Video Premiere: The Gigspanner Big Band - Awake Awake

In 2017, The Gigspanner Band was fleshed out from a trio to a five-piece with the addition of award-winning multi-instrumental duo Hannah Martin and Phillip Henry (Edgelarks) and a change of title – The Gigspanner Big Band. Those that didn’t manage to capture them live were treated to a live album the same year which was one of our Featured Albums of the Month.

In his review of the album, Thomas Blake was keen to point out that one of the bonuses of this expanded lineup was the “sheer variety on offer. There is the variety provided by the contrasting but complementary styles of the musicians…” He went on to conclude that the band “are a unique musical proposition; they are taking folk music down new and enthralling paths. They are also one of the most exciting live bands you are likely to see this year (or any year, for that matter), and this recording documents their energy, skill and hard work brilliantly.”

That last statement certainly hasn’t changed but the journey they’ve been on has been far from static since then. If anything, their output has been heightened still further with the addition of concertina player John Spiers (Spiers and Boden, Bellowhead, The Ratcatchers) which takes their spellbinding performance to another level. Like Peter Knight who heads the band, Spiers is something of a folk superstar in his own right. In Knight’s words, “John is an extraordinary musician… a great and sensitive player”. Knight’s excitement at the new venture is evident, and it says much about the nature of his musical outlook that, after half a century of innovation, he is still as willing as ever to move in bold new directions.

With all this excitement, we are very honoured to share with you a new live video which was filmed by Perrine Nouvier at L’espace, Verteillac, France this month where the band were rehearsing ahead of next month’s tour dates (details below). The song, ‘Awake Awake‘ is to feature on The Gigspanner Big Band new album which is scheduled for release on April 2020. There’s more on the song below which Hannah Martin first came across at Cecil Sharp House in London.

Hannah Martin first came across this song during a week long research session at Cecil Sharp House in London. Hannah and Phillip Henry were exploring Cecil Sharp’s seminal collection “English Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachians”, and the beautiful simplicity of the lyrics and melody made an immediate impact.

It had the same effect on Peter Knight, who picked out Hannah and Phil’s rough demo from a whole load of potential Gigspanner Big Band material. Peter immediately hit on the idea of an answering counter vocal, while Roger and Sacha’s subtle rhythm section work took the arrangement to the next level.

The tune that has been added to the end of the song is called Ellen Smith, another of Hannah and Phil’s discoveries from Cecil Sharp’s manuscripts. To the best of their knowledge it is not published anywhere – it didn’t make it into Sharp’s song-focused collection.

Hannah says “It is a huge pleasure to hear it played by tune masters like John and Peter, and Phil’s chord substitutions seem to create a euphoric, hypnotic feeling similar to the one Cecil Sharp remarked on in his manuscript notes:

“These were played by two youths, the one playing the air on the fiddle (con-sordini, ie by hinging over clasp knife with partially opened blade on the bridge), accompanied by the other with arpeggios on the banjo. The thing was very skilfully played, plumb in tune, and its constant repetition had a quasi-hypnotic effect on me and apparently also on the players…” (Cecil Sharp, manuscript notes, July 30th, 1917).