More singing... after the choir gig last Saturday (see previous post), off to Barrow on Soar, just outside God's Little Acre for my first visit to the Grand Union club. It will not be the last...
The performers booked for tonight: Keith Kendrick and Sheila Needham backed by Sheila Mosley and Pete Burnham, the latter pair whose work I know well, the former more by reputation (although I saw them at a private party the other week and was mightily impressed). Keith Kendrick, of course, is a stalwart from way back and I'm not sure how I've missed seeing him - although my interest in folk music waxes and wanes, to be fair, plus living out of the area for so long. But at this club, a simple performance, in the sense of artist/audience, is never likely. Given the staggering firepower of the singers who make up the audience, participation at a high level is always the order of the night. At several points during the evening, I closed my eyes and concentrated on picking out all the individual voices and timbres, male and female, which stood out of the collective song, most of whom I know from around and about. An interesting exercise... yet the individual talents all combine for the collective whole - no grandstanding here...
Bill Wilkes started with an Australian song about the First World War that I didn't know - surprisingly, as I get wearied with the continuing vocal bleat about WW1, when the band is always playing bloody 'Waltzing Matilda.' Cynical, perhaps... But tonight -a fresh look at the old slaughter - fascinating. The quick parade of floor singers, all good, led inexorably to the first spot of the night from Kendrick/Needham. Kicked off by a version of another song I usually loathe (but see my review here for the Cantamus gig where they produced a new take on an old hate that turned my ears round, as it were) which now breathed new life, buttressed by consummate concertina playing and the fine harmonies and individual performance of Sheila, he proceeded with a light touch throughout, taking in some serious old skool - 'Crow on the cradle,' Sheila's romp (complete with audience physical participation via various hand gestures) through 'Why does a winkle always turn to the right?' - to more varied fare, moving through what I term the 'Arc of Loss,' the register of hard times and pastoral yearnings that make up the bulk of the English folk canon. Via songs of passion, (personal and set against the wider backdrop of history - Chartism, tonight) and reminders of maritime heritage -'Sailor's Prayer.' Oh - and a stunning version of Cyril Tawney's 'Sally free and Easy,' which combines both the sea and thwarted love - 'took a sailor's loving, for a nursery game.' A song that many sing but few do justice to - tonight, their stark harmonies, with Sheila holding a run-on note into each verse for Keith to bounce off, signalled a sharp musical intelligence at work. A questing re-invention is always taking place, as I see it, invigorating even (over) familiar material spliced to more unusual songs - 'My Own Heart,' by Adrian May - which I hadn't heard before. The whole transmitted with good humour and deceptive finesse...
This is just an off-the-cuff review, I was not planning on doing a write-up as such, took no photographs either, and only a few undecipherable notes - the Leffe was biting by then... it was supposed to be a night out with the crew on a long-overdue visit... but I enjoyed it so much... nice to see Sheila and Pete as well, who gave some old favourites, Ms Mosley's clear high and slightly frail voice with an echo of Shirley Collins perhaps (hailing from the same part of the country) riding smoothly alongside Pete's lilting ring - South and North East combined. Not forgetting the mighty vocal backdrop of the audience - they really add something to the evening, making it a unique experience to come here - crying out for a live recording, Bill?
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