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New Dates for Hull Maritime Festival

Dates for Hull Maritime Festival, formerly Sea Fever, are now 17th & 18th July and I am assured that the dates will now remain in mid-July for future years.

This year the dates coincide with the official finish of the "Clipper Round the World Yacht Race" so ultra-modern "clipper 68" racing yachts will be on show alongside the traditional Humber Keels and Sloops.

Headliners for this year include The Young Uns, together with regular favourites like the Keelers, and of course Shanty Jack, plus 13 other international acts.

Find out more about the festival at Web Site and if you would like to follow the Clipper round the World Yacht Race, including "Hull & Humber's " victory in the latest stage from New York to Cape Breton Island Click Here.

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AN APPEAL FOR FILM FOOTAGE OF VIN GARBUTT.

Craig Hornby of Pancrack Pictures is seeking old Vin Garbutt film footage for a forthcoming Vin movie entitled "Teesside Troubadour". He would like to hear from anyone with film/video of Vin performing in 60s/70s/80s and particularly asks for anyone with a copy of the show in Stainsby, Chesterfield from 1973, or the b/w clip filmed above a shop in South Bank, Teesside in the very early days. Or a copy of the TV footage from the Cambridge Festival in 1980 and 1982.
Any professional quality live stills from the 1970s/80s would be much appreciated. Full credit will be given to all who can help. Contact Craig Hornby - Pancrack Pictures 01287-203165
craig@pancrack.tv

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More folk music on the BBC - Online petition

The EFDSS has organised a petition calling for the BBC to increase its folk music programming. The BBC is currently undertaking a Strategy Review Consultation and they want to know what you, the pay-masters, think. This a good opportunity to challenge the BBC to increase its presentation of folk music.
As a public service broadcaster, the BBC should provide regular folk music programming on a variety of platforms, specifically including a digital platform with dedicated stations for folk, jazz, world, roots etc. Broadcast media also provides an invaluable platform for folk artists to develop and sustain a professional career. So as the world's largest broadcasting organisation, it is vital that the BBC recognises and fulfils it role of supporting artists without whom there would be no programme content, by broadcasting their music. The BBC should fulfil the Director General's proposed priorities of "inspiring knowledge, music and culture" and to be broadcasting music that other broadcasters do not.

Visit http://www.petitiononline.com/folkon/petition.html to add your name

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Fête de la Musique in the Isle of Axholme

Launched in 1982 by the French Ministry for culture, the Fête de la Musique is held in more than hundred countries in Europe and over the world. It takes place every 21st June, the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.
All kinds of music / A large audience
Completely different from a music festival, the Fête de la Musique is above all a free popular fête (or festival in English), open to any participant (amateur or professional musicians) who want to perform in it. This Music Day allows the expression of all styles of music in a cheerful atmosphere. It aims at a large audience, working to popularise musical practice for young and not so young people from all social backgrounds.
A free and popular event
Musicians are asked to perform for free and all the concerts are free for the public. On this day they play in open air areas, such as streets and parks or in public buildings like museums, churches, halls etc. Furthermore, the Fête de la Musique is a way to encourage the major music institutions (orchestras, operas, choirs, bands etc.) to perform outside their usual locations. In this way the day offers an opportunity to develop exchanges between musicians of different musical genres and to offer concerts in a variety of locations, many of which do not normally host them. Most of all, it offers music in the open air. Finally it gives amateur and professional musicians a chance to play together in the same arena.
Fête de la Musique in the Isle of Axholme
Last year the Fête fell on a Sunday and it was celebrated in the afternoon at various places in the Epworth. Sticking with the tradition of always holding it on the 21st, this year it will fall on Monday 21st June.
A number of musicians and singers have already expressed an interest in playing at some point in the day and evening. If you would like to play or sing - in whatever style - please contact Keith on 01427 873915 or Peter Barnard on 01427 873937 for more details. Or just turn up anywhere in the village and perform.
This is a great and free way to make Epworth really buzz on the solstice day and for people to have free entertainment. Now why wasn’t that in any manifesto?

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Niamh Boadle wins Young Acoustic Roots

Niamh Boadle from Lytham St.Annes won this years competition on Sunday May 2nd in the Ringway Marquee at Wath Folk Festival. Organised by Pete Thornton-Smith of the BPAS Group the competition was part of a full afternoon of live acoustic music.

Judges Ray Hearne, Tom Bliss and Sue Dewsbury had a difficult decision with the standard once again being so high in this the competition’s sixth year. Peter Dilley from Consett was runner-up and together with fellow finalists Bella Gaffney and Wilbur Sears was presented with vouchers donated by The Music Room of Cleackheaton.

Niamh is pictured receiving the magnificant Richard Moody trophy from Ray and later went on to open the sell-out evening concert on the main stage at Montgomery Hall that was headlined by Ade Edmonson and the Bad Shepherds. An interview with her and Pete is available courtesy of Allan Wilkinson on the Northern Sky website at http://www.allanwilkinson.co.uk/node/927.

