| October 23, 2016 | |
| 28 Harrison Street, WC1H 8JF Londra | |
| The Harrison | |
| Google Map |
The Harrison All Day Folk Festival returns for it’s TENTH installment as part of The Bloomsbury Festival.
FREE as always.
Here are stage times;
1.30pm Kate Williams & Dave Thorpe
2.30pm Dominie Hooper
3.30pm Snufkin – the band
4.30pm Three Dollar Shoe
5.30pm Nadine Khouri
6.30pm The Vanguards
7.30pm The Nightjar
8.30pm Secret Special Guaest
9.30pm The Odd Beats
10.30pm Saltcutters
Saltcutters
Saltcutters initially came together as ‘The Bog Standards’ in Liverpool, early 2014. Flautist Nick Branton and Guitarist Simon Knighton met with Fiddler Mikey Kenney in the basement beneath Mello Mello Jazz Café to play Irish tunes. Kenney was hosting a weekly Irish seisún at Liverpool’s well-known Caledonia pub and it would soon launch the newly-formed trio headfirst into prominence and popularity with especial thanks to their passionate performances during the Liverpool Irish Festival that year. Their fast-growing reputation would be further bolstered by appearances on BBC Radio Merseyside and regular residencies across Liverpool.
By 2015, the three lads were a well established and sought-after act but they were still searching for something more. Kenney had been bringing original tunes to the table and the three wanted to arrange and orchestrate but hadn’t the space between their parts. Three must become Four for that. Then, bang on cue, Evelyn Broderick and her flute appeared at the Caledonia seisún and was instantly recruited. Now, their arrangements are sounding huge and complex and their rhythm pounds harder than ever. Their transition from trio to quartet would be marked with a change of name.
Thus, Saltcutters were born…
http://
The Odd Beats
Multinational hip shimmying gypsy folk and psychedelia from far away lands.
This Bosporus-straddling blend of Turkish folk and irresistible Balkan dance beats comes with sinuous hints of Greek Rebetiko amongst other tasty world music flavours.
The Nightjar
“Gorgeous” Mara Carlyle – The Late Junction, BBC Radio 3
“Ghostly, psychedelic and utterly addictive” Joe Muggs – Boiler Room
The Nightjar play lo-fi post-folk, writing songs for the end of time.
Originally conceived as a close-harmony vocal trio, a collaboration with South London producer Kams brought them to the attention of Boiler Room’s Joe Muggs. The following viral Boiler Room debut brought 2015’s The Nightjar EP plaudits from nearly 70,000 underground music fans, as well as the accolade of airplay on Radio 3’s Late Junction.
A successful crowd-funding campaign convinced them of the existence of an audience for their dream-like, ethereal songs of hope, loss and disaster. In the autumn of 2015, The Nightjar relocated to a farmhouse in rural Portugal to begin their first full-length offering. Due in February 2017 (?), the album received early support from Mercury-nominee Sam Lee who subsequently booked them for Cambridge Folk Festival and Shambala.
2016 tours of France, Germany and the UK, saw audiences brought to a stand-still by the raw intensity of their performance, bringing them a reputation as a must-see live band. Drawing influence from the lo-fi wooze of Grouper, the stark and poignant balladry of Diane Cluck and the deft compositions of Colleen, The Nightjar use close-harmonies, tight-interlocking guitars, deep bass and an intense lead vocal to paint fragile, haunting landscapes. The Nightjar are Jez Anderson, Mo Kirby, Sarah Ricketts, and Pete Thomas.
http://
https://youtu.be/
The Vanguards
The Vanguards are a five-piece traditional bluegrass band, mostly based in London, consisting of Jack Baker on mandolin, Alex Clarke on guitar, Chris Lord on banjo, Laura Nailor on fiddle and Pete Thomas on bass. They take their musical inspiration from the originators of bluegrass music. Instrumentally, they seek to create a sound which blends the mandolin style of Bill Monroe, the banjo style of Ralph Stanley and the old-time style of fiddling which typified early bluegrass recordings and which continues to influence the sound of Dr. Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys into the present day.
Their repertoire reflects these musical influences. Their choice of songs strongly favours those written or recorded by The Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, but they also feature several songs made popular by Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys and Flatt & Scruggs. Their particular passion is exploring and faithfully recreating bluegrass music’s many rarely-heard instrumental compositions, particularly those written by Bill Monroe and Dr. Ralph Stanley.
