Listening to the Woman’s Hour programme on women and folk, prompted me to play some of my albums by The Shee: six very talented female musicians. I think my favourite album of theirs is Continuum, which includes six numbers commissioned from various folk luminaries. That includes the final track: Jaspers/Dance with Me, which is so deeply moving and just keeps playing in my head when the album finishes.
Roger
@thebadyogi kindly suggested The Ollliam on the interesting thread in which members suggest albums which might overcome genre prejudice. New to me, but here’s their second album Elllegy. Yes, they reallly do spell it like that. No fiddle, or singing, but there are whistles, uilleann pipes, guitar and drums. There’s an Afro-Celtic vibe to this. Plenty to like.
Have you heard her “From Gardens Where We Feel Secure” album, perfect for a warm summer evening soundtrack…should we get any of those!
Yes. Superfan here. Got most of her works.
We have Fairport Convention tomorrow. I’m so looking forward to it. They are just so nice and it will be good to meet them again. The show is sold out, which is always good.
Pleas pass on the usual Thanks For All The Great Music comments please.
It’s my mission to get a decent team photo tomorrow. If I succeed I’ll post it on here. Musicians love team photos. Here we are with Flook.
Classical musicians like team photos too. Here we are with Nathaniel Anderson Frank, leader of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and Ella Rundle from the Philharmonia. It’s actually my favourite team photo. They are both so lovely.
Sorry Nick, that would be far too cheesy. The last time I met Ric Sanders we went to the pub and were sharing recommendations for Anouar Brahem albums. Our relationship with the artists is totally different to that of fans; it’s much more a partnership, us glad they came and them glad we invited them. Supporting live music is a real challenge at the moment.
Fair enough if you know them well: the rest of us are grateful and fans, not mates.
You lucky people (I know luck has nothing to do with it, but YKWIM)
I remember a group called Flook in Liverpool, back in about 1968/9. I’m guessing these are not they.
An interesting listen BBC Radio 4 - Black Roots
Harking back to American bands I mentioned, I listened to this when I read a review referring to “American folk music”, it refers to the “roots”, the crossover of tradition and country music.
DM left Fairport back in 2008, Gerry Conway has been on drums since then.
Hope you don’t mind if I answer Nigel. Left to right Gerry Conway, Chris Leslie, Simon Nicol, Ric Sanders, Wemfest staff, Dave Pegg, a face I recognise from the forum. 
I assume that’s a glass of wine in Peggy’s hand.
More than happy, thanks. They were on top form last night for sure. They are being very cautious with Covid still about, so there was no meeting the audience or signing stuff. They were fine with us of course, as you can see. They loved the venue too, St James’ Church. Andrew the Rector popped in and really enjoyed it, which was nice. There are various logistical issues with using a church for a large (by our standards) show, particularly the loos, but everyone was in good spirits. It’s a lovely venue with great acoustics.
Next stop, the Unthanks on 18 June.
And here we are, back from holiday and it’s the wonderful Unthanks. Fantastic show and a team photo too.
My cousin sent this to me; it reminds me of my time in the Baltics. It’s a Latvian song celebrating the oak at the Solstice. She says: “During the summer solstice (Latvian) men wear crowns made from oak leaves and women crowns of flowers. The lyrics reflect how mighty, powerful and wise the ancient oak tree is - how it sustains its strength & cannot be drained. An apt symbol of resilience after all we have been through, and for all that continues…”