The rest of the programme featured stunning music from Isambarde, Gilmore Roberts, Barker and Bartlett, Stacey Earle and Mark Sturat and Tom Palmer.
The competition was sponsored by Wath Festival, The Music Room and The BPAS Group. Details for next year can be obtained from Pete on 01709 739093 or info@thebpasgroup.co.uk and is for acoustic musicians aged 12 – 21.

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Grimsby Songwriting Workshop

Following on from the success of the first Songwriter's event Helen Bennet is organising a second Songwriting Night for beginners/current songwriters on Monday 17th May with an 8pm start at Grimsby British Legion, Cartergate, Grimsby. All are welcome. Contact Helen for more info 07762361594 or email Rockhenpf@aol.com

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The Reely Grim Folk Dance Club Re-opens

The Club will be reopening on Tuesday May the 18th. with the arrival of a new landlord at The Blacksmiths Arms at Rothwell. The club will then meet on the 3rd. Tuesday of each month.

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Folk Newsletter for Lincoln

A newsletter listing folk events within the city of Lincoln is now available as a PDF file. All you need to do to receive a copy is send your email address to Frank Kelly at lfn@minimorris.co.uk

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THE 2006 RADIO BALLADS : REISSUED

A brand new Radio Ballad entitled 'The Ballad of the Miners' Strike' will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday 2nd March, marking the 25th anniversary of the end of that bitter year-long dispute. With specially commissioned new songs from John Tams, Julie Matthews, Ray Hearne and Jez Lowe and featuring musicians such as Andy Cutting, Barry Coope, Bob Fox and Andy Seward, its transmission has been highly anticipated.

To coincide with this, Delphonic Records are proud to announce the digital reissue of all six Radio Ballads (each one an hour long) that made up the 2006 series:

THE SONG OF STEEL : the decline of Sheffield and Rotherham steel industries
THE ENEMY THAT LIVES WITHIN : modern stories of people living with HIV/AIDS
THE HORN OF THE HUNTER : both sides of the story of hunting with hounds
SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS : the travelling people who run Britain’s fairgrounds
THIRTY YEARS OF CONFLICT : sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland
THE BALLAD OF THE BIG SHIPS : shipyards of Tyne & Wear and Clyde

A stunning and important documentation of modern British history and culture, the 2006 Radio Ballads were a year in the making, the process beginning when producer John Leonard, tape editor Annie Grundy and interviewers Vince Hunt and Sara Parker selected six issues that had dominated the half-century since the original groundbreaking Radio Ballads of Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker (father of Sara) and Peggy Seeger were broadcast on the BBC Home Service in the late 1950’s.
The original eight documentaries had been masterpieces of radio, weaving the voices of rarely heard communities with songs written from and about the recorded experiences of the interviewees. With a similar modus operandi for the 2006 Radio Ballads, Hunt and Parker began visiting steelworks, shipyards and fairgrounds, crossed the countryside with fox and hare hunters, talked to musicians who had been caught up in the Troubles and to people living with HIV/AIDS, and gathered location atmosphere and sound effects, eventually speaking to hundreds of people.
These interviews were subsequently edited into themes, with layers of recollections and memories, which were then sifted by Leonard and arranged into groupings for songs to be written. Musical director John Tams assembled a team of professional musicians drawn mostly from the current folk scene (including Karine Polwart, Julie Matthews, Jez Lowe, Ray Hearne and Ian McMillan), and they gathered at his studio to work out parts and hone the songs while Leonard edited each new stage into the overall Ballad. As this Ballad series was commissioned as part of the BBC's Voices project, the musicians used dialect, slang and shared experience to inform their songs. Long days and weeks of studio production resulted in the six-part series originally transmitted from February to April 2006.

Further information about the 2006 Radio Ballads and the original ballads can be found on the BBC Radio 2 website at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/radioballads/2006/

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New Session at Messingham

There is an acoustic session on Sunday 28th Febuary at the Horn Inn at Mesingham from 7.30pm .
The acoustic sessions are to be held on the last Sunday of the Month and are for anyone wants to sing , dance or play. The idea, says organiser Graham Sugdon, is to make new friends , have a bit of fun , learn new tunes , in a relaxed atmosphere i.e. without being on a stage or in a concert type situation . more details from 01724 763795

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New Session at Waddingham

Bill Lakin will be starting a fortnightly session at the Marquis of Granby, Waddingham on Monday the 1st of March, mainly Irish but all musicians/singers welcome. Telephone 01673 818064 for more information.

