cairn string quartet silhouetted by morning sun

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February 23, 2010

Haiti Review

Often big events, like the Dundee Concert For Haiti, fail to live up to the hype (writes David Clegg, GrapeVine writer).
But Saturday night at Fat Sam’s delivered everything we could have hoped for and more.
The fundraising gig, organised jointly by the Tele, sister paper The Courier and the venue, was a brilliant success from start to finish, with every musician that took part doing themselves and the city proud.

The collaboration between The View, The Law and Luva Anna, known as The Lavvie Wall Nun, will long live in the memory — just as will the concert itself.

The spectacle of seeing so many talented musicians, all born and bred in the city, coming together on one stage was a joy to behold and reinforced what a wonderful period for local music we are enjoying.

Other highlights included Michael Marra, giving a special performance with The Hazey Janes, and an impromptu collaboration between Sheffield six-piece Dead Like Harry and the Cairn String Quartet.

The two acts met for the first time at the venue that day, but managed to put together a lovely string score for one of the band’s new album tracks, Cross The Water.

The Glasgow contingent — Tommy Reilly and Roddy Hart — were also a great addition to the show, individually wowing the crowd on the level one stage and leaving screaming teenagers in their wake.

Other musical highlights included Revolver, Miami Vince and Lost Todorovs, while comic relief was provided by Italian/Scots singer songwriter Roberto Cassani and BBC’s spoof camp soldier Gary Tank Commander.

Hosts Jim Gellatly and Martel Maxwell also deserve praise for their witty and entertaining introductions to each act and for managing to deflect attention from the organised chaos going on around them.

But the most poignant moment of the night came when former Dundee man Angus Keith, who works as a regional security officer for the UN in Haiti, and his Haitian wife Martine (the couple are pictured below) described how the country is coping in the wake of the disaster.

“The immediate aftermath was chaos,” said Angus. “No infrastructure, water or food. People wandered about in a daze, stunned.”

His words were a sobering reminder of why everyone was there, and why so many people put in so much effort to make it happen.

I personally would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped out, no matter how big or small their role.

The final financial tally won’t be ready until later this week, but we are hoping to match the around £15,000 raised by the tsunami fundraiser in 2005.

Well done, Dundee.lefty and friends fi and am

Hey girls,
Just a wee note to say a huge thanks for helping to make last night such a fantastic success, it really was a joy seeing you on stage and in the VIP bit having such a good time.
You were a big hit with all the bands and the audience really enjoyed your stuff too.
Thanks for being such good sports and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did.
It was great meeting you all and hopefully I’ll catch you playing somewhere in the near future and say hello…looks like we raised just over £14,000 for the cause…
Thanks again for everything and good luck with the quartet, sure we’ll be seeing you on Telly on the main stage at Glastonbury or T in the Park soon.

Cheers again, Alan.



February 13, 2010

Cairns added to Dundee Concert for Haiti Line Up

Dundee Concert for Haiti: February 12, Courier: “Odd couple join Haiti gig line-up”
Yesterday at 9:09am
By Alan Wilson, Rocktalk writer

A string quartet and a fake-tan wearing camp soldier are the unlikeliest partners, but it could come to pass after Greg (Gary Tank Commander) McHugh and the Cairn String Quartet were last night added to the bill for the Dundee Concert for Haiti.

Whether the two acts actually set foot on the same stage at the same time matters little, as they set the seal on a tremendous line-up of talent appearing at the concert at Fat Sam’s on Saturday, February 20.

Greg, whose cult BBC 2 show as the camp tank commander on spoof operations at home and in Iraq has endeared him to thousands of Scottish viewers, was delighted to say yes when contacted yesterday.

“I was actively looking to do something for the fund-raising effort because it’s a good cause,” Greg said.
“I haven’t been doing many live shows because I have a lot of work on at the moment but this is something I am very keen to do.

“My mum’s from Dundee so I know it well and it looks like a fantastic night at Fat Sam’s next week.”

Meanwhile the Cairn String Quartet are keen to hook up and add strings to whoever will have them on stage, having already performed with two of the concert’s other acts, Tommy Reilly and Roddy Hart.

It is a huge boost for the concert, which also features the cream of Dundee’s musical talent, including The View who are joining up with pals The Law to perform as LavvieWall, while Michael Marra and the Hazey Janes will perform together and the likes of Luva Anna, Lost Todorovs, Boogalusa and Sheffield band Dead Like Harry join the line-up.

Meanwhile Snow Patrol and Belle & Sebastian are also represented, with Tom Simpson and Richard Colburn providing DJ sets, and with hilarious Italian/Scots singer songwriter Roberto Cassani and Fife ska band Root System also on the bill, there will be laughs galore.

The event—organised by The Courier and sister paper the Evening Telegraph—has also been praised by charity partner Oxfam, who will collect the proceeds from the concert for their fund-raising effort for the tragedy, which happened a month ago today.

“Oxfam Scotland thanks Dundonians for their continued support for Haiti Earthquake Appeal,” said head of Oxfam Scotland Judith Robertson.

“The support shown so far by the people of Dundee for the Oxfam Haiti Appeal has been crucial in helping us carry out our life-saving work in the Caribbean Island.

“All the money raised so far has helped us distribute water, shelter and build toilets for thousands of people left homeless as a result of the devastating earthquake that hit one month ago today.

“But the needs in Haiti are still great. We now need a surge in effort to improve and increase shelter and sanitation facilities for people ahead of the rainy season, due to start in six weeks.”

She continued, “We’d like to thank the organisers—the Dundee Courier and Evening Telegraph—all the bands taking part, the businesses involved and the public who have bought tickets, for their amazing support.

“Around 230,000 people lost their lives on January 12. It is Oxfam’s priority to make sure that we don’t let that number grow.”

So far, Oxfam has provided assistance to about 100,000 Haitians and continues to scale up operations, planning to reach at least 500,000 people by the end of July.

Scots have contributed over £6 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Earthquake Appeal, of which Oxfam is a part.

People can donate by calling 0300 200 1999.

Tickets for the Dundee show are on sale from Groucho’s and Ticketmaster priced £15/£10 (over-14s).

There is also a Twitter page at twitter.com/dundee4haiti.