Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhriain - 27 Feb 2023

Catrin Finch is always excellent and she likes to collaborate so this was always certain to be a great gig. Aoife Ní Bhriain turned out to be a superb Irish fiddler with a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle (amongst others) that has nine strings (four to play and five to resonate). The music was perfect from start to finish with the two musicians perfectly attuned and some interesting influences, definitely traditional Welsh Irish and Breton music for starters. The tunes were all new in that the duo were about to set off to the studio to record them. They all began with the letter W and Wine whcih started the second half was the highlight for me. Some interesting changes in pace and volume, virtuouso playing from both, ever more clamorous riffs from the harp and some scratchy fiddle playing included, it was an epic track. But every song was great - can't wait for the album to come out.