On Safari

A bit silly title, but a smashing recording by young Scottish group Keep It Up. The members are: Simon Thoumire (concertina), Eilidh Shaw (fiddle & vocals), Malcolm Stitt (bouzoukie), Kevin MacKenzie (guitar).

Their first album was quiet, and Simon Thoumire and Eilidh Shaw’s sweet concertina and fiddle duet reminded me of that of Jackie Daly and Kevin Burke. But the members become all aggressive on some tracks of this new recording. You will hear Simon’s both traditional and modern sides.

See more details at: http://www.footstompin.com/music/celtic_bands/on_safari

Don’t want to brag, but I’m very broad that the group includes a tune I made on this recording. The tune is “Biodag Cailein” or “Colin’s Dirk”, named after my piping teacher’s antique, gold plated dirk. The tune was published by Barry Shears in his third collection of tunes. You can get the book from Paul Cranford: http://www.cranfordpub.com/index.htm
Or the man himself: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/caper/
Simon picked up the book on a recent trip to Cape Breton.
You can also get copies from Footstompin’ in Scotland.