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Children's Book / CD from Dave & Julie Evardson

Dave & Julie Evardson have just published a book of songs with CD for children 4 – 9 ntitled - THREE TROUBLESOME TYKES. The ‘Tykes’ aim in life is to make life difficult for children. JIGGERY JOE is a spoilsport, messes up your room & scares you with strange noises at night. RICKERTY ROCK makes you clumsy & forgetful, as well as playing tricks with the time. SPICKETY SPIKE messes with your food, making nice things bad for you, & horrid things good for you.

The book & CD make an ideal Christmas stocking filler. Just send a cheque for £5-49 (includes postage etc) plus address & postcode to: D Evardson, 37 Daggett Road, Cleethorpes, N E Lincs, DN35 0EP

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Music Trains are back on track

After a summer break the popular Poacher Line Music Train Autumn / Winter programme will kick off on Thursday 26th November 2009 with the Delta Dogs band. Trio Strummin' Steve, Tricky Ricky and AJ play folk, country, toe tappers and jigs on guitar, strummer, fiddle, harmonica and bodhran.
The train provides an unusual venue for what will undoubtedly be a lively and uplifting evening with time to stop at Batemans Brewery in Wainfleet where passengers are offered a warm welcome and refreshments at their Windmill Bar. Passengers can take advantage of group save ticket availability on this train and then sit back with a bottle of beer and join in the "singalongs".
The Music Train departs Sleaford Station at 6.55pm; Heckington 7.02pm; Boston; 7.21pm for travel to Batemans Brewery. Revellers catch the return train from Wainfleet at 9.08pm to arrive back in Sleaford at 9.58pm.

http://www.poacherline.org.uk/

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"Write Note" returns to Lincoln Central Library

The popular lunchtime monthly live acoustic music sessions are back at the Lincoln Central Library,starting this Wednesday 2nd December 2009. They've temporarily been held at the Museum Of Lincolnshire Life while refurbishment work at the library was carried out. All musicians & audience welcome to the session which runs from noon-2pm. Come along to play or relax and enjoy the music. Admission is free.
Plus there's also a special Saturday lunchtime Festive Write Note at Lincoln Central Library on the 19th December running from noon-2pm. Musicians and audience welcome. For more information contact Steve Jackson 01522-824563

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EFDSS release Cecil Sharp's Diaries On-line

Cecil James Sharp (1859 - 1924) was England's most prolific folk music and dance collector. The 22nd November will mark his birthdate and Sequicentinnial (150th Anniversary). In celebration of his achievements and the impact he continues to have on folk music to this day EFDSS have announced the launch of his only surviving personal diaries. Written between (1915 - 1918) they include descriptions of his collecting experiences in the Appalachian Mountains of North America.

Between the time of his first serious collecting experience in a vicarage garden in August 1903, until his death on Midsummer Eve 1924, he amassed a total of 4,977 tunes in England and North America, many of which were published in various forms in order to promote and revive what was perceived to be a fading part of traditional culture.

He was not alone by any means, following as he did the likes of Lucy Broadwood, Frank Kidson and Sabine Baring-Gould to name a few. However, his mission to revive the music placed him very much at the forefront of a movement which has attracted a great deal of attention over the past thirty years, but for which many primary sources have been difficult to access .

How on earth did this asthmatic, 56 year-old vegetarian survive in the heat and altitudes of North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia, along with his young assistant, Maud Karpeles? How did he feel when he heard the news of the death of many of the young men of his English Folk Dance Society demonstration team in the trenches of the Great War? And what did it mean to collect 1,600 tunes from people he considered direct descendants and carriers of British cultural traditions?

The first of the series of diaries will be launched online on Sunday 22nd November, 2009 followed by announcements of more events and content over the coming months. It is also planned to add a full, annotated transcription in time for Sharp's next birthday in 2010.

Thanks to Cecil Sharp's grandchildren, Briony Jose and Richard Sharp, for allowing EFDSS to host the diaries online; to the managers of his estate, Bird & Bird, for helping us find them; to Chris Roche and The Shanty Crew for sponsoring this project.

The diaries will be available to access on-line from Sunday 22nd of November.

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Fallibroome Country Dance Collection Re-published

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has re-published, in a single volume, the six country dance collections originally compiled by the late Bernard Bentley, and known as The Fallibroome Collection.

The original books were published in the 1960s and 70s, but have been out of print for many years.

The new edition of The Fallibroome Collection, made by Nicolas Broadbridge, has newly reset tunes and rewritten dance instructions to suit modern practice, while preserving Bernard Bentley's dance transcriptions. An addition to this new collection is digital images of the original eighteenth-century dance collections, from which the Fallibroome dances were selected.

The new collection also includes twelve dances composed by Bernard Bentley in eighteenth-century style, to a set of Contretänze by Beethoven.

The dances in The Fallibroome Collection were selected by Bernard Bentley from the eighteenth-century dance collections made by John Playford (The Dancing Master), Young, Johnson, Thompson, Rutherford and others. These dances have long been enjoyed within the English folk dance revival.

