MARTIN SIMPSON: Roots Unearthed, L3 Lounge, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, September 19, 2017 There’s one thing better than a Martin Simpson long-awaited album, and that is seeing him performing live – in the flesh, alone, with no safety net. The L3 Lounge was packed out in the first of the Roots Unearthed autumn, winter and…
Live Reviews, News
Josienne, Ben and the Mavrons make such beautiful music together
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JOSIENNE CLARKE & BEN WALKER, THE MAVRON QUARTET: Folk Prom, Roots Unearthed, L3 Lounge, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, July 24, 2017 It was the annual Summer Proms at St David’s Hall, and the Roots Unearthed series staged a very special and unique Monday night concert: the mesmerising voice and songwriting of Josienne Clarke and Ben…
Feature, News
BEAM – A weekend of Welsh culture!
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The annual weekend festival/workshop BEAM – The Big Experiment / Yr Arbrawf Mawr – is back in Carmarthen from September 1 – 3. Organised by trac, (the folk development organisation for Wales, the event offers a fantastic weekend for young and old, and everyone from beginners to advanced musicians. BEAM 2017 offers a grand weekend packed with music, dance and song, this year featuring…
Live Reviews, News
Stacey, Helina and Jordan: A match made in heaven
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ELFEN: Llantrisant Folk Club, Pontyclun Athletic Club, July 26, 2017 It’s Summer and the folk scene’s Silly Season, and most clubs go on their extended holidays and don’t start again until September – which makes it all the more remarkable that spectacular trio Elfen played to a crowded room, and Llantrisant Folk Club organisers had…
Feature
Stunning music, beautiful lyrics and a strong celtic gesture: that’s Mary Ann’s language
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Mary Ann Kennedy is a Scottish Gaelic musician, singer, choral director, composer, radio and television presenter and music producer; she also trains and conducts Còisir Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, the Inverness Gaelic Choir, and she used to be a founder member with the Gaelic ‘super-group’ Cliar. Both she and her musician husband Nick Turner produced her solo…
Live Reviews
Hats off to the wonderful Spooky Men, and a chorus of praise for Taberner
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THE SPOOKY MEN’S CHORALE: St David’s Hall, Cardiff, July 12, 2017 Sometimes it seems to me that there is something in my subconscious that, when going to gigs for review, says: “Do that one – traffic will be a nightmare that day”. In the past I’ve tried to get to Bristol on the day a…
Live Reviews
Hey, Rachel: Please come back again…
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THE RACHEL NEWTON BAND: Roots Unearthed, L3 Lounge, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, June 27, 2017 Folk Awards multi-winner Rachel Newton has chalked up many impressive plaudits as a founder member of all-woman band The Shee and harper with The Furrow Collective and The Emily Portman Trio, so she’s not a stranger to South Wales. However,…
Live Reviews
It’s the end of a glittering road for Barry, Jim and Lester
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COOPE BOYES AND SIMPSON: Roots Unearthed, Lefel 3, St David’s Hall, Cardiff: May 9, 2017 Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson – three Yorkshire and Derbyshire singers with names that resembled a firm of solicitors – came together in 1990, the core of the Derby-based ceilidh band Ramsbottom; they sing close-harmony acapela in an…
Live Reviews, News
Homecoming celebration for The Queen Of Harps and The Kora King
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CATRIN FINCH & SECKOU KEITA: Acapela Studio, Pentyrch, April 28, 2017 They have toured in Wales, the United Kingdom, Europe and all the world over, clinching the fRoots Album Of The Year award for Clychau Dibon and being nominated as Best Duo and Best Traditional Track in the Radio 2 Folk Awards; international harpist Catrin…
Live Reviews, News
Nancy’s special style has the fans calling for more
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NANCY KERR & THE SWEET VISITOR BAND: Roots Unearthed, Lefel 3, St David’s Hall, April 25, 2017 Nancy Kerr is a visionary songwriter and an exciting, effervescent fiddle musician, who is the proud possessor of a mesmerising voice. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott, and she inherited…