THE KILTIES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9387, 5 March 1909, Page 5

THE KILTIES.

The following is from the report of a contemporary on the recant visit to Feilding of the celebrated organisation In the afternoon the weather was perfect for an open-air concert, and the players, loci by their gifted conndctor (Mr Albert Cook), gave an excellent account of themselves as instrumentalists, as soloists, and as vocalists. At 7.a0 p.m. the Kilties were again on parade and their evolutions through town, headed by tlie giant DrumMajor. were watched and followed by a largo crowd, which could not resist the attractions of the invaders, for before 8 o’clock tbe large Drill Hall was thronged and packed, extra seats having to be brought into requisition to accommodate latecomers. Rarely has the Hall been so closely packed patrons—and more rarely still has an audience been so delightfully treated with sweet sounds. Frbm the playing of the second item, the Overture to Wagner’s grand opera, “Tannbauser, ” the Kilties had their audience in thrall, and whether it was legitimate selections, such as Godfrey’s arrangement of. “Gems of Scotland,” Liszt’s “Rhapsody Ho-» 2,” Tobani’s “Oreme de la Creme,” or the Prelude to the third Act of Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” or the humorous diversions upon popular syncopated compositions, such as “I’m Afraid to Go Home in the Dark” or “Tbe Merry Widow Waltz.” given very readily as encore items, the clever combination musicians were equally at home and equally pleasing. Conductor Cook is, in fact, a man of cosmopolitan ideas and a taste as varied as that of the general public—-he was as happy in ragtime as in classical selections. Yet the motive power for arousing enthusiasm was not confined to the Kilties. In the Johnstone troupe of four members—the Pipe-Major, two ladies, and a lad—the combination has another strong attraction, the performances of which won popular praise starting with prolonged applause and ending in cheers. The young dancers were expert and graceful in a Scotch reel, a Sword dance (by the lad), a sailor’s hornpipe, and an Irish jig, all of which had to be repeated. When *the curtain was finally rung down, at 10.10 o’clock, it was a happy [crowd that went out into the night, singing the praises of the Kilties.