Bodega

The band met at that ferocious hothouse of youthful talent that calls itself the National Centre of Traditional Music...Bodega is highly talented and versatile, and together their music has a kind of fierce energy, imagination, and joie de vivre, that you just don’t hear very often. They do songs brilliantly. They do tunes Superbly. They sing in Gaelic and English. They’re funky, yet respectful of traditions. They improvise. What don’t they do? They don’t do dull and predictable...” ....Collectively, they may just be the future of traditional music”.

Jack Evans

Bodega is a young, five piece band drawn from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The band was formed in March 2005 while all five members were attending high school at The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music. They were the winners of the BBC Radio2 Young Folk Band award for 2005/06 and released their first self titled debut Cd on Greentrax in 2006 Since then, the band has played at most of the prominent UK festivals including Celtic Connections 06,07 and 08 where they shared the stage at a major concert with Moving Hearts. The have toured France, Italy and Norway with returns to all in the near future. The band also had two very successful US tours in the Spring and Fall of 2007 , performing at the Old Songs Festival, Summerfest in New Bedford, the Cincinnati Celtic Festival and Celtic Classic in Bethlehem. They will be returning to NA in the summer and fall of 2008 to participate in the Celtic College and festival in Goderich On, the Milwaukee Irish Festival, the Chicago Celtic Festival and a return to Bethlehem for the Celtic Festival. They will also be doing some major concert venues during those tours.

Gillian Chalmers is a piper, fiddler and whistle player from Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire and was one of the original students to be accepted at The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music when it was opened in 2000. Gillian has competed on the solo piping circuit since she was 9, winning many notable competitions. She is now studying in the BA Scottish Studies (Piping)Progam at the RSAMD.

Ross Couper is a highly regarded young fiddler from a well known Shetland musical family. Ross is also well known as a drummer and guitarist. Playing fiddle since age 4, Ross, already has an extensive CV and is no stranger to performing, having played all over Scotland, Scandinavia and mainland Europe with several different bands. He is currently living in Newcastle and attending University for Traditional Music

Tia Files is a mult-instrumentalist from Oban. In Bodega, Tia focuses on rhythm with acoustic guitar and bass guitar, but is a highly-talented piper, fiddler and drummer too. Her future plans include instrument making and maybe a return to the piping competition circuit.

Norrie MacIver from Carloway in Lewis is widely known for his prize winning Gaelic singing and is another multi-instrumentalist who plays accordion, guitar and djembe. Norrie is now attending the RSAMD where he is studying for a BA in Scottish Music with well known Gaelic singer, Kenna Campbell

June Naylor is a Clarsach and piano player from Uig, Isle of Skye. Although only playing Clarsach for 5 years, June has been a very successful prize winner at The Royal National MOD over the past few years. besides playing with the band, she is a highly sought after solo musician and is now attending Strathclyde University, studying the BA Applied Music Course

Reviews:

Croppedy Festival 2006

The cold, rainy depression that haunted the morning faded around lunchtime, and soon The Red Lion, the village pub where hedonists swarm around the tombstones in the church opposite necking Magners and real ale, was doing a roaring trade.

Geoff Hughes, that toothless fat bloke from Heartbeat and who played Onslo in Keeping Up Appearances, was today's compere on a day that held the most musical promise of the three.

Fairport are so very good to us. While the celebration of acoustic roots music with a few jigs thrown in comes first, Nicol, Pegg and the guys know that each year a mindless rock band must play to give proceedings a good kick up the arse. Thus Friday's opening act was Shameless Quo. No more than a bit of fun to wake up the masses, they attracted a surprisingly large crowd for a noon start – probably because they are one of the few bands playing here whose songs the audience can be sure of knowing. What's more, Francis Rissole and Rick Profit proved to be substantially better musicians than the real Quo.

Their novelty was slim. But soon the crowd had swelled to witness Bodega, a five-piece aged between 17 and 19 who hail from various remote climes of Scotland. Geoff Hughes said of them in overly dramatic terms: "When you see young talent like this, you know the future of folk music is in good hands". And granted, they were fantastically good.

Perhaps Scotland's answer to Nickel Creek, Bodega are sickeningly proficient in their playing of busy Gaelic music and have a confident and good natured manner on stage. Backstage, they were a bit more reserved.

"It was a huge buzz, what with twenty-thousand people in the audience" said vocalist and djembe player Norrie Maciver. "It’s a privilege to play here".

On keeping folk music alive among young people, fiddler Ross Cooper said: "A younger audience will appreciate us more because it's music coming from their own age group".

Good point. Sometimes the wrinkles in Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span seem so old and remote as to be impenetrable to the young. The energy and fun Bodega put into their own music should connect with a youthful audience, hopefully proving Geoff Hughes correct.

Hebridean Celtic Festival July 2006

Bodega have an impressive C.V. The young five-piece who hail from various corners of Scotland, first met and began playing together in 2005 at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton, near Skye.

It was there that they entered and promptly won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2006, typically billed as a 'traditional Celtic band with a contemporary twist.' Since then, the band have had a hectic schedule. They've continued their musical education in a range of Scottish venues, toured extensively and recently finished recording their début Album, Bodega (set for release in August.)

Watching the band prepare for a live radio set in Stornoway's Woodlands Centre café, it was hard to tally this reputation with the subdued 17 and 18 year olds. Even June Naylor, the band's quiet and polite clarsach player, expressed surprise at the band's stellar success, saying of the Young Folk Awards, "I don't know how we did it, but we managed to win!"

But, as soon as the quintet took to the stage in An Lanntair for their first Lewis gig, the hype suddenly made sense. They clearly live for music and love playing together. They delivered a fantastic mix of original Gaelic compositions and American folk tunes, with a wide array of instruments including fiddles, guitar, pipes and djembe. Their fingers were lightening-fast, their voices harmonised perfectly and their performance seemed, to an untrained-musician like me, to be note perfect. The lead singer, Lewis's Norrie MacIver, was particularly memorable, with his mature, powerful voice and hilarious banter!

Bodega certainly ensured everyone had a great time, encouraging much clapping, feet-stamping and a sing along to Bob Dylan's Wagon Wheel. The fact the band managed to break no less than two strings during their short and often frantic set, is testament to the sheer fun of the evening.

More than this, though, the band 'does what it says on the tin.' In fact, they do more than that. Their approach to traditional music is extremely exciting. It has an edge which has to be seen to be understood. And, if there's any justice, people will flock to see them. These guys deserve to be bigger than Franz Ferdinand!

Susan Szymborski