PrettyInScarlett

Thanks to a fortuitous perusal of Facebook the other week, I spotted the listing for Tynedale Music Festival via The British and International Federation of Festivals ' feed. I'd not previously been to this style of competition/festival before; result =  fun first visit to Hexham albeit braving thick fog and grey skies.  I only saw the afternoon session of the Tynedale Music Festival - Open Pianoforte Duet (P12) and Open Pianoforte Recital Class (P11). I hope their evening concert had a good turnout as the afternoon audience was rather select... but enthusiastic!  First up the Piano Duet class, featuring music by Ravel - excerpts from Mother Goose ; Bernstein's four-hands arragement of Overture to Candide ; Arthur Benjamin's Jamaican Rumba and (I believe) an arrangement of Spohr's String Quartet in G minor (1st movement). A lot of unusual repertoire already and it was really interesting listening to the performances. The eventual winners (Ravel and Berns...

The events calendar gets busier and all of a sudden it's March and starting to feel like spring! Seems a long time since our first visit to The Old Cinema Launderette ... I picked last night's Dan Walsh show somewhat out of curiosity and reminiscing about beginner's clawhammer from Ottawa Folkfest.  About 20 or so people were at the Launderette last night, quite full for a small room! A good mixture and a high percentage of folk fans who were familiar with Dan's music. There was supposedly a support band, but they didn't show so Dan played 2 sets - lucky us!  Most of Dan's songs were performed on his banjo with a few guitar numbers as well. Dan has collected a fair few accolades for 'best British banjo player' and this is no understatement. Playing a range of styles and songs old and new from bluegrass, reels, songs fast and slow - including a rock edge on 'Hammer and Nail', his musicianship is really impressive. The vocal tracks wer...