Various Artists
Album: Orkney
Label: Topic
Tracks: 33
Website: http://www.topicrecords.co.uk

Another impeccably turned out volume in the ongoing (and continually award-winning) Voice Of The People series presenting valuable archive field recordings. This is an all-instrumental disc, delivering just over 50 minutes of prime dance music from Orkney, the region in the remote north-east of Scotland that has always had a proud, and distinctive, folk tradition of its own but which in 1955 was virtually unknown territory for the BBC (only sporadic attempts at collecting Shetland fiddle playing having been made up to that point).

All items on the disc are drawn from the 120 or so field recordings made by folklorist Peter Kennedy on one brief but fruitful 13-day trip to Orkney in July 1955, and, one or two fluttery moments aside, the quality is very good indeed. There's also a palpable sense of real vitality, with the various musicians playing as if their lives depended on it and with unbridled enjoyment, an unbuttoned abandon while staying within the agreed compass and guidelines of the dances. In the early days, most if not all of the music played on Orkney would have been reels - functionally, for weddings and such occasions - but by the time these recordings were made the repertoire of local musicians had expanded to incorporate marches, waltzes, polkas, jigs and barndances too, and in the end form a minority of these 33 tracks.

No matter, for the recordings are so very full of life that the whole CD is a true delight to listen to in one sitting. The sequencing is carried out with the canniest of process, the disc being topped, tailed and centred with pieces performed by The Garson Trio (fiddle, piano-accordion and guitar), this group's performances may be a touch rough-hewn, but my goodness they are full of atmosphere and probably my own personal highlights of the whole disc. I also rather liked the solo fiddle playing of Peter Pratt - who, unexpectedly, deftly doubles on the tin whistle! - and John Fraser, while Jim Leslie's accordion solos are no less charismatic in their own way. Not to mention the infectious thrust of the Orkney Strathspey & Reel Society, led by Ronnie Aim…

I wonder if Topic might be planning to release more of Peter Kennedy's Orkney recordings in due course? (Apparently, some songs were also recorded, which it might be interesting to hear alongside the tunes.) The present disc sports an excellent booklet to the usual Topic house standards, Reg Hall's notes setting both geographical and musical contexts accompanied by some typically lively photos of the musicians.

David Kidman