Another day, another fiddler..... Hot on the heels of Eliza Carthy this gig at the local village hall was given by a quartet of Danish musicians led by Harald Haugaard and featuring Helene Blum on vocals.
They started with some jigs and there were further jiggish songs later and also polkas.
The music had strong elements of Scottish music, which makes sense as they have the same roots but it was also informed by a classical vibe and the band came across as classically trained but passionate about danish folk in particular, and folk in general.
'A song about hope' played on the piano and sung by Helene with some delicate violin support was the outstanding track on the evening and shortly after another song sung by Helene which had a one word Danish title translating as 'in the arms' was also superb.
Her voice was impeccable and more than once I thought of Karen Matheson; danish; gaelic - there must be a lot of similarities. Harald was a subtle and complex fiddle with great touch and also pplayed a mean mandolin. The other members of the band, a cellist and a guitarist/mandolin player gave great support.
This was the bands first tour of England and despite having a long list of gigs they were not playing anywhere close again. I would definitely catch them again if I could.
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