AK03: Vagabond Tales: Barrage at The Civic

By TIM WATKIN

The women in their gowns and men in bow-ties didn't seem to know what hit them. Vagabond Tales, a new show this year by the hyper Canadian fiddling troupe Barrage, is a story of violins in constant motion, from the players on stage to the wide array of musical styles covered. It never lets up and the upper-crust crowd at last night's opening seemed at times bewildered by the frenzy of fiddling before them.

Kicking off with some impressive speed playing, fears this could be too much Devil Went Down To Georgia-style sawing were quickly dispelled as the eight fiddlers - five men and three women - flew through a world of music. With the violin as the vehicle, the energy picks you up and pulls you along on this vagabond roadtrip.

From scat, through Irish folk and to flamenco, swinging through country, disco (Boney M's Rasputin), and jive, the fiddle is given full expression. It is breathlessly sawed, plucked, and tapped as it goes from string instrument to percussion and back.

Always the playing is precise and varied.

The show proceeds as a series of musical set pieces. They're not coherent - the gypsy camp set the only constant theme - and don't make sense - rapping on swiss balls - but the high-speed moves are never less than brilliantly executed.

The weakness inherent in the show is the need to find over one and a half hours of entertainment in violin unorthodoxy. It feels at times as if the show's subtitle should be 101 things to do with a fiddle.

It is also unashamedly razzmatazz. Vagabond Tales is to violins what Riverdance was to high kicks, so expect a slightly cheesy performance.

The only other quarrel I have is that the promotional posters promised leaps and tossed violins, that, disappointingly, weren't part of the act. So be clear: These are fiddlers who dance rather than dancers who fiddle.

But there's little time to worry. The versatile virtuosi keep the tempo high and the toes tapping, leaving a memory of remarkable rhythm and timing.

When: 7.30pm Oct 1-4; 2pm Oct 4; 6pm Sun Oct 5.

Herald Feature: Auckland Festival AK03

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