A Tale of Two Islands

Fair Isle, Shetland

Esturoy, Faroe

A Tale of Two Islands…or rather, two groups of islands. I’ve spent most of my first week in Shetland finding out about the culture and music of these islands. One thing recurs again and again, whether it be through reading or in talking to people: closeness to the Faroes. This manifests itself in so many ways:

• Musically – shared forms, e.g. the Shetland Veesek or Faroese Visur: ballads where a solo narrator sings the story in the middle of a circle whilst the others clap or stamp in accompaniment.
• Linguistically – the old language Norn, used in Shetland and Orkney was a close relative to Faroese. Remnants of it can be seen in place names, with some road signs displaying the Norn name. Veeseks were Norn balads too.
• A shared way of life – I’ve met people in the sheep farming and wool trades, as well as seafarers, who speak with affection of trips they’ve made visiting counterparts in the Faroes.
• Bookshelves – whether in libraries or private homes place books from and about the islands alongside each other.

And yet there are no scheduled sailings or flights between Shetland and Faroe anymore, to everyone’s regret.

I’m in Unst now, practically close enough to wave to my friends in Torshavn and their music will form an important part of my programme here.

I went to church this morning and was welcomed warmly by this close community. It’s lovely to feel I have a team around me for this concert. It’s going to be a great week playing music in homes for the sheer joy of it, making music with the young people up at the school and learning about the Shetland musical tradition.

Between weathers, as they say here, I’m managing to explore the islands by bike. Usually that means 8mph one way and 25mph the other, thanks to the wind!!