Budapests' fiddler took 20 years to fulfill royal prince's birthday challenge

A new venue on the latest tour of ‘Scotlandia’ by the Budapest Café Orchestra is Rogart Mart which was opened a few years ago.

“It’s a new one for us,” said the band’s fiddle player Christian Garrick. “It was a market but reopened as an arts hub and Prince Charles cut the ribbon.”

Though Christian was at home watching the recent coronation of Prince Charles with his four-year-old daughter, he was reminded of a time he had played for royalty in the past.

“The time we played for the royals was his birthday in 1988 and we played for them all, the Queen Mum included. It was quite a fun event to be inside looking out at the crowds. It’s a very treasured memory. They were ever so courteous and the Queen’s line of questioning was very much about what you do and do you enjoy it and showing a genuine interest despite having spoken to millions of people. I think she was a proper servant of the people and you couldn’t think of anything to ask her! Afterwards I was kicking myself that I didn’t ask what kind of music she liked.”

However a conversation with Prince Charles at the time at least gave Christian one clue about the now-king’s music tastes.

“That time we played for his birthday, I went to play the traditional Happy Birthday for Prince Charles on the fiddle and he stopped me halfway through and said ‘Isn’t it time someone came up with a new melody?’

“So I wrote to him after the party and we exchanged letters and I did end up producing a new melody for Happy Birthday which I sent to him some 20 years later, that’s how long these things take sometimes!

“But he remembered, and wrote straight back from St James’s Palace and said ‘Thank you very much’ and referred to his party. I’ve framed the letters and have them hanging up at home."

Did Christian know whether Charles had ever played the new tune?

He didn’t, but said: “He’s got the sheet music His 75th is coming up, so I’m wondering whether I should record a version for him?!”

The Budapest Cafe Orchestra has been prolific over the years with the albums they have made, are now on their 14th with the recently-recorded latest collection.

“It’s called Pavane (& The Whole Shebang Bang,” Christian said.

“That’s because it includes the Nancy Sinatra hit Bang Bang! which is heavily-featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movie.”

The band will also be playing from their sixth album on the tour – that album features their take on Gaelic folk songs and was inspired by their tours to the Highlands over the years.

There’s another connection with the North as the cover design is in fact a shorthand outline completed for the band by Highland journalist Heather Chalmers!

The band’s experience means they have made refinements to their tour transport over the years – this is their 12th summer of heading to the area.

“We have tried different vehicles but we have optimised it as a VW Transporter van with six seats, then the rest of it is all the gear, the instruments, baggage and CDs and other paraphernalia all fits perfectly behind the six seats with the double bass perched on top! The neck of it just pokes through between the seats of the two passengers in the back.

It’s the short wheel base highline model and it’s the most economic and effective way of touring round the Highlands. We’ve tried all sorts of methods of travelling around in the past, but the good thing about the short wheel base van is that it is a domestic not a commercial vehicle which is good for the charges on the ferries.”

With recent problems with the ferries, maybe it’s a good thing that the band use fewer of them these days to get round their gigs.

“When we started we used 16 ferries, now we just use two,” Christian said.

Though the van is black at the moment, Christian is considering having it resprayed the standout magenta colour of the T-shirt he wears in the band’s publicity photograph.

“The magenta really helps our photo stand out!

“And to go back to the coronation, I noticed that a lot of the King’s robes had magenta in the lining!”

The Budapest Café Orchestra follow Rogart Mart on Friday with a date on Saturday, May 27 at Drumnadrochit’s Glenurquhart Hall; 28, Torridon Estate; 31, Plockton Village Hall; June 1, Findhorn Universal Hall; 5, Rosehall Village Hall; 6, Lochinver Village Hall; 7, Achiltibuie, Coigach Hall; 8, Ullapool, Ceilidh Place.

And they return to the Highlands in September when they play: Glenmoriston Community Hall on September 15 and Strathpeffer Pavilion on September 16.

The infectious sound of the four-piece brings traditional folk and gypsy-flavoured music from the Balkans and Russia. Led by jazz violin supremo Christian, the band conjures up images of Budapest café life and gypsy campfires.

The Budapest Cafe Orchestra combines violin, guitar, accordion, double bass, saz and balalaika.

Accordionist Eddie Hession has accompanied Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Christian himself has played with the likes of Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, Wynton Marsalis, Nigel Kennedy, and Caro Emerald.

The Sultan is played expertly by Adrian Zolotuhin, a master of the strummed strings of domra, balalaika, guitar and saz. Veteran bass-man Kelly Cantlon found fame in the late 1960s as a Vagabond with northern soul sensations Jimmy James and the Vagabonds.

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