Fara Queen's Hall Edinburgh 27th September 2025 Review
Fara were at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight as part of the band’s 10th anniversary celebrations and, as you would expect, this show was a little bit of a nostalgia trip for the band. Performed tonight was a selection of music from their three studio albums -”Cross the Line” (2016), “Times From Times Fall”(2018) and “Energy Islands”(2022), plus the during COVID, Orkney series, and a lot of memories of growing up and living on Orkney.
Taking their name from a nearby islet in Scapa Flow, Fara the band today is still comprised of original founding fiddlers/vocalists/frontwomen from Orkney - Jeana Leslie, Catriona Price and Kristan Harvey. The fourth member of the band since 2019 is Highland pianist Rory Matheson who took over this role from original fourth band member Jennifer Austin when she moved onto other projects.
As a band, Fara have their roots firmly grounded in traditional Orkney music, but they have also managed to create their own contemporary music sound that seamlessly combines the best of the old and the new. With a warm and friendly introduction from Jeana Leslie, the opening set began with a set of tunes from the second album then moved onto “Fair Winds” from the Orkney series and a charming story about Brinkie’s Brae and the wise-woman Bessie Millie who made a good income promising departing sea farers that they would have the fortune of good weather on their journey.
The landscape, the folk history, and the poetry of Orkney are very much a part of the music of Fara, and several songs tonight were the band’s musical interpretation of these words with Jeana Leslie as lead vocalist on them. The Orcadian language was also celebrated in music here, in particular the song “Speir Thoo The Wast Wind”, or “Talk To The Wind”, a more than apt reply from someone who was asked the question of when her beloved would return from his sea voyage.
There is a lot of humour in the songs of Fara, including a song about a bar cocktail “Speedy Vimpto” and wind-turbines (Orkney has a lot of wind-turbines) -“Turbine Down”.
As you would maybe expect, one of the landscape’s great natural wonders, the northern lights, was celebrated in a song of the same name, but perhaps the most surprising song of the evening was the band’s arrangement of the Joe South classic – “Games People Play”. Another surprise this evening (for me anyhow) was discovering just how much American Blues and Country music has influenced the people of Orkney, as over the years they often found it easier to pick up these radio signals from America than the mainland UK and Europe.
Fara as individuals and as a band have that warmth and humour that only really happens when everyone has known one another for a long time, and in this case sometimes from childhood. That cannot be manufactured and sharing that warm and humour of their friendship as well as their music with their audiences is obviously a very large part of why this band has been so successful over the years.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Taking their name from a nearby islet in Scapa Flow, Fara the band today is still comprised of original founding fiddlers/vocalists/frontwomen from Orkney - Jeana Leslie, Catriona Price and Kristan Harvey. The fourth member of the band since 2019 is Highland pianist Rory Matheson who took over this role from original fourth band member Jennifer Austin when she moved onto other projects.
As a band, Fara have their roots firmly grounded in traditional Orkney music, but they have also managed to create their own contemporary music sound that seamlessly combines the best of the old and the new. With a warm and friendly introduction from Jeana Leslie, the opening set began with a set of tunes from the second album then moved onto “Fair Winds” from the Orkney series and a charming story about Brinkie’s Brae and the wise-woman Bessie Millie who made a good income promising departing sea farers that they would have the fortune of good weather on their journey.
The landscape, the folk history, and the poetry of Orkney are very much a part of the music of Fara, and several songs tonight were the band’s musical interpretation of these words with Jeana Leslie as lead vocalist on them. The Orcadian language was also celebrated in music here, in particular the song “Speir Thoo The Wast Wind”, or “Talk To The Wind”, a more than apt reply from someone who was asked the question of when her beloved would return from his sea voyage.
There is a lot of humour in the songs of Fara, including a song about a bar cocktail “Speedy Vimpto” and wind-turbines (Orkney has a lot of wind-turbines) -“Turbine Down”.
As you would maybe expect, one of the landscape’s great natural wonders, the northern lights, was celebrated in a song of the same name, but perhaps the most surprising song of the evening was the band’s arrangement of the Joe South classic – “Games People Play”. Another surprise this evening (for me anyhow) was discovering just how much American Blues and Country music has influenced the people of Orkney, as over the years they often found it easier to pick up these radio signals from America than the mainland UK and Europe.
Fara as individuals and as a band have that warmth and humour that only really happens when everyone has known one another for a long time, and in this case sometimes from childhood. That cannot be manufactured and sharing that warm and humour of their friendship as well as their music with their audiences is obviously a very large part of why this band has been so successful over the years.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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