Freedom to Roam - 2 March 2022

Sadly synchronous with the Ukrainian conflict and refugee situation this project band was playing the last date of a brief tour. The project involved an album, a film and images to accompany the music all based on the need to respect the planet better than we are doing currently. I spotted this gig because Catrin Finch was part of the band and whilst I hadn't heard of the other musicians they were all outstanding. Eliza Marshall (flutes, whistles, bansuris) seemed to be the band leader; Jackie Shave, (violin, piano) wrote quite a few of the tracks and was an original and dynamic fiddle player, Donal Rogers was on bass and Robert Irvine on Cello, which added greatly to the overall sound. Surprise of the night for me was the astonishing percussion of Kuljit Bhamra whoe sense of rhythm was riveting. The gig started with a half hour long documentary film raised issues with which I am already too familiar! The band then played for an hour - playing 'The Rhythms of Migration' album in full and that was an experience that both flew by and provided loads of great, absorbing passages. Onscreen above the band were images from Amelia Kosminsky blurred and superimposed images that reflected the music, of landscapes, animals and people. A special gig and I'm sure the album will get played here a lot.