Fabulous Folkworks at Old Cinema Launderette - Eliza Carthy, Saul Rose, Sarah Hayes


Sarah Hayes

Within an increasingly busy schedule (again arriving at a gig with no listening preparation), M and I attended one of this year's Folkworks Durham Gathering events on Saturday, once again a sold out event at the fabulous Old Cinema Launderette. An instant ticket purchase - after thoroughly enjoying Martin Carthy's gig at the Launderette last year, just seeing the event listing for Eliza and Co was enough. Fun guaranteed.

Eliza Carthy and Saul Rose played as a duo, preceded by Sarah Hayes. Eliza and Sarah had both been teaching at this years' Folkworks Summer School which has just finished. I found singer, flautist and storyteller Sarah's set quite interesting - overwhelmingly we have seen folk artists at the Launderette, but this was the first keyboard instrument spotted. Sarah has both classical and indie experiences but last night's set was a simple but effective slice of folk.


Eliza Carthy and Saul Rose

Eliza and Saul followed up with a song/instrumental set of high quality music, story and humour based on violin and melodeon. Lots of opportunities for singing along and toe-tapping, including this set of waltzes; favourites such as Turpin Hero, Sheffield Park and Worcester City; melodies from Québec; and a superb timely and poignant rendition of I Wish That The Wars Were All Over. Balancing tradition and innovation, I enjoyed listening to the weight and yet freshness of the material - also the aspect of fun emanating from the musicians.

Eliza and Saul, as part of The Wayward Band, are playing the Sage Gateshead on 15th October - not yet sure how this fits in our schedule, but further information is available here.

Comments

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

Guitar week: Gitarrissima and Sean Shibe

Almost at the Christmas break and hectic as ever! This last week was a two-concerts week (with a Christmas party in the middle) and it was guitars all round. First up, on 11th December, were Gitarrissima of Vienna at Skipton Music . The quintet (reduced to a quartet on Tuesday due to illness) performed A Christmas Celebration - seasonal music and a very jolly evening all round. The group perform on a mixture of concert guitars, an octave guitar and an acoustic bass guitar and the sound is remarkably rounded, not necessarily to be expected for reductions of orchestral pieces. Each set of pieces was introduced by a different member of the group. In a lot of ways, Gitarrissima reminded me of Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain with their clever arrangements of well-known pieces as well as musical excellence. The programme included excerpts (arranged by the group) of Bizet's Carmen , Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, all of which were performed very well but som

PrettyInScarlett

Search This Blog