Ish
7th October 2022
Spaceship, Hastings, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers. Photography by Jessie Broad.
In the same vein as the Common Room having an upstart sibling the Hawkes Bay Arts Festival has a scrappy and pugnacious cousin, in the form of Fringe In the Stings, (aka FITS, for the cool kids). This generally takes place in the two weekends prior to the other event, and sees a diverse bunch of performers doing their thing at venues around the city, largely focused on Spaceship, but also straying wider from time to time, as is the wont of the unruly. Events in the calendar range from baroque to burlesque, cabaret to comedy, theatre to thrash metal, and give an outlet for much diversity and quirkier stuff than will fit in to the rarefied arena of the Festival proper.
As part of this programme, the congregation of (musical) magpies that is Ish performed at FITS Central, aka Spaceship. This represents a full circle for them, having performed (in their debut, no less!) in this same context 2 years ago, and last year played with the big people in the main Festival. Back to the roots tonight though, in what can only be a demonstration of their versatility.
So, to the performance itself: nothing less than the joyous distillation of the essence of folk music from a wide range of settings that is this outfit’s trademark! Drawing inspiration from a geographical and historical scope ranging loosely around a European/Middle Eastern/North African base, this polymathic pack provide pointers to the common origins of much of this music. Their sound is a confluence of otherwise diverse traditions, one that can transport the listener in an instant from the souks of Morocco to the fjords of Scandinavia, from the time of the Napoleonic wars (and further back) through to the present – and often multiple points between.
The performance commenced with an acapella number, as the band took the stage one by one, before kicking in to an entrancing flute-led melody, and continued through the points referenced above before the final arrival at a rowdy klezmer number, one progressively gaining speed until the players were at risk of no longer being able to keep up! Having pushed against physical limits, they then tested temporal ones also, responding to calls for an encore by bravely exceeding their allotted time – such is the rebellious spirit summoned by this music. Leaving us wanting more, like all the best encounters, the collective then dissipated, to return on their metaphorical flying carpets at some point in our joint future!
Were you there at Spaceship for this great performance? Or have you seen Ish perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.
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