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"Let's go tae some Polynesian Island/Where it's never freezin' Warm melodies from
cold, wet islesBy Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com
Lovers wed there every season/By the coral sea
But I'm a' peely-wally white/And my bikini's gettin' tight
And you are no' a bonny sight/In trunks a size too wee."That humorous and telling verse from "Whaur Will We Gang?" sums up the Battlefield Band's love of travel, easygoing demeanor and origins in that land of intemperate climes.
The song is included on the band's latest CD. Although Scotland was enjoying consecutive days of what band member Alan Reid calls "hazy sunshine" on the day we spoke, he's hoping for a little more sunshine when the Battlefield Band makes its fourth visit to the islands next week.
"The first one was 12 years ago, as part of trip we made going out to New Zealand. Three-four years afterward, we did concerts at the Academy of Arts and in Hilo, and, after that, two concerts on the Big Island, one at BYU-Laie and Lihue, Kauai. With every visit, it's our intentions to circumnavigate more of the Hawaiian islands!"
Named after the Glasgow suburb in which it was founded, the Battlefield Band is made up of stalwart multi-instrumentalists who've kept true to their country's Gaelic and Celtic roots for about 30 years, taking the sound worldwide. Visits to Hawaii have always been rewarding.
"I found it initially surprising that we got an audience at t'all in Hawaii," Reid said, "both surprised and delighted. The Honolulu audience, in particular, has always been a large, enthusiastic and, indeed, knowledgeable one. And it's heartening to always come back and to see the audience grow, both in Honolulu and on the other islands. And it's not just Caucasians, but a mixture, as it should be. The hospitality's been great!
"The reason, I think, our music does well in Hawaii is that there are lots of islands in Scotland as well," he said. "Even though we have a very wet and cold climate, people have led hard lives, and music was one way of expressing themselves. It's very emotional and travels very well, even though people first exposed to the music ask 'what's a jig, what's a reel, where does one start and one end,' " he said.
"We have a shared experience in our relation with the indigenous music. We're also never far from the ocean, as people in Scotland are always 40 to 50 miles from the sea. And while visitors to Hawaii think it's a semi-paradise, and it's all hunky dory, I'm sure there's poverty there, with people living on the edge, hoping things can be better."
In addition to somber ballads, the Battlefield Band also performs rousing reels and hearty tavern tunes. Its current lineup include both an old friend and a young 'un.
Replacing Karine Polwart (the female vocalist and guitarist responsible for the above verse) is Pat Kilbride, who was with the band as early as 1976 to '78.
"Pat's had a checkered career," Reid said, "going from leaving the band to live and work first in Brittany, France, then to Belgium, to New York and then several years in London. His wife is the one who uproots them -- she works for a Spanish news agency -- and, in fact, they'll be moving to Madrid, Spain."
Pat replaces Karine, just as she replaced the late Davy Steele. Reid said Karine was getting homesick and bowed out after only a half year in 2001.
"Since we always kept in touch with Pat over the years via the folk music grapevine, he's rejoined us after around 25 years!"
Fiddler John McCusker, who joined the band in 1990 at age 17, is also no longer with the band, having opted for marriage and his own career. "Alasdair White joined us last summer, and he's all of 18 years," Reid said. Hailing from the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, part of a chain 60 miles off the Scottish coast "it's a place where the Gaelic language is still strong, and Alasdair is fluent in the language.
"As compared to someone like me, who was brought up with rock music and later gravitated to traditional music, Alasdair grew up hearing a lot of traditional music. He's well known in the islands, winning competitions when he was 12-13, a star in his own sphere. He not only plays with a pronounced style, but he also plays the cittern, banjo and the pipes. So you might be hearing some dueling pipes with our piper (American-born) Mike Katz."
Reid, who joined the Battlefield Band when he was 19, credits its longevity to maintaining their native culture. "Especially in the last 20 years of the band's existence, where it's been a steady lineup in terms of instrumentation." The basic sound of the band crystallized in the late '70s when Reid played the pump organ. He later switched to electronic keyboards when the Highland bagpipes were added.
"The band's taken on a life of its own and it's amazing, that in any sphere of music, a band like ours would last this long," he said, comparing his band to The Chieftains in that "we both have a strong identity with own respective Scottish and Irish cultures.
"Now I'm seeing a lot of young people writing and playing tradition-minded music with enthusiasm. I think that's partly due to seeing how we've stayed very true to the music all these years. Our strength is in playing traditional music, and deviating very little from it."
The band was touring the mainland a week before, with stops in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Michigan, "and to end up in Hawaii, well that's bingo, bullseye!"
Interisland tour: The Battlefield Band
Wednesday: 7:30 p.m. at the University of Hawaii-Hilo Theatre; call 974-7310
Thursday: 7 p.m. at the Kahilu Theatre; call 885-6868
April 12: 7:30 p.m. at Andrews Outdoor Theater, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Tickets are $15 general, $10 for students; call 956-6878
April 13: 7 p.m. at Kauai Community College Theatre; call 332-9323
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