Gig-A-Byte

Kan

I didn’t think folk musicians knew what a moshpit was. I was sure that after staying out 12 freezing nights in a row in Glasgow, listening to bands perform on stages of all sizes and all kinds of venues – one was under Glasgow Central railway station – all of it was going to sound pretty similar. Frantic flute and fiddle melodies rolling into one another in one homogenous stream.

Kan proved me wrong on all counts. I was at a noisy Australian sportsbar in the heart of Glasgow. The idea of listening to sweet folk tunes as barmen raised hell at their counters held little appeal. At about 2 am, the four-member Kan went up on stage. Donald Shaw, the festival director of Celtic Connections, possibly the biggest international folk festivals in the world, was rooting for the group and sure enough, they turned out to be the best band I caught at the fest.

Kan stood out not just because of their airtight craftsmanship and flawless performance, but in their ability to appeal to an audience that was almost two generations apart. It’s tough to hook a crowd to instrumental music and winning over a group of college kids with folk music is no less than a feat.  The crowd of teens got as close as they could  to the stage, sloshing beer all around as they jumped and pushed each other around as Kan performed. “Do you know which key the last song was in?” asked one fan who sang along to Kan’s music and knew most of the band’s music note for note.

I recently asked Kan’s fiddle player Aidan O’Rourke how his band has managed to impress younger audiences across UK. Did it help that Scotland has a rich folk music tradition? “It’s a great time to be a folk musician right now,” says Kan’s fiddle player and founding member Aidan. “When I was a teenager, it was misrepresented. I used to hide my fiddle case in school. People now realize it’s an interesting, dynamic and vibrant way of making music.” Aidan, who is one of the most influential musicians in Scotland right now, having founded other bands such as Lau and collaborated with the likes of percussionist Trilok Gurtu, should know.

Many contemporary musicians in Scotland refer to traditional folk melodies and build their own music around it, much like Kan, says Aidan. So there’s a lot of improvisation. “Like jazz and Indian music,” he adds. I’ve got huge expectations from Kan’s tour in India and any collaborations that they have planned. Considering Aidan collaborated with Indian Carnatic violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh over Skype during a concert, their India tour will definitely bring some exciting collaborations to stage.

Kan perform as part of Folk Nations, a series kicked off by British Council of India, at the Lands End Amphitheatre in Bandra on October 27th. 7.30 pm. Entry: Free