Prompt #15: Dialogues Concert

Early Monday morning, a train carried me from the polished, bustling metropolis of London, through the English and Scottish countryside, and into the grungy, soulful city of Glasgow. The hilly pastures, speckled with sheep and bounded by stacked stone walls, recalled my Kentucky home (see photo taken from the train, below). Scotland is like a breath of fresh air! As is the music I’ve encountered here.

I used the word “polished” to describe the city of London, and I think the word is also applicable to the sort of music I experienced while there. Operatic, choral, and orchestral music are highly expressive, but also consistent and often played from a manuscript. Even musical theatre is highly rehearsed and produced.

Folk music exists in London, but it doesn’t seem quite as celebrated as other forms of entertainment. The folks at Hobgoblin Music Store in Soho, London pointed me towards a couple of folk jams in the city and the man working the register played me a traditional English tune on his 1939 concertina. I bought a pair of bones there to bring to jams and play percussively (see me in front of Hobgoblin, below)! But, by and large, London is a city that values refined musical stylings. Traditional music appears to be struggling in England at large post-pandemic. Dozens of UK folk events have been cancelled or postponed in recent years.

Glasgow, on the other hand, is a city built on folk music. The wildly successful Celtic Connections festival is a testament to the importance of folk culture to this community. On Tuesday night, I saw the Celtic Connections concert “Dialogues” by Su-a Lee and three of her musician friends. What a perfect union of my London and Glasgow experiences! Su-a Lee is originally from Seoul, trained in England and New York, and has been in Glasgow for several decades, playing cello in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She is classically trained and spends most of her time playing classical music, but she recently cracked into the folk cello scene with her debut album, Dialogues. 

The concert featured several old folk tunes, but mostly consisted of compositions by the musicians on stage:

Duncan Chisholm - fiddle

Hamish Napier - whistle, flute, piano (composer)

Donald Shaw - piano, accordion (composer)

Su-a Lee - cello, saw

The pieces Su-a Lee chose were mostly “composed”. They had some classical flavors, textures, and timbres. Yet they were folk arrangements in that they felt incredibly unpretentious and even spontaneous, though I know the musicians had spent a long time with the pieces they were playing. The timbre of the fiddle, the rhythms and embellishments of the cello, and the thematic context of the music all gave the concert a “folky” affect. In the spirit of the title of the concert - “Dialogues” - each piece was a conversation between the cello and the other instruments on stage, weaving together to create a sonic landscape, usually to describe a place in Scotland or an experience important to the folk zeitgeist (ex. the battle at Culloden).

The concert was in the Mackintosh Church, designed by renowned Scottish architect and art nouveau designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Seriously, Glaswegians low-key worship him! And for good reason, in my opinion. The floral detail-work on the wood paneling and whorling stone mullions of the stained glass recalled traditional celtic design elements. The informality of some of Mackintosh’s flourishes made what might have been an austere building more approachable - a quality shared by Su-a Lee’s music! The acoustics of the space were fantastic. The pews were long, and the utter lack of seat divisions made the experience feel a little more informal! The pew rails doubled as perches for a selection of beers served in an adjoining room. (I accidentally dipped my hair in the drink of the woman behind me. Hopefully she didn’t notice!!!) See below for a photo I took of the space, which was lit quite stunningly for the concert.

In my own experience, people are the most important ingredient in folk music. Folk music cannot exist in a vacuum or in isolation; it is contingent upon relationships and communities. The community of musicians Su-a Lee brought on stage was truly beautiful. Their tenderness towards each other and towards Scotland came through in their musical sensitivity. The musicians’ relationships gave the concert a delightful folk flavor!