A Nelson treasure

Cairde, Nelson School of Music, Saturday night.

Two years is a long wait, but Cairde's sumptuous version of When I See You Smile is finally on disc. Kate Sherwood's cello laces evocatively through a spare lyric from Bic Runga. It's one of the great love songs, and five women from Nelson do it proud.

They're an odd bunch. Anna Heinz has a folk background, Evey McAuliffe is wedded to traditional Irish, Kate and Sarah Lewis bring a clean classical discipline, and Carol Rose tosses in her country-tinged heritage. Somehow it all works, and in the most unlikely numbers.

Carol's voice has a seemingly effortless beauty to carry Bic's song. She delivers again on Angel by Sarah McLachlan, this time with Sarah's flute as the lacework. Sarah switches to piano for a solo mid-section that lifts Neil Finn's Fall At Your Feet to another level altogether, and Evey and Anna display a richness to their voices on The Briar and the Rose, a surprising folky number from Tom Waits.

Singling out individuals is almost unkind because they all knit together in arrangements that are top-end. If Cairde have a weakness, they stray into a few run-of-the-cotton-mill songs, and a cappella singing seems wasteful with musicians of this calibre. However, to make a lier of me, one of Saturday night's prize offerings was a haunting traditional hymn, Cead Mile Failte, sung unaccompanied by Evey and Kate.

As for Cairde's trip down the much-tramped Raglan Road, their version can hold its head up over the crowd: "On Raglan Road on an autumn day, I saw her first and knew, That her dark hair would weave a snare, That I would someday rue." Opening lines to send a shudder of recognition through any audience. It's a Patrick Kavanagh poem married to a traditional Irish tune, and Carol sells every bitter-sweet word.

The concert ran through Cairde's new CD, Changing Tides, with a few oldies thrown in. As an encore they gave us another fine love song, Call and Answer, with the popular Caledonia to wrap it up.

Cairde are 21 years old - long enough to qualify as a Nelson taonga. Evey paid tribute to past members who had moved on. We can only wish the incumbents many happy returns.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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