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Due to buying a new house and being in the 2012 Up Helly Aa Lerwick Jarl Squad (making our viking outfits & practicing drinking!) I am afraid posts to my blog are going to be pretty sporadic for most of this year!

But finally… here is a gallery of Shetland Folk Festival images from the 31st Festival which was held at the end of April and beginning of May, what a truly superb long weekend of music the Shetland Folk Festival Committee managed to put on for us lucky concert goers!

The above image is of Pokey LaFarge in action on the Clickimin Centre stage on the Saturday night. Pokey, and his band The South City Three, charmed the crowds wherever they played and I had the good fortune to see them play four times across the weekend, from the intimate country hall at Vidlin to the Main Stage at Clickimin twice and the Singing Concert at the Shetland Hotel. Great music and stage craft coupled with good humour and friendliness led to them being many folks act of the festival and left many hoping for a return to the isles in the not too distant future.

All the best to Pokey and the South City Three on the release of their new album which came out last week titled ‘Middle of Everywhere’ and is available from iTunes and Amazon by clicking here.

AMENDMENT: It has been brought to my attention that the new Pokey LaFarge CD is also available from Clive’s Record Shop on Da Street and is cheaper than the online Amazon price! My apologies for forgetting the local option! Always try Clive’s first!

But the weekend was not all about Pokey… The Wilders, L’Angelus, Sver, Beltaine, Breabach, Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers, The Shee, The Harald Haugaard Quintet with Helene Blum, and the Fred Morrison Trio all complimented the local acts on show and entertained wherever they went over the four days. Special mention to local acts Aestaewast, for their performance on the Clickimin stage which was their biggest to date I was told, and Pete Stack & the Rayburns for their Festival Club show on the Saturday night which was just what was needed to end a great night!

Of all the many new CDs purchased over the festival my favourite song has to be from The Wilders and that track is ‘Get Up Kid’, available again from iTunes or Amazon. I think anyone that heard it over the weekend, especially at the Americana Night on the Friday, would not have had a flat hair on the back of their neck. Outstanding.

As I was the photographer for The Shetland Times over the Folk Festival, these photos have already appeared in the Gallery Section of The Shetland Times website as well as alongside the reviews in the newspaper.

Anyway, here is the gallery, apologies if it runs slow, but it is still the easiest way to upload 150 photos! Hope you enjoy it.

The new show out at the Bonhoga Gallery is by Lois Walpole, titled Urban Baskets: Tradition Recycled. It opened on the 26th March and runs until the 1st of May and is located in the main Gallery as well as in the lower gallery and one piece in the stairwell. A fascinating range of work displaying over 30 pieces spanning her 28 year career. Visually stunning, colourful and intricate, she uses natural and recycled materials to construct her artwork but all tied in to the central theme of baskets. Some pieces show an ingenious use of old beer bottle tops and wine bottle corks!

Well worth a visit, for more information on the artist check out www.loiswalpole.com.

To read The Shetland Times review click here.

I think everyone that was fortunate to get a ticket to the Mumford & Sons concert at Whiteness & Weisdale Hall last night would agree that it was a superb evening! What a great performance from the band and also from Rachel Sermanni as the support act. The capacity crowd, many of whom had endured a cold night to queue for tickets, were well rewarded with a raucous setlist including a number of new songs the band were road-testing.

Well done to Davie Gardner for organising a great night, here’s to some more soon!

I have put together a slideshow to view more pics from the gig below, apologies if it runs slow as it is a new feature I am still trialling. Leave a comment if you find problems with the gallery and I will try something else!

The 153rd Royal Photographic Print Exhibtion is still on show at Bonhoga Gallery for another 2 weeks, closing on the 20th March. It contains a wide range of photographic subject matter and styles, all superbly displayed in the main gallery, the stairwells and the lower cafe gallery. The excellent RPS Catalogue which contains every image from the show is also on sale at £10 from the Bonhoga gift shop.

Below, photo credits from top:

1. Orange Season by Shen Liya, China
2. Forgetful Heart by Justin Orwin, UK
3. Don’t Give Me Any More! by Paul Wenham-Clarke, UK
4. Craftsman by Bob Moore, UK
5. The Goalie by Bob Thomas, UK – Winner Bronze Award
6. Child’s Play by Charley Murrell, UK –Winner Gold Award Under 25 Years
7. Time and Life by Li Feng, China

No Sleep ‘Til Yell is the title of the documentary filmed during last year’s 30th Shetland Folk Festival which premieres tonight on BBC2 at 10.00pm. This is a multiple exposure photograph I took of Swedish folk band Väsen in action on stage at Scalloway Hall on the opening night of last year’s festival.

To quote from the press release:

This Hopscotch Films Production for BBC Scotland’s ArtWorks strand follows the music and the madness. As the narrator notes in the opening minutes: “The Shetland Folk Festival is 30 years old…and still behaving like an unruly teenager.” The tone for the Festival is set onboard the overnight NorthLink ferry bringing the musicians to Shetland from Aberdeen. Before the boat has even left the harbour the fiddles are out and by the time it has hit the open sea a session is in full flow. Chair of the festival Christine Fordyce says: “There are many, many times that musicians have gotten off the boat without being in their cabin except to pick up their bag again. There’s sometimes not very much sleep that happens on the boat.”

The Shetland Folk Festival demands great stamina from its performers. For four days the music doesn’t stop. As well as showing on-stage performances the film features performances on a roll-on roll-off ferry, on a bus, on staircases, in a living room and in a back garden. World class music and top-notch carousing aside, the film captures that what makes this festival unique is the extent to which it is integrated into the wider community. The Folk Festival is part of the fabric of Shetland life. It is run entirely by local volunteers and all the visiting performers stay with local families in their homes rather than in hotels. Lasting friendships are formed between the performers and their hosts. Shetlander Davie Gardner is still in regular contact with former house guest Elvis Costello, who stayed with him as long ago as 1988.

The film features Bluegrass, Country and Indian Classical, as well as folk music from Sweden, Shetland, Scotland and Ireland. It also pays tribute to the fiddling tradition of Shetland, largely nurtured by the festival’s co-founder Tom Anderson. Seth Travins, from American band The Wiyos, says: “There are so many diverse groups …it’s not just Celtic music, Americana or swing… the diversity of all the groups really is inspiring.”

End quote.

Only 72 days to the 31st Shetland Folk Festival, advance memberships are to be in by the 25th February!

To view my photo review of the 30th Folk Festival click here.

For more information on the Shetland Folk Festival click here.