(By Ann Alex).
Jazzers should be warned
that there’s lots of folk music on at Sage Gateshead today (Saturday June 7) as it’s the 24
Hours-of-Folk, a world record attempt folk session, from 10am Saturday
morning until 10am on Sunday. It starts
with the Unthanks and a student
band, The Teacups, and other folkies
eg myself, have been sponsored to help out so that the music is
continuous. Many well known folk
musicians will be performing, such as Alistair Anderson, and Taffy Thomas, who
is a storyteller. The aim is to raise
money for Sage Gateshead, which is suffering from funding cutbacks.
The Jazz Coop workshop
is also at Sage Gateshead during Saturday afternoon (The theme is rhythm, with Judith
Thompson and Steve Glendinning) so I hope the 2 groups don’t meet! Lance says he’s giving the folk a miss – why
am I not surprised?
But seriously, I know
there are many jazzers like myself with a foot, or rather an instrument, in
both camps and I think it’s going to be a great day all round. Saturday is the culmination of a really good
week of folk, as there have been free concerts Monday-Thursday, when the Folk
and Traditional Music Degree students were being assessed. It’s worth keeping
an ear open at these concerts, as local jazz musicians such as Simon Stephenson
and Rob Heron both emerged via this degree.
This year there weren’t many obvious jazz elements, but we were treated
to wonderful women singers, Portuguese piping, lots of fiddles and guitars, and
more use of drum kits than you’d expect.
The final performance on Friday was by someone on highland pipes, not my
favourite instrument, but it was actually tremendous, with 2 highland pipers in
spine-tingling harmony and also a piece with highland pipes and double bass,
which really worked well. I kid you not.
It’s all music, folks.
Anne Alex.
4 comments :
I left the Jazz Café on a high after a fantastic gig featuring Hutton, Champion and Carnegie. I wandered over to GOTH (Gateshead Old Town Hall) to see how the marathon was going. About fifty people in round midnight. A bloke in a waistcoat, bow tie etc was telling a story about a bloke who sawed off his feet. A piper, Paul Knox, piped-up intermittently. The interminable story - I was losing the will to live - came to an end. Cue two female singers, audience participation at the chorus, folkie foot-stomping. At around ten minutes to one I realised why I love jazz as much as I do and went off into the night.
Russell,
I left the Saturday Jazz Workshop on a high after studying 'Bernie's Tune' and I left the 24 hours of Folk on a high just before you arrived! I had 2 highs with the added bonus that the 24 hours of folk had raised funds for Sage Gateshead, so that both folk and jazz can continue. Long may both go on!
Maybe you didn't listen to the storytelling closely enough. The nearest comparison that many people would remember is the storytelling of Dave Allen the comedian. Storytelling is used in schools now to teach children how to deal with bullying and abuse. Ann Alex
I must admit up to a few years ago I took little interest in 'folk music' apart from the local dialect songs which I've liked going back to Alex Glasgow & Co. My loss! Neil Harland played me some of Chris Stout's music - wonderful stuff and very sophisticated (complex time signatures no problem for one small example) - swings like the clappers, gorgeous lyrical melodies and so on. I realised I was maybe missing out on something. I went to see Fiddlers Bid at Berwick Maltings a while back - absolutely memorable! I love The Unthanks music - their CD 'Songs of the Shipyards' is one of the most moving I've ever heard - wonderful story telling and cohesive from start to finish. Talk about compelling. Its very moving and I've listened to it over and over again. I've commented before about June Tabor. Check out Eliza Carthy too. Went to a Bellowhead Sage concert about two years back. Everyone was on their feet. Fantastic live act. Just been checking out Ian Carr (the guitarist) and Simon Thoumire on Iain's very amusing website - amazing stuff. Quite a few great jazz players comfortably cross over to contemporary folk and mix things up too. Graeme Stephen, Fraser Fifield, Chris Stout, Huw Warren, Iain Ballamy to name just a few. Folk music is just another genre - there's great, good and not so good - just like jazz. PS. What about opera?
Roly
While I love jazz and have been to many great jazz gigs, I've also been to a few where the option of having a foot sawed off might have seemed a tempting alternative. But I love folk and traditional music as well and ten days ago I was at an epic folk concert at the Sage as part of three-day festival curated by the current folk band of the moment, Lau. They had asked the Unthanks to bring together some of the groups who had influenced them. So on stage were the Unthanks who include the two singers, a piano, two violins, a cello and an electric bass; a three-man a capella group called the Voice Squad; and the Irish fiddle player, Martin Hayes and his guitar playing sidekick, Dennis Cahill. The first piece was a song 'Sea coal' written by a 14 year old from Hartlepool and featured the three groups together - amazing. The groups also played separately and I would defy lovers of whatever kind of specific music not to be moved by the Voice Squad's unaccompanied version of 'I am Stretched on Your Grave'.
Then Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill's 15 minute improvisation on a traditional Irish tune was a staggering tour de force. Folk? Jazz? When they're good, they're great.
PS. But I have to say I draw the line at opera....
JC
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