The complete Sidmouth Folk Festival Programme (29th July – 5th August) is now available here, featuring 700+ exciting events. Over the next two weeks, we will highlight some of those concerts and events we are looking forward to, but first off – A Cellarful of Folkadelia.
Folk Radio UK is a media sponsor this year. We will be presenting this year’s A Cellarful of Folkadelia concert series at Kennaway House – daily between 3-5 pm (30 July-4 August), which we’ve taken over from the much-missed fRoots. The series continues to open the door to a new world of possibilities inspired by tradition. Keith Rusby will be doing a very professional job as MC for these concerts, but I will be there.
We are also presenting a Bulverton Big Night Out on Sunday 31st July with Joshua Burnell & Band and Gadarene with the multi-talented David Delarre as MC (more on this and other events soon). Get your tickets for that event here.
I’m super excited about our involvement in Sidmouth Folk Festival this year, so do go and check the full lineup; it’s one of a kind – https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/
A Cellarful of Folkadelia Features:
Saturday, 30th July
Sairie, whom we first featured in 2019 (Folk Show Episode 54); the trio features Emma Morton (vocals, autoharp), Jon Griffin (vocals, guitar) and Andy Thomas (bass). Jon and Emma met through playing in Lutine together (see our 2014 review of White Flowers) and went on to form Sairie. From East Sussex, they share a love of folklore, dark tales, mystery, nature and landscape. Past words on Folk Radio UK have proven to be prophetic: “a very persuasive blend of voice and instrumental that bodes well for their future.”
Brighton-based folk group Bird in the Belly features folk-duo Hickory Signals (Laura Ward and Adam Ronchetti), alt-folk singer-songwriter Ben Webb (Jinnwoo, Green Ribbons), and multi-instrumentalist and producer Tom Pryor. Earlier this year, they released After the City, a concept album inspired by Richard Jefferies’ early sci-fo dystopian novel After London Or, Wild England, published in 1885. Folk Radio’s Thomas Blake concludes: “Bird In The Belly are one of the most talented and unusual groups around, and here they have taken on a relatively obscure subject and made it accessible, gripping and mythical.”Bird In The Belly are one of the most talented and unusual groups around, and here they have taken on a relatively obscure subject and made it accessible, gripping and mythical.”
Bulgarian-born folk singer, performer and choir director Eugenia Georgieva. She is a singer of profound, abounding grace. Inspired by the traditional music of her homeland, she has delved deep into Bulgarian music and old songs from other Slavic countries.
Sunday, 31st July
Windjammer are a Devon-based folk trio blending self-penned songs and tunes with original contemporary arrangements of traditional English folk music. Using varied arrangements of acoustic guitar, whistles, accordion, synthesizer and percussion, they set their rich stories in a context of all their own making. We recently reviewed their debut album Awaken, and a track is featured in our latest Folk Show here.
Monday, 1st August
Australian folk trio Bush Gothic whose forthcoming album Beyond the Pale (a track features in our latest Folk Show), lives up to their mission to revive, reinvent and revitalise iconic and traditional Australian folksong.
Talented fiddle player and son of one of the great figures of the American folk revival Ben Paley. His fiddle playing is inspired by old-time American music, Swedish traditions and beyond. He has played in numerous bands and with numerous collaborators from many genres.
Tuesday, 2nd August
Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist Modeste Hugues from eastern Madagascar, whose music is a unique blend of traditional Malagasy sounds. He creates beautiful, exuberant melodies & rhythms with hypnotic guitar playing & vocals and is known for his incredible live performances. As the Independent said, ‘He’s so effective in this musical sleight of hand that audience members scan the stage in search of a (non-existent) second guitar player’. His new album with Madagascan musician Kilema is called ‘Green World’ – ‘Ala Maintso’.
Yorkshire’s Serious Sam Barrett, whose album The Seeds Of Love, a collection of traditional love songs of England and Scotland, will surely be one of the traditional folk albums of the year. Raised in Addingham, a Dales village, his ties and affinity with Yorkshire have clearly been evident in his work. Initially performing in and around Leeds in 2004, the experiences and knowledge garnered from being brought up in the Yorkshire folk club scene and being exposed to what he describes as “the wonder I have felt listening to people sing traditional songs in a raw, warts and all style” have obviously seeped deep into his consciousness, and this is reflected in the respectful way he interprets and delivers the traditional songs on this album.
Wednesday, 3rd August
The energetic young master balafon player N’famady Kouyaté. The balafon is a traditional wooden xylophone sacred to West African culture and his griot heritage from Guinea (Conakry). Relocating to Cardiff in 2019, the talented multi-instrumentalist has wowed audiences across the UK and Ireland over the past few years with his modern interpretations of traditional Mandingue songs and rhythms, supporting Welsh musician Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals).
Vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Angeline Morrison, whose latest album, The Brown Girl, we reviewed here – “…one of those rare records that feels perfectly weighted, entirely free of anything extraneous. Every multi-tracked harmony or subtly plucked string has its place, and the whole thing feels lighter than air.”
Thursday, 4th August
In 2017, Nick Hart delivered his excellent Nick Hart Sings Eight English Folk Songs, followed by Nine English Folk Songs in 2019, and, you guessed it, Ten English Folk Songs in 2022. The latter was one of his most impressive, featuring a surprisingly wide variety of instruments and some impressively alluring multi-layered arrangements. He carries these folk songs on into the current time, giving them new life and extending their long history.
Elspeth Anne is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, weaving trad folk, alt-country and punk influences into a unique dark folk sound. She plays a mix of originals and traditional folk songs accompanied by guitar and drones. She has been writing and recording as an artist since 2005 and is set to release her third solo album, Mercy Me, in Autumn 2022. Do yourself a favour and check her Bandcamp page.
Full details of Sidmouth Folk Festival can be found here: https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/full-programme2022/
According to Sidmouth, there are no advance event tickets for the Cellarful concerts, so you’ll need a season ticket via: https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/tickets/
More soon.
