Tanglefoot at Parkgate Folk Club

I've no notes from this gig, it was highly anticipated having enjoyed Tanglefoot's recent performance in Vale Park and since played their live CD many times, and I had wondered out loud how this Big Folk act would fit into the confines of the Boathouse's Function Room. The answer was "Just fine" - the lads lined up along the wall, backs to the sun, and we all squeezed into a sold out gig and had a jolly good time. This was no acoustic quieted down Tanglefoot, they just used a slightly smaller sound system and played full on all night, to the obvious delight of the audience, many of whom could be seen singing along, even to the French song!

Suffice to say is was a great night, the band were on top form, having a whale of a time, and when, at the death there was a single, but very obvious bum note, there were smiles and apologies, but nobody cared, we just asked for, and got, MORE!

Afterwards we were able to talk to a very hot and sweaty Al Parrish, their Canadian bass player and shared our delight with him and the band - it was typical that they found the time to chat for some time afterwards, helped perhaps by having dedicated merchandise sellers! The other good news is that the Boathouse survived un-scathed.....

Guardian writer's take on song lyrics

This article in The Guardian caught my attention on Friday, John Harris as a few interesting things to say about song lyics too: read the article.

Coldplay fans may find this a little disturbing.....

Africa Oye! Sefton Park, Liverpool - Day 2

"Lost my Soul,Down by the Sea, Living Free", played out over the PA as we set up camp for day 2. We chose a site to the left of the mixing desk tent figuring that it would offer some shade if the sun was as hot as it had been the day before, clever us eh?

Kinobe Herbert kicked off the day with his calm vocals and lyrical playing of traditional Ugandan instruments. The sound was so delicate that it was slightly upstaged by the drummers in the workshop who were really rocking, but the PA boosted the delicate sounds well enough. Part way into his set, I was pleased to see two elderly ladies arrive by bicycles and obviously up for a day out at Oye! Kinobe also utilised the handheld box of tricks that we had noticed yesterday. What is it???

Samson Mthombeni came on second with his horn trumpets - "The horns say Hello! to Liverpool" - dressed in even more colour he entertained us with his songs and dancing a his repeated exhortations that inter-racial marriage was ok now that Nelson Mandela had approved it! Maybe this is a bit of a theme with Samson? Anyway his short set was more confident than it had been yesterday, and it went down well.


Hohodza Band are in forced exile from the vile regime of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe and we were all up and dancing along with the band and enjoying the spirit and the joy when the sky opened up and it rained, not just a shower but gallons and gallons of the stuff, perhaps just sent to remind us that you can never really plan for the weather, however clever you may think you have been! It was a huge shame because 95% of the crowd ran for cover, mostly in their cars, and it was left to the handfull of us that didn't care to dance on and just enjoy the rain, and the band played on! The crew got the mikes in out of the rain and the monitors covered up, the show must go on, and so it did, and we had a ball. There's no notes to help me remember the music, but there are images and memories of sheer joy as we danced and danced in the rain while Sefton Park became one big puddle.

The rain stayed on for Dobet Gnahore's set too, which was really good and she deserved a bigger crowd. Playing more or less the same set as the previous day, she seemed even more lively and her voice is so powerful.


To end the day we have Ba Cissoko kora player extraordinaire! What a sound. It was still raining, but not nearly so much and a fairly decent crowd regrouped to hear these 2 guys rocking out on koras with huge African percussion to match. It was too wet to write anything down, and it doesn't really matter, they are fantastic and there will be other opportunities to write more about them I have no doubt.

A huge thanks to Paul, Kenny and the Oye! crew for their hard work - lets hope we can keep the funding going for next year too!

Africa Oye! Sefton Park, Liverpool - Day 1

We worry for Africa Oye! on an annual basis. As June arrives and the website starts to leak bits of information, but little or no publicity appears. This year was no exception, in fact it was by sheer chance that I saw 2 people talking in Castle Street and noticed that one of them had a brochure in his hand, I barged in and struck lucky - the other guy had a box full so I walked off with half a dozen. Another annual tradition is that are always lots of other events going on at the same time, and its very hard to convince friends and relatives of just how good this event can be. So it was that we packed our picnic, chairs, rain coats and sun cream and set off for Sefton Park.

En route we had a bit of an epithany - we had been sent a CD of English Traditional Music from Songlines, actually its a Rough Guides production, and as we neared Aigburth, June Tabor sang "The Baker" and Gill was just knocked out by it - we played it again, and later again and again. There will be more about this in the future....

So we set up camp having parked right by the site, the sun was out and the field was, well almost empty. There were more stalls and food outlets than previously, and for a while I wondered to myself if it was going to be a waste of effort. Gill took the opportunity to join a drum workshop and had a great time, I sat and watched the first act play to a small crowd. As I watched though, the sun broke out of the clouds and what had been a humid and overcast morning turned into a hot, sunny blue sky day with a little breeze, and the crowds came, and they came. Windbreaks, umbrella, tents, picnic tables, blankets, dogs, footballs, groundsheets, barbecues, and people everywhere - a huge crowd, especially by Oye! standards. Whatever publicity had been put out had obviously worked, or is it just word of mouth? Perhaps Oye! doesn't need any, people just know, as we do, that it's due, and to look out for the date and venue and just turn up. Turn up they certainly did.

It was most pleasing to see such a diverse crowd too - all races and religions mixed in together in peace, dancing and sharing the music.

First up then was Solane Mthombeni - not in the program so there's no background, but my copy of the running order says he's from South Africa. He came in a very colourful garb, himself and a drummer both blowing long animal horn trumpets, and both wearing feathered headgear. Mthombenii wore a silver and white striped shirt and a bright purplish sarong arrangement and he looked fab. This duo played typical African guitar music on acoustic guitar with percusion backing and vocals, the music was lovely, a gentle introduction to the day, and by the time he had finished, there was a good crowd enjoying his dancing, which was a very energetic crouch with high kicking and clapping.

The compere for the weekend was somebody called Spycatcher from Radio City, and I was not at all impressed with his very short introductions and announcements, I felt he was only there because he was a local "name" rather than someone who was enthusiastic about the festival and the music, I may be wrong, but that's how it came over to me.

Haja followed - a trio from Madagascar who soon had the crowd dancing. Featuring a bare chested young man in white face and body markings on vocals and guitar, a guy called Lever (I think) who is a star accordion player, but using the synth rather than a squeezebox,who also plays electric bass, and a drummer, Haja gave us lots of African guitar and bass interwoven rhythms and melodies, and when the singer wasn't otherwise engaged, he also had a mini drum and percussion setup that he played very enthusiastically. The crowd loved it and it was all too soon that the band walked off stage one at a time leaving the drummer looking