duggup

Bodega’s members met at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, Plockton, Scotland, in 2004, fired up as a band in 2005, played at Cropredy 2006 and wowed the audience and then won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards in 2006! (Going well isn’t it.)

To find out what the fuss is about head over to their website at http://www.myspace.com/musicbodega and have a listen to “Crooked Jack”. The song is an old favourite of mine, but this is instrumentally so much better than any other version I can think of. From the guitar and percussion at the beginning to the clever instumental arrangement you are never left thinking that they are being a  a bit clever, they are just playing to the limits. The vocals also are a delight. You can hear from this track and the rest of the music on offer that they carefully tread the line between “the tradition” and innovation.

Make sure you don’t miss “Wagon Wheel”, it’s a great reworking of the Bob Dylan track and Tia Files on bass really rocks. This is probably why they are typically being billed as a ‘traditional Celtic band with a contemporary twist.

Since 2006, the band have had a hectic schedule. They’ve continued their formal musical education in a range of Scottish venues, toured extensively and finished recording their self titled début album bodega.

They have a repertoire of original Gaelic compositions and American folk tunes, with a wide array of instruments available to them and an approach to traditional music that is extremely exciting. If this band is representative of the quality of musician that the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music turns out, then I think that Scottish music is going to be around for a long time to come.

Bodega are Gillian Chalmers on pipes and whistle; Ross Couper on fiddle; Tia Files on acoustic and bass guitar; Norrie MacIver on accordion, guitar, djembe, vocals; and June Naylor on clarsach and piano.

For those of you in Glasgow, Bodega are supporting “Moving Hearts” at the Royal Concert Hall on January 24th 2008. Let me know if you get along to the show.

Highly recommended.