22 May 2008

 

EXCITING LINE-UP FOR 2008

 

An exciting line-up of local and international events is in place for the 2008 Johnsmas Foy.  This year’s Foy will celebrate Shetland’s historic connection with the ports of the Hanseatic League, a partnership that dominated trade in the islands for more than 300 years.  Appropriately, musicians and poets from the Bremen area will be among those heading towards the isles for the Foy, which runs from 19 to 29 June.  Guest speakers will also explain the history of the Hanseatic trade connections with Germany and Norway.  However, this year’s Foy will also feature a wide range of other events, from food to sailing and from football to walking.   The Foy stretches from Unst to Fair Isle.

 

The musical programme ranges through traditional and contemporary fiddle, adventurous jazz and sublime classical playing.  Chris Stout has become one of Shetland’s best-known musical ambassadors and on his ‘Run North’ he and some very well-known musical friends will feature in three concerts during the Foy, in Lerwick, Fair Isle and Mid Yell.  They’ll have local players with them in Fair Isle and the Cullivoe Fiddlers will join them in Yell.

 

Jazz enthusiasts have a real treat in store.  Both the Bremen-based Ed Kröger Quintet and the very talented Shetland Youth Jazz will be making appearances.  Ed Kröger’s band is a truly international one, drawing its distinguished members from Bremen, Berlin, Paris and Detroit.

 

One of Scotland’s brightest young bands, Bodega, will be performing during the Foy, making appearances in Lerwick, Whalsay and at Fetlar’s own tenth anniversary Foy.  Faerd, a trio from Denmark, will be playing in Fair Isle and Lerwick and there will be German traditional music too, from Wolfgang Rieck.  From Norway, there will be a male voice shanty choir complete with accordionist, Shantykoret Cape Horn, who’ll be appearing in Unst, Whalsay and Lerwick.

 

Classical concerts also feature.  On the opening night, the Chroma Ensemble will be playing Stravinsky and Prokofiev in Lerwick Town Hall, a programme they’ll be repeating in Fair Isle.  On the last night of the Foy, Shetland’s own Neil Georgeson will be playing in the same venue, combining works by Bach, Schubert, Chopin and Prokofiev with some contemporary pieces, including one that combines piano with sounds from Jupiter, Saturn and other planets, recorded by NASA.

 

There will be lots to engage lovers of the spoken word.  There will be appearances by distinguished poet Sujata Bhatt, one of the judges for the 2008 T S Eliot Prize, and her husband, German writer Michael Augustin.  They will also be taking part in a workshop for local writers.  Talks about the Hanseatic trade, in both its German and Norwegian guises, will be given by two leading experts, Dr Mark Gardiner and Dr Knut Helle.

 

At the Shetland Museum and Archives, four artists - Ruth Brownlee, Sam MacDonald, Norman Gibson and Wendy Sutherland - will present an exhibition entitled Along the Edges, which explores where sea and land meet on three remote coasts, East Sutherland, Orkney and Shetland.  In Sellafirth, Yell, the Centre for Creative Industries will present another exhibition that interprets ‘A Descent Into The Maelstrom’, the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, through film by Heather Barnett, drawings by Ian Miller and a woven whirlpool sculpture by Lucy McMullen.

 

Out of doors, there will be something to appeal to everyone.  Sports fans are very well catered for.  Shetland will play the Highland League club, Deveronvale, at Gilbertson Park on 21 June and the Shetland Rugby Sevens will see Shetland players take on all comers at Clickimin over that weekend.  The Shetland Half-Marathon will be run from Cunningsburgh to Lerwick on Sunday 22 June.  Those who want some slightly gentler exercise during the Foy will have a choice of guided walks in Unst, Lerwick, Noss and Mousa.

 

There will be the usual full programme of events on the water and Lerwick harbour will be particularly colourful.  Participants in the Sjøassistanse Bergen–Shetland Races arrive in Lerwick over the first weekend and so do those involved in the Lombardini Marine 1000-mile Double Handed Race; it consists of five legs between the Netherlands, Newcastle, Bergen and Lerwick, finishing in Newcastle.  During the week of the Foy, there will be opportunities to sail on the Swan or the Dim Riv.  Other events include the parade of boats in Lerwick harbour, yoal races around Trondra and a service for lost fishermen in Whalsay.  At the Shetland Museum and Archives, another highlight will be the launching of the two boats – a sixareen and a haddock boat – that have been under construction over the winter, with opportunities to get afloat in them.

 

For the first four days of the Johnsmas Foy, Victoria Pier in Lerwick will, as usual, host Flavour of Shetland, with crafts, music and food.  On that first Saturday, too, there will be a Viking Parade and the Lerwick Summer Carnival.

 

Councillor Rick Nickerson, Spokesperson for Culture and Recreation, said, “This year’s programme shows that the Foy is going from strength to strength and there’s a superb range of events right across Shetland.  Featuring the links with the Hanseatic League and its connections with Shetland is a unique opportunity to highlight this era of our past.  We hope that local people and visitors will find the Foy interesting and rewarding.”

 

One of the Foy’s organisers, Alastair Hamilton, added that the events that will appear in the programme weren’t the end of the story.  “Several of the performers, including the Chroma Quartet and Faerd, will also be doing work with local schools while they’re here.”

 

Although it’s a celebration of midsummer and Shetland’s heritage and culture, the Johnsmas Foy is very much intended to help build Shetland’s reputation among those who are most likely to be interested in what the islands have to offer, whether they be purchasers of Shetland products, potential visitors or people who’d consider the isles as a place to settle and establish new businesses.

 

For a full event listing please visit the What's on page and click on the event headings for further details.  Some events will be free and some can be paid for at the door.  However, tickets for four Lerwick concerts, for which demand is expected to be particularly heavy, will be available from Islesburgh Box Office from Friday 30 May (Telephone 01595 692114).  The concerts concerned are those featuring the Chroma Ensemble on 19 June; Shantykoret Cape Horn, Michael Augustin, Sujata Bhatt, Wolfgang Rieck and Bodega on Thursday 26 June; The Ed Kröger Quintet and Chris Stout’s Run North on Saturday 28 June; and Neil Georgeson’s recital on Sunday 29 June.  Advance booking for all of these is strongly recommended.

 

For further information please contact:  Alastair Hamilton, Shetland Islands Council, tel: 01595 744924 or 07778 2318 or Email: