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THE VOICE OF FOLK IN WALES & THE BORDERS
Y GORAU O FYD GWERIN CYMRU A'R GORORAU
Live Reviews
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Harriet Earis Trio
The Gate, Cardiff ~ 2 April 2008
by Keith Hudson
The harpists - and other musicians - were out in force tonight. It was just as well, as without them, the audience for this late announced concert would have been a bit thin on the ground.
Earlier in the year the trio had appeared at Glasgow's Celtic Connections and, more recently, Harriet had been at the Edinburgh Harp Festival. The trio - also featuring drummer Sam Christie and Andy "Wal" Coughlan on double bass/bass guitar - already had a god selection of Scottish tunes in their repertoire. Among those aired in the first half of tonight's concert were a delightfully delicate composition from fellow harpist Catriona McKay and a reel from the pen of the remarkable accordionist Ian Lowthian.
With her impish smile and sparkling playing, Harriet soon had the audience eating out of her hand. But, although this was her show, the contributions from Coughlan and Christie was not to be underestimated. Both added a lot to the overall sound, but they also showed a subtle sensitivity, never threatening to overwhelm Earis' lead.
Irish tunes, learned during Harriet's previous partnership with Cormac Connolly, were also played with aplomb and the Welsh tradition got a look in, too - albeit in rather unusual company. Sandwiched into the traditional Cader Idris was a snatch of The Beatles' hit Norwegian Wood. Odd, maybe, but it worked a treat.
The opening set concluded with the trio's interpretations of the Dave Brubeck classics Take Five and Unsquare Dance. For the latter, they were joined by a dozen or so children, who had taken part in a pre-concert harp workshop.
After a break, the trio continued with more mouth-watering tunes from the pan-Celtic repertoire, as well as a version of a 1980s Gary Numan hit. Coughlan, we learned, had been the bass player in Numan's band all those years ago. To finish, the trio reverted to tradition with a couple of hornpipes from the flamboyant J. Scott Skinner. For the second, The Acrobat, one of the youngsters joined in again - with 12 year old Steffan giving us an accomplished display of step dancing.
Hopefully, the harpists went home satiated. The rest of us certainly did.
Harriet Earis Trio website
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Brooks Williams
Bordeaux Quay, Bristol ~ 23 March 2008
by Trefor Patten
On a windy and uncomfortably rainy night in Bristol, I found myself constantly thinking of An American In Paris….
It was not just that I was on my way to a place called Bordeaux Quay (bringing France to mind) or that I was singing in the rain (nuff said), but I was on my way to see a singing American who seems to have a particular love for Europe.
Not only does Brooks Williams consider Bristol his “home from home” - at least that is what he told the audience in Britains first carbon-neutral restaurant and why should we not believe him when he enthused about the place on such an inclement night – but he chose the seafaring city as the place to launch his 16th album: The Time I Spend With You.
His love of England is reflected in his musical style. Brooks, along with his countrymen Ry Cooder, Bob Brozman, Ben Harper and others can be really difficult to categorise musically. Often he is classed as a blues musician and indeed the evening’s repertoire included Blind Boy Fuller Mississippi Fred McDowell and Snooks Eaglin numbers, but his was an evening of inspiring and classy modern transatlantic folk music.
With backing from the wonderful accordionist Karen Tweed, Jethro Tull’s Dave Goodier on a very interesting six-string acoustic bass guitar and Bristol’s own harmonica-playing BBC local radio presenter, Keith Warmington, Williams showcased many songs from the new album as well the very best from his well-loved back catalogue. One lucky lady got a Happy Birthday request played in the form of Buddy Miller’s My Love Will Follow You. (Bet she went home smiling).
Brooks can play guitar as if he is giving a masterclass on technique while still looking as chilled out as he would playing on his back porch in Statesboro.
Despite having his roots in Georgia, Brooks’ voice has a distinctly Anglicised air, perhaps the result of making regular visits to Europe, which always brings to mind early James Taylor records.
The high point of the evening for this listener was a song from the new album, Everywhere, written in and around Bristol’s harbourside, but then perhaps I am just being a little partisan…. Coming a close second was a new arrangement of How the Night Time Sings which the evenings unique line-up made their own.
A great night in a great setting. To paraphrase the title track of Brook’s new album; the time you spend with us is over much too soon.
Brooks Williams website
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Shooglenifty
Assembly Rooms, Presteigne ~ 9 March 2008
by Chris Bailey
On a damp winter evening I ventured to the Powys border town of Presteigne.
I first saw Shooglenifty at Nantwich Folk Festival in 1996 where my Welsh folk dance group Dawnswyr Delyn were booked. At that time I had only known the name, but their hectic rhythyms quickly won me over as we made it onto the dance floor. I have seen Shooglenifty in Chester and Porthcawl since then and their attraction has not waned.
The Assembly Rooms is a small venue with a capacity of 100 people, mainly sitting in rows, and is not licensed - but with two pubs and an off licence almost adjacent the organisers allow drinks to be bought and consumed in the Rooms (and provide glasses for that purpose).
Shooglenifty are a collection of six members fronted by fiddler Angus Grant, and only once during the evening were any words sung. The band were once described as "acid croft" and it is easy to see why these Scots could attract this description.
Their raw excitement and quality of musicianship shines through, and despite the seated format it was very difficult for many of us to remain seated throughout the performance - with some dancers on their feet throughout.
Popular tracks such as Whisky Kiss, The Tammienorrie and Fistful of Euro were all very well received, and the wide range of ages and appearances of the audience demonstrated the popularity of the band.
Shooglenifty last played The Assembly Rooms over a decade ago, and only came this time as they were able to slot in Presteigne between bookings in Porthcawl and Cambridge. There were one hundred people from Powys and Herefordshire who were grateful. Certainly, the band appeared pleased to be in Presteigne and commented how people of Wales and Scotland understood them better than some when they play in England. I hope that it is not so long before I see Shooglenifty next.
Shooglenifty's website
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Meltdown
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff ~ 24 February 2008
by Paul Seligman
It's not a good omen when my friend and I find we are the only paying customers at the advertised start time of the gig. Indeed, audience numbers never exceeded the number of performers, technicians and staff.
However, the missing audience were definitely the losers as Meltdown provided a really enjoyable evening of instrumentality, with four quality acts.
There are many compéres who trot off the standard clichéd sentences. They should take a lesson from David Ambrose's enthusiastic and professional introductions.
Adrian Hughes opened by playing Calon Lan on a steel guitar. Interesting, but didn't quite work for us. The rest of his instrumental set was much more fun, ranging from Marvin Gaye's I Heard it on the Grapevine, through a stunning version of Duelling Banjos (both parts played on the one guitar) to Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau. Adrian also injected some nice humorous touches.
I warmed to DJ Timfinity's tasetful choice of between-the-acts tracks, particularly when he played the Incredible String Band. I still love those early ISB songs.
Steve Garret and Hiroko Sue, collectively known as Kotogo, played some beautiful and evocative music on Koto (Japanese harp) and guitar. Their pieces were inspired by places and experiences in various parts of Wales. The drawback was the lengthy tuning that the koto required between each piece, which did tend to break the mood.
Guto Dafis provided the only vocal entertainment of the evening, accompanying traditional Welsh songs on his accordion and capably supported by Danny Kilbride on guitar. Guto always takes the trouble to tell the audience about the songs, so you don't feel you miss out by not understanding the Welsh lyrics. And somehow Guto conveys the mood of each line through varied expression and vocal intonation.
The pre-publicity had described One String Loose as 'absolutely unmissable', and they lived up to the billing. I was astonished at how much they had developed since we saw them in 2006. Then they were very gifted youngsters playing tunes from the Irish tradition. Now they are a fully-fledged folk-rock band. While the first numbers sounded like they'd been playing their Fairport Convention albums, they brought in elements which were all their own, while always keeping a Celtic sensibility.
A drum kit was the latest addition to the band's sound and by and large worked well. With a bigger audience, I'm sure we would have all been on our feet by the end of their set. Certainly everyone's feet and hands were tapping away and there were smiles all round at the conclusion. It will be interesting to see where they go next.
A mention should be made of the technicians, who produced a crisp, clear and well balanced sound throughout - and that is not true of many gigs.
It would be a great shame if the organisers concluded that there is no audience in Cardiff for a night like this. Brains beer two pounds a pint, almost three hours of great entertainment for £5/£4, what more could you ask for? Well, real ale would be a bonus, but I can't believe that was why people stayed away. There are more folk events in Cardiff now than I can remember, and many are selling out in advance. Maybe it was the wrong night, or people don't expect this type of evening from Meltdown, or it was just one of those things. But if Meltdown are brave enough to put on a similar evening in future, I would urge you to give it a try.
Meltdown's website
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Bellowhead
Pontardawe Arts Centre ~ 31 January 2008
by Mick Tems
The year was 2004. Stuck in traffic on the UK's biggest car park, the M25, John Spiers and Jon Boden hit upon the bright idea of what to do with their restrictive two-man free-reed and fiddle sound - although I can safely affirm that the power and the energy of this particular traditional music-making does all right by me, thank you.
The answer was: form a band. A BIG band. And judging by from the packed, cheering, whooping, audience, standing room only in the dance floor and loads of people in the gods craning their necks to see just what was exploding on the stage at the Pontardawe Arts Centre on their triumphant tour mini-tour of Wales, they were right all the way. Welcome, Bellowhead.
Bellowhead is an 11-strong joyous bunch of foot-stomping, rocking musicians with an unswerving devotion to English traditional music - but it's the stunning myriad arrangements from these mind-boggling array of instruments that will floor you. Jon Boden leads the band with a voice that pins you against the wall, with John Spiers on melodeon and concertina and fretboard wizard Benji Kirkpatrick on guitar and attacking bazouki, Paul Sartin on fiddle and fantastic oboe, the lovely Rachel McShane on cello and fiddle and Giles Lewin playing fiddle and bagpipes. There's an amazing four-piece brass section consisting of Gideon Juckes (sousaphone, helicon and tuba), Andy Mellon (trumpet and flugelhorn), Brendan Kelly (saxes and bass clarinet) and Justin Thugur (trombone) while Pete Flood raises hell on percussion.
A Bellowhead gig is a breathless switchback ride while the band throw everything they've got at you, hot trad-soul material like Fire Marengo ("our shanty session"), a sparkling upbeat Up To The Rigs Of London Town and the swaggering, beautiful Jordan, with Rachel and Benji filling in on choruses - I bet the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould was turning in his grave… with delight!
Bellowhead has the startling effect of combining the heady essence of Buena Vista Social Club with the finest Rio carnival musicians, a jazz marching band and a lot more besides. What's more, it's exciting, arse-kicking music and it's from these islands. A hall-full of dancing, elated South Walians can't be wrong…
Bellowhead's website
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Jo Freya's Lal Waterson Project
Cheltenham Folk Festival
by Adrian Mealing
Yorkshire Vista Social Club, come in and settle for a cocktail of Lal's lullabies, laments, lampoons and fruity tunes. As fettled and loved by amiable Jo Freya, the velvet fist in a velvet glove with a steely determination to get these great songs under the noses of a new generation. And back to those who knew & loved & have missed Lal's work since her death ten years ago.
Here be midnight partying, spring sprung, loosing the ties that bind, escape from the work-house, escape from Mrs Thatcher, a nifty Rimbaud translation with the word 'arses' in it, a tale of Michael Portillo, jiving nights and souls bared.
Brazilian trumpet and samba sax, Clarsach harp, a cappella power stations, tabla distances and vocal harvesting did it in spadefuls for this great sell-out Cheltenham Folk Festival audience.
Jo's multi-instrumental band encompasses big-vocal-bottomed Jim Boyes, deft Neil Ferguson & Jude Abbott of Chumbawamba, free-wheeling Fi Fraser, Harry Hamer of the Sex Patels and Mary Macmaster of The Poozies. So much music, you need to go back.
And buy the album 'Lal' (NMCD27).
Lal's burning light shines out. Awakened. Sharp as a Yorkshire razor.
Jo Freya's Taplas Archive 2000
Jo Freya's website
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Taffy Thomas
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
by Mick Tems
Taffy Thomas, brought up David Thomas to a South Wales father and mother, was only 36 when he had a massive stroke. He was in The Fabulous Salami Brothers at the time, and among the tricks he used to perform were eating fire, dancing barefoot on broken glass, having a hammer break paving slabs across his chest, naked escapology… you could say that Taffy was balancing on the tightrope of life.
In the years of his slow recovery, Taffy reinvented himself as a storyteller, or rather as the greatest self-styled liar in the whole world. His mentor was the marvellous and famous Duncan Williamson, ballad singer, storyteller and Scottish traveller, and Taffy had just been given some bad news. Duncan had had a stroke and had been taken to the Victoria hospital, Kirkcaldy, where he died two days later.
Taffy was down to launch a book which he had co-written with consultant clinical psychologist Dr Steve Killick, called Storytelling and Emotional Literacy. At the Tesco stage, he held the crowded audience spellbound for an hour, and his greatest tribute was telling one of Duncan's audacious tall tales (about the incredible hole with the cap, the man, the horse and the cart) so that the story would not die. As Taffy attributed to Duncan's philosophy: "If you like it, tell it!"
But the piece de resistance was Taffy's magnificent "tale coat", and adults and children stared open-mouthed as they chose a splendid hand-stitched illustration which turned out to be one of Taffy's many tales. The whole production was organised by the magical and delightful Beyond the Border festival at St Donat's Castle, one of their offshoots in tale-telling that the festival, and director David Ambrose, does so splendidly well.
Taffy Thomas's website
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Malinky
The Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd
by Mick Tems
Here is a fact that explodes the mistaken belief that it was a certain Cardiff Bay Arts Centre who secured Malinky for what they called the Edinburgh band's debut Welsh concert. No way, José. Malinky had already done a debut show at Llantrisant Folk Club in 2001, but as booker I wasn't around to see it. Three days before, I had the stroke - and, as Malinky played their hearts out, I lay spread-eagled in a Colchester hospital.
For one circumstance after other, I kept on missing Malinky as the years went by. But after a stunning, beautiful and magical set, I vow I'll never pass up Malinky again.
The loss of Karine Polwart - now pursuing a stellar career - and button-box player Leo McCann would surely have spelled the end, but Malinky bounced back with a vengeance. Fiona Hunter, on cello and jaw-dropping vocals, has replaced Karine, and Liverpool-born Ewan MacPherson, who plays guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, octave mandolin and jew's harp is there on backing voice. Amazing fiddler Jon Bews makes the audience gasp with his brilliance, and the two original members, Steve Byrne and Mark Dunlop, still fire the group's engine room with their invaluable input.
Above all, it is Malinky's love of ballads and story-songs, combined with their sheer originality and musicianship, that is the band's strength. Anyone who tells you that they don't like ballads just hasn't seen this quintet.
It was left to Mark to carry off the band's coup de grace - a spectacular, lengthy bodhran solo, sparking off the seminal Jim Sutherland of the Easy Club's influence but feeding in Mark's ideas to make a dazzling, satisfying and remarkable ear-bender. A Malinky concert is brimming over with the feel-good factor, and oodles and oodles of good, solid quality. I'll drink to that…
Malinky Taplas Archive 2002
Malinky's website
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