Celtic Connections

Shooglenifty: A Night for Angus

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Rob Adams

FOUR STARS

Not for the first time Celtic Connections brought fellow musicians, family, friends and fans together to honour a life that ended too soon. Sometimes it truly seems as if some higher programming authority is at work.

Angus R Grant’s was a life well lived. Just from the very droll allusions to serial postal addresses in Ross Martin’s splendid narrative as master of ceremonies, anyone unfamiliar with the kenspeckle Shooglenifty fiddler would soon have realised we were here to celebrate a character.

It was, as the evening generously broadcast, a life lived through music, much of it played in sessions with the players from various howffs present. From Lochaber to Leith to Birnam to Galicia to India, Grant roamed in search of a tune, and in Galicia not only did he find the inspiration for one of his – and Shooglenifty’s – best loved tunes, 250 to Vigo, but another of the band’s favourites, Venus in Tweeds apparently did wonders for the local birth rate.

In return, Galicia’s contribution here was vibrant and beyond life-affirming, all vocal verve and percussive energy. Gaelic puirt a beul and Rajasthani praise singing, Talking Heads, courtesy of Grant’s sister, Fiona, niece Eva and crew, and the inimitable, bagpipe-influenced fiddle style of his father, Aonghas coexisted naturally in a programme that also delivered fiddlers galore to play Grant’s lines, if not presume to fill his shoes, as the Shooglenifty groove shuffled and shoogled.

As Grant’s back-projected image was repeatedly saluted, two more moments stood out: Duncan Chisholm’s heartfelt solo fiddle first-half coda and Allan MacDonald’s lone piper second-half intro, both the very definition of soul music.