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Review by Garden
Sessions.
The Fringe is not a showcase
of talents. Rather it is like a vast artistic stock-exchange
in which those who shout the loudest are noticed, and
a very small number of lucky investors make their fortune.
For an artist like Frank
Burkitt, without naked women or juggling racist dwarfs
to garner attention you can't help but want to scream
at people in the street to come and listen. Yet Burkitt
doesn't shout, and even on stage he has that quality of
profound modesty lacking in so many. This is just a part
of what made his Saturday night opener at Sweet ECA so
refreshing, in spite of a (relatively) lean audience.
Most Garden Sessions fans,
or even casual listeners, will be familiar with Frank's
song writing, but to see the man play live is to see a
performer completely at one with his material. With an
elf-like grace he sways behind the microphone inviting,
but not cajoling, the audience into the bittersweet line
between fulfilment and sadness that his music inhabits.
With Kara Filibey's harmonies
and Chris Stone's frenetic fiddle virtuosity on either
side Frank has found an ideal trio to realise his often
challenging songs. Chris's remarkable technique and sensitivity
provide the ideal counterpoint to the singer's guitar
and vocal. The result are two at once subtle and dynamic
lead voices on stage, with both fiddle and voice demonstrating
a startlingly varied musical ability. Stone's ability
to quote from a myriad of styles, while adding to, not
dominating the songs, is a feat worthy of only the most
consummate of musicians.
To draw a comparison in
the time honored fashion with Frank Burkitt's music and
others is a slightly pointless exercise. Even the bracket
"singer songwriter" is a little to riddled with
self-indulgence to apply. He had the sadness of Nick Drake,
the dapper delivery of Sinatra, and a clutch of well-crafted
songs populated with the universal characters, aspirations
and human failings that are the timeless staple of folk
music. The simplicity of Frank's songs are what make them
so refreshing. As Woody Guthrie once pointed out, "complicated?
Any damn fool can be complicated." The ability to
write honest, accessible songs that have a poignancy and
lasting impression on a listener is extremely rare.
gardensessions.co.uk
Review by Leith
Folk Club, December 2007
Having heard Chris play
at the club earlier in the year with Aussie band Eilean
Mor, we were eagerly anticipating the return visit of
their dazzling barefoot young fiddle player, this time
in the company of Frank Burkitt, a lad who is building
a reputation as a strong and inventive songwriter and
performer.
We weren't disappointed. Frank led the show with song
after wonderful song delivered in his own confident, easy
style. Chris was always there by his side, weaving effortlessly
in and out of the melody. He is one of those musicians
that defy description: while the style is unquestionably
Celtic, one minute there's a jazzy Parisian lick, next
there's an arpeggio that could be from one of the Bach
violin concertos. Leith Folk Club has been graced by some
of the best fiddle players in the world - Chris Stout,
Tommy Peoples, Casey Driessen to name a few, and Chris
Stone could take his place beside any of them.
And yet, despite the quality of the material and the musicianship,
it was the arrangements that really shone through this
evening. It was very clear that this was a band who had
spend many long hours working on their set: Holly Downes
on the double bass and Kara Filby singing backing were
always there providing depth and structure, always on
time, always in perfect harmony.
All in all this was a delightful evening, and a fitting
end to a great year at Leith Folk Club.
leithfolkclub.org
myspace.com/leithfolkclub
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