Graham Rorie – The Orcadians of Hudson Bay
Rumley Sounds – 28 May 2021
Growing up on Orkney, Graham Rorie was fascinated by the historical links between his home islands and the Hudson Bay area of northern Canada. Those links, both commercial and cultural, may come as much of a surprise to many of you as they were to me. Graham’s fascination survived his move to Glasgow to enrol on the traditional music degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the start of a professional music career as the fiddle player with award-winning quartet Gnoss. Over a period of four years, Graham expanded on his childhood curiosity, researching into the events and personalities while writing an eleven piece suite of traditionally inspired music. Notes from his research and compositions are now joined to form this inspired, thought-provoking album, The Orcadians of Hudson Bay.
The notes are presented in a 12-page booklet, illustrated by artwork from Jen Austin and divided into sections matched to each piece of music. It’s tempting to re-tell some of these intriguing stories, but that really would be stealing Graham’s thunder. So, the briefest of introductions to set the scene. For much of the 18th and 19th Centuries, the Hudson’s Bay Company held a monopoly of the fur trade in the region of Canada that gave the company its name. The steadily increasing trade between the company and both European and First Nations trappers naturally led to a matching growth in vessels making voyages across the North Atlantic. Westward bound, for many, their last port of call for supplies was the harbour at Stromness on Orkney’s Mainland. Many Orcadians were tempted to make the crossing, and most found themselves to be already well suited to working in the harsh conditions of the Canadian north. So successful were they that by 1800, 79% of the company’s employees were from Orkney. Graham’s music takes inspiration from, and is a tribute to, these Orcadians. Several are identified by name, but the titles of the pieces more often relate to places, events or aspects of their everyday lives, the music aimed at evoking appropriate emotions.
Having written the music, Graham had to assemble the musicians needed to bring it to life, and he’s succeeded spectacularly well. Graham himself plays Orcadian fiddle and electric tenor guitar; a second fiddle line comes from fellow Orcadian and Conservatoire graduate Kristan Harvey of Fara and Blazing Fiddles fame. Also from Fara, Rory Matheson adds piano, whilst Uist’s Padruig Morrison brings in accordion. Finally, two of the most in-demand musicians on today’s Glasgow scene, Breabach’s James Lindsay, double bass and The Shee’s Signy Jakobsdottir, drums and percussion, complete the band. There’s no doubting the trad. credentials of this grouping, and they shine through, right from the outset. But, individually, they also have decent track records for breaking out of the mould, so I was eager to hear the results of their collaboration.
The album opens with Fort Hope, the title being the name of a stone house built for winter accommodation by one of the most significant, but often ignored, figures linking Orkney with Hudson Bay, John Rae. The robust, possibly over-engineered, nature of his building is reflected in the stately initial pace of the music. From the outset, the important rôle that Signy’s rhythms will play throughout the album is established. The tune is taken by the fiddles, a solid, repetitive sequence that adds complexity as it continues but eventually gives way to a far lighter section. The drums take a back seat allowing piano and a single fiddle to create a different mood before the drums and initial fiddle motif return to take the piece to its climax.
Each of the 11 pieces evokes a mood that can be related to the people, places and events described in the notes. But, to gain a measure of the album’s strength, put aside those notes and listen to a suite of outstanding music, varying from a slow air to energetic jigs and reels and exhibiting superb musicianship throughout. Underpinning the musicianship lies the compositional talents of Graham Rorie, showing their quality time and again. He’s at home when scoring sparse passages; generally, it’s piano and fiddle that combine, or, in The Haven, for a particularly notable section, piano and double bass. While, in contrast, on many tracks, he’s excelled at conjuring an astounding depth and complexity of sound from a relatively limited palette of instruments.
York Boat, a track honouring one of the Company’s staple modes of transport, is a good example of the sextet’s big sound. There’s a resounding bass and drum line throughout, overlain initially by Padruig’s accordion but soon joined by piano and fiddle, creating interweaving versions of the melody. Somewhat more traditional sounding is Red River, the second section of which is a sprightly-paced reel and The Mouth of The Hudson Strait, two jigs introduced by piano and fiddle but mainly featuring accordion, making its presence felt above the, by now familiar, big-layered sound.
The final track, Giving Back, references some of the good things that came back to Orkney from Orcadians who prospered in Canada, particularly the building of schools to raise the standard of education on the islands. Musically, Giving Back comes across as a blend of Highland and Island tradition with the distinctly North American habit of putting a jaunty swing into fiddle-led tunes; I guess that also made the trip back eastwards.
These same six musicians premiered the work in concert at Celtic Connections 2020 and have now recorded it at GloWorm Recording in Glasgow with Andrea Gobbi in charge of both recording and mixing. Mastering was done in Bristol by Nick Cooke. The booklet gives enough information to set the scene for each piece of music but clearly only skims over the surface of all the tales that could be told of the relationships between the people and places involved. Fortunately, Graham has also provided details of a handful of the sources he used in his research. If the music and the stories have piqued your interest, as they have mine, these are pointers to plenty more material. But, put the history aside and you’re left with a suite of music that ranks amongst the best that’s recently come out of the Glasgow melting pot. There seems to be no end to the stream of innovative and adventurous young musicians that make that city their home.
The Orcadians of Hudson Bay is available to buy on CD and download via Bandcamp as well other major platforms now: https://ffm.to/theorcadiansofhudsonbay.opr