Cameroonian Muntu Valdo does that thing where you take a Enterprise-scale board of effects and use them to make your-solo-self sound like a full band. And, as with every time you’ve seen this done, the effects can be varied. The opening acapella number where he builds himself into a full choir is astounding. The first number he does with his guitar, in addition to playing rhythm and lead (several times), he’s beating it like a percussion instrument is impressive and entertaining.
By the time he hits the third number, you’re kinda wishing he’d scrap the gimmick. Sadly when he does, it’s for some really bog standard old blues-y songs. Stuff that could do with some perking up. Even a guest spot from Roberts fails to lift the pedestrian material.
But, it is testament to how endearing a performer Valdo is that as he returns to his sorcerers (as he calls his pedals), he’s managed to get a slightly reticent Celtic Connections audience not only clapping along but also singing. Maybe if he got the balance right, you’d have been doing so from the off.
Alasdair Roberts carries the torch of traditional song so we don’t have to. He is one third of University of Edinburgh’s Archive Trails project. Which is useful, as it means he can lecture us on the provenance of each song during the interminable periods of guitar tuning between them.
There’s something about Roberts’ tradder-than-trad approach to folk music that’s always suggested to you that he might go full circle and find himself on the cutting edge. This has been the tension that has made his last few records seem just so essential. Tonight, it’s not there. Everything seems a little stuffy, maybe downright musty. The band play like they’ve been up since the festival started. This lends itself to some downright louche passages, but never really takes off.
Ironically, it’s left to a reciprocated guest appearance from Valdo to be about the only glimpse of boundaries being nudged at. Unfortunately, that’s on the opening number. Guess it’s time to give up on that dream of Roberts taking Scottish folk into the same territory as the alt-country movement in the states and just accept that he wants to curate museum pieces. Which, he is making a damn fine job of.