News / Fiddlers entertain the masses down under
SHETLAND fiddlers Hjaltibonhoga have reached the midway point of their stint down under as part of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Led by Margaret Robertson, the fiddle collective have just completed their fifth show in Melbourne and are now beginning their next set of rehearsals in Wellington.
Hjaltibonhoga’s first rehearsals after arriving in Australia were spread over four days and saw the Shetlanders joining forces with the Melbourne Fiddlers, who visited Shetland last autumn, to form a 45-plus string section for the Melbourne shows.
Rehearsals took place at the Mooney Valley race course in the city and saw bands and groups spread out over the buildings and grounds rehearsing music, dance steps and drills.
Group member Jillian Copland described the rehearsals as “extensive but very worthwhile and enjoyable”, adding that “the heat alongside of the day-long rehearsals allowed us to prove our staying power with the military bands”.
Performances began on Friday, with five shows taking place over the weekend in the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. The stadium seated crowds of 35,000 and included a life-size replica of Edinburgh Castle at one end, providing a Tattoo experience on a much larger scale than that in the Scottish capital for both audience and performers.
The tour is an amalgamation of bands and groups form the 2014 and 2015 Edinburgh Tattoo casts, which has made the experience feel “very much like a reunion” for participants. Hjalitbonhoga have been playing alongside another 900-plus military musicians and pipers.
Fiddler Maggie Adamson spoke of her enthusiasm for taking part: “Who could refuse a stadium gig to 35,000 standing in front of the biggest live band in the world?”
Group member Helen Whitham said that at first she “couldn’t comprehend just how vast the Etihad Stadium” was.
“The sight of so many people intently focused on the arena floor was hard to take in, and only really sunk in after I had the first three shows under my belt,” she said. “My favourite moment was the last performance on Sunday night, I decided to really enjoy our last show in Melbourne and go out with a bang! Which I think we did.”
Copland said one of her favourite points in the show is “when we are waiting at the draw bridge to enter for Hector the Hero, and we hear Margaret on the stadium floor playing solo fiddle”.
“After all the hard work that Margaret has put into the tattoo and the overseas tattoo this gives her her moment of well-deserved limelight, it’s incredibly emotional and makes us all very proud of her.”
Another of the band members, Marjolein Robertson, said that even with a 1,300-strong cast there was “this great harmony and enthusiasm throughout that you just cannot fault”.
“I have never been anywhere, nor can I imagine anywhere, where you can turn around to the stranger next to you and start a conversation and every time be greeted with warmth and interest.”
Now the Hjaltibonhoga fiddlers have arrived in Wellington, New Zealand and are embarking on another week of rehearsals. The group are again joined by more fiddlers, this time New Zealanders, to increase the numbers, and everyone is practicing hard to be ready for the first show on Thursday.
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