PICTURES

FAIRPORT CONVENTION

FESTIVAL DI TORRECHIARA 2003

36 years! That is precisely how long Fairport Convention has been together. It’s quite an outstanding achievement and a testament to all the musicians involved that they have given so much pleasure to audiences around the world for so long, and that it has been considered worthwhile to keep the band going under sometimes very trying circumstances. Their influence in the folk rock world could not be underestimated, either. So obviously, this is a landmark worth commemorating with a new album. What approach to take, though? Everything about Fairport Convention is very much done on its own terms - from its attitude to music making, through to physical aspects such as having its own studio, record label and festival. Most important of all is that Fairport has always had its own sound and spirit, which has changed and varied over the years but always managed to remain distinctive.

There is a huge back catalogue to exploit, but at the same time Fairport recognises that to rely purely on past glories is to stagnate, and so new material must be regularly found. Oddly enough for a band of this longevity, there were complaints in recent years of not enough older songs being included in the repertoire, so there is obviously a market for material from the band’s past in the current repertoire. So the present line-up has reintroduced some of these songs on the new repertoire.

The current Fairport consists of Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar), Dave Pegg (bass, vocals), Ric Sanders (violin, piano), Chris Leslie (vocals, mandolin, violin) and Gerry Conway (drums, percussion). In one way or another, they have all been involved with the band for many years and combine to create a strong line-up indeed. An unusual one too, in the sense that there is no main lead guitarist -- Nicol tends to play more acoustic than electric guitar and generally sticks to rhythm, with the mandolin and/or violin usually given the lead parts. But Fairport has always worked to its strengths and the arrangements make the most of the current instrumentation, without the feeling that anything is particularly lacking.

In the world of rock veterans on the live circuit, there are varying degrees and implications. When the Rolling Stones come to a city near us soon, it will be with the awareness that the 40-year-old band represents a time and a sound gone by, dating from the 1960s and ‘70s. They wear their venerability proudly, just as Keith Richards flaunts his weathered skin like a badge of honour on the current cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

In areas of music less about youthful abandon, such as folk and jazz, age is a more relative matter. And so, when Fairport Convention play on stage the music never seemed like a waltz through nostalgia. As charter member and lead singer Simon Nicol said, after a brisk opening instrumental, Fairport Convention “is a working band. It isn’t a tribute orchestra…we are the real thing and surprisingly, creaking through our 36th year in the business”.

This seminal folk-rock band probably sounds so fresh and fashion-free because it was never locked into its own time from the outset. Jacqui McShee, vocal soloist with the legendary Pentangle and John Renbourn Group will bring an additional sparkle to the evening at Torrechiara, appearing as a special guest star. Her presence transforms the concert into a unique musical event: for years Pentangle have been both friends and “rivals” of Fairport Convention since they too are at the forefront of an innovative re-reading of folk music, in their case leaning more towards jazz.

Listening to them perform inside Torrechiara Castle will be an emotional affair: the walls and our souls reverberating with their poetry and energy. Not to be missed.

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