Nicolas Broadbridge says, "This new edition of a well-loved collection of dances will hopefully bring these dances to the notice of a wider circle of English country dancers."

The Fallibroome Collection will be of significant interest to English country dancers, folk dance clubs, folk dance musicians, and dance and music historians.

The new edition of The Fallibroome Collection has been made possible with financial support from the Lichfield Folk Festival (Staffordshire Folk) and English Miscellany. The EFDSS is most grateful for this support.

Bernard Bentley, who died in 1993, was a Mancunian and a founder member of the Manchester Morris Men. He was an authority on the north-west English style of morris dancing, as well as a noted interpreter of English country dances. He lived at Fallibroome in Prestbury, Cheshire, hence the name of this collection of dances.

Nicolas Broadbridge is a dancer, teacher, researcher and musician whose previous publications include Purcell's Dancing Master and The Assembly Dances.

The Fallibroome Collection, ed. Nicolas Broadbridge, is published on 4 January 2010. Price: £18.00 plus £2.50 p&p.

There is a special pre-publication offer. Order the book before 4 January 2010 at the special price of £15.00 plus £2.50 p&p. Order via the webshop www.efdss.org or by post to Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY. Tel: 0207 485 2206. Orders received before 15th December will be despatched before Christmas.

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New session at the Minerva - Hull

Monthy, second Tuesday. Traditional music, musicians and singers welcome. The Minerva, Nelson Street, Hull Marina, Hull, HU1 1XE Tel: 01482 210024

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Byards Leap are now Akmeds Camel

Byards Leap have now reverted to there old name of Akmeds Camel. This popular Lincolnshire barn dance and Ceilidh Band have reformed with the old line-up after going into hibernation in 2004. Lesley Prue now calls for the band and with the addition of a separate sound and lighting technician, the band is now ready for Ceilidh and Barn Dance bookings. For more details visit www.akmedscamel.co.uk or call 01733 210000.

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New Arts Centre and new singaround / session for Goole

Junction is a brand new purpose-built arts facility in the centre of Goole, opening on the 7th. of November 2009. Replacing the old Gate theatre which closed in July. The Junction will present a varied programme of live performance, film, music and comedy. The first folk event will be Folk in the Bar, in Walkway - Junction's cafe bar on Thursday 3rd December 2009. The event will be a session / singaround format, where anyone can turn up and perform; just ask for Martyn Barker on arrival. This will be a regular event on the first Thursday of every month.

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Ep'th Folk Venue Change

The now weekly Ep'th Folk Club will be held at ‘The Mowbray Arms’ fortnightly from Wednesday 14th. October 2009 and on the alternate Wednesday evenings are continuing at the private venue which they have been using recently. Interested parties should call 01427 872010 for further information.

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Session Changes at West Stockwith

The return of the "mainly English" session to the Blue Bell, Gringley on the Hill has been a success, and these will happen on the 3rd Wednesday of the month (from 8.30). No further sessions at Waterfront, West Stockwith. The future of the French sessions (First Wednesday) has not yet been decided, but they will cease with immediate effect and will probably happen on an "occasional" basis in the future, also at the Blue Bell, Gringley on the Hill.

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CYRIL TAWNEY - LIVE RECORDINGS NEEDED

Recordings of Cyril Tawney's concert and club appearances are needed for inclusion in his Archive, which will be held by the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London, and I wonder if any of your readers/listeners can help. I have already received several very useful items, but there are still some gaps to be filled, particularly by the many traditional songs in his repertoire which were not recorded commercially.

I'm also keen to have examples of his more quirky items, for my own pleasure and for the Archive - here are some examples to jog memories:

Music-hall songs - Married on Pension Day, With Me Little Bit Of Hair On The Top etc.

Popular songs - She Wears Red Feathers (yes, the Guy Mitchell hit), also the Andrews Sisters songs Her Bathing Suit Never Got Wet and Three Little Sisters.

Most of all in this category I would love to have a recording of Baltimore Oriole, a beautiful, bluesy Hoagy Carmichael song which Cyril rarely sang in public. Here's a reminder of the opening lines:

'Baltimore Oriole, took one look at that mercury, forty below, no life for a lady, to be draggin' her feathers around in the snow'

We have no recordings of the themed presentations which he occasionally gave at Festivals and Arts Centres: "Tawney in Depth", "Hands to Dance and Skylark" and "Royal Navy Humour". Does anyone have these, please?

Even if the songs you have are covered elsewhere, Cyril's introductions were very much a part of his performances and the live sessions will help to complete the record of his career.

Thank you very much

Rosemary Tawney www.cyriltawney.co.uk

Contact details: tawney3@tiscali.co.uk 01392 426 055

10 Sivell Place, Heavitree, Exeter, EX2 5ET, UK.

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