https://youtu.be/
SPECIAL SECRET GUEST
Nadine Khouri
“Meditative, spectral dreamscapes … extraordinary voice: a fragile, sensuous instrument” – MOJO
“Nadine Khouri has always had the ability to make quietness and subtlety sound huge and mean more than it possibly could… The overwhelming breathless cool of Nadine’s voice is something that you cannot go without hearing.” – The 405
“Stunning – sometimes the strongest words are softly spoken.” – Tasty Fanzine
“A gravely, female voice sings modern, alternative torch-songs and the atmosphere is so mesmerizing, so fascinating you wish this late night moment would last forever.” – Cracked Reviews
“Khouri’s effortlessly powerful voice curls around the music, which at times can go from a skeletal finger-picked guitar swooping up to loop-based experimentalism. The themes are of traveling and the love-loss casualties along the road, and the songwriting here tells of a spirit at home on the road to the perfect song.” – Rough Trade
“The standout is ‘Blue of Princes’. This starts with a banjo sounding like it is played in a souk, half spoken until there is a moment worthy of Mazzy Star in their heyday when you realise the acoustic lilt you had been chilling to has slowly dropped off a cliff.” – God is in the TV
“She simultaneously creates music which sounds both timeless and fresh. Deeply authentic and heartfelt, new single Rouge is mesmerising, captivating and utterly addictive.” – The Girls Are
“The beautiful use of percussion in Khouri’s latest perfectly accompanies the singer’s spoken word track creating a chilled ambience. Worth a listen if only for the lyrical brilliance ‘Rouge’ offers.” – Musicfix
“She really is a whispering assassin. This track, Rouge, lifted from the ‘A Song to the City’ is all brooding malevolence – brings to mind ‘Dry’ era PJ Harvey.” – Tasty Fanzine
“A deceptively serene Patti Smith staking claim to an early morning cityscape.” – Unpeeled
https://soundcloud.com/
Snufkin – the band
Winners of the New Shoots Competition, Bath Folk Festival 2016
Silky vocals jangle towards rousing harmonies between beautiful violin solos and finely mastered acoustic guitar from twisted neo-folk band Snufkin. Expect exhilarating toe-tapping rhythm and lifting intricate melodies.
Snufkin burst onto the London / Bristol folk scene in 2015 and have been making quite a name for themselves ever since. With a live album, ‘Live from The Fayre’ (recorded live at Rollright Fayre) and a host of festival appearances (Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Wilderness, Boomtown and Smugglers) under their belts, they rounded off an incredible six months by winning Bath Folk Festival’s New Shoots Competition. The prize earned them a slot on the main stage and a day of recording at Peter Gabriel’s legendary Real World Studios.
This winter, they will record their debut studio album, set for release in Spring 2017.
The core Snufkin band is comprised of Theo Passingham (vocals and guitar), Liam O’Connell (double bass and vocals), Kerry Ann Jangle (vocals and percussion) and Calum Smith (violin), often joined by Alastair Caplin (Viola), Bascia Bartz (Violin), Kai Carter (Percussion, Double Bass), and many more.
“Energetic, original, with excellent stage presence and varied, enchanting material. Snufkin are accomplished musicians who wowed our judges and thoroughly engaged our festival audience who, young and older, responded with enthusiasm. They were extremely deserving winners of the Bath Folk Festival New Shoots Competition 2016.”
– Bath Folk Festival
Three Dollar Shoe
Three Dollar Shoe have been together now since 2012 – a handsome trio in the form of Adam Mace, Adrian Lever and Jerry Bloom on mandolin/banjo, guitar and fiddle. They have graced the sessions and folk clubs of London with their dexterous playing and uplifting presence and ventured beyond into festivals and theatres with an array of tunes from around the Isles and across the Atlantic.
In summer of 2014, they were joined by Irish singer Ruth Corey, a native of County Tyrone. A vivacious and soulful voice, Ruth has applied her vocal chords to many a genre but her heart belongs to the songs passed down to her.
https://www.youtube.com/
Dominie Hooper
“Dominie’s songs are riddled with soul, with a hypnotic pace that’ll make you smile and stamp at the same time. She has an Incredible richness to her vocal” – Coyote Moon Festival Cafe
https://www.youtube.com/
Kate Williams & Dave Thorpe
Kate and Dave met over an old and rather tired looking ukulele in a music therapy centre. That in itself is not a very long story, and neither is it perhaps a particularly interesting one. Nevertheless it was the start of their writing, recording and performing partnership so it probably deserves just a little mention here. There is no need to give it any more thought. Unless you want to of course…
Considering their strikingly different musical backgrounds Kate and Dave share some surprising tastes in music. Both have classical music, 1930’s and 40’s jazz, 1970’s progressive rock and contemporary folk in their album collections. However, one of them trained as a classical pianist and the other one’s early musical career developed through busking outside Marks and Spencer! Fortunately neither of them has much interest in pigeon-holing music or following rules about who should play what, where and when, as long it is the right thing at the right time. If it is music that belongs on a fretted instrument with between four and twelve strings Kate and Dave will play it. It if doesn’t belong on those instruments they will be even more likely to play it – just to see what happens!
Their first album, ‘outside’, is now available and features mostly original tunes and songs but also includes their own arrangements of more traditional material. Writing and recording with each other has been a learning experience for them both. Their music worked easily from the first notes they played together but now Kate is happy travelling for hours back and forth across London and Dave can cook and eat vegan food without complaining! That alone makes their music worth a listen – it does mighty things!
And that is all you need to know. The important stuff can be heard in how they play together.
Oh…. the ukulele is fine now, for those of you that are still thinking about it!
https://youtu.be/
Plus
The Harrison Old Time and Bluegrass Session
and
The Harrison Irish Music Session
on the groundfloor 3 – 11pm.
Drinks and Sunday Roasts served all day.
Bring family & friends and join us!
#TheHarrisonBasement
#WeLoveMusic