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ALTHOUGH the Crear (Kilberry) concert season does not officially begin until May, Kate Lithgow, Crear Artistic Director, took the splendid initiative to organise a New Year Supper concert on January 5, with a Quintet led by accordion supremo, Karen Tweed.
Karen was joined by her Finnish pianist, Timo Alakotila, Roger Tallroth (guitar), Stockholm based fiddler, Emma Reid, and Ursula Leveaux (bassoon), an unusual but highly successful ensemble.
Together they presented a wide-ranging programme of acoustic music to warm the soul. Traditional Scottish, Irish and Swedish tunes were presented in dazzling style, coupled with poetic sets of original tunes composed by Karen and other musical friends.
Four years ago, Karen and Timo recorded a most successful CD, May Monday and this Crear concert was part of a tour to launch a follow-up CD, Midnight May Monday, which is now available.
Nordic music figures large in Karen’s repertoire, although she first came to the fore in the late 1980’s as the Irish accordion champion. Since then, her career has taken many turns, notably as a leading member of The Poozies for many years until recently.
This was a splendid initiative by Crear, introducing many music lovers to a totally new genre of innovative music and the playing and originality of all the contributing musicians was of the highest order, ensuring a hugely enjoyable concert for the large audience of supper guests.
