connections crew deserve huge praise for persuading Peter Gabriel's label to put on a showcase gig at the festival, but it was a disappointingly sparse crowd that greeted the arrival onstage of Mauritania's Daby Touré. Backed by a wonderfully fluid rhythm section, Touré smiled his way through tracks from his album Diam (Peace), mixing jazz, reggae and rock with irresistible African beats.
Two years ago, Martyn Bennett's tragic death cast a shadow over the festival, and Cuillin Music paid a fitting tribute to him. Bagpipes, fiddles, tin whistles and slamming beats kept the pot boiling nicely in advance of the astonishing talent that is Sevara Nazarkhan. Uzbekistan's most famous musical export hypnotised with tracks from her album Yol Bolsin (Where Are You Going), utilising traditional instruments over modern jazz and dance tracks. Indeed, Nazarkhan's dance was fundamental to her music. Overall, this was an expressively elegant, captivating performance.
In splendid contrast, New York's Skip McDonald, aka Little Axe, with a band including Sugarhill Gang drummer Keith LeBlanc and the former Living Colour bassist, the wickedly good Doug Wimbish, blasted through the new album Stone Cold Ohio and brought the evening to a blistering blues-funk conclusion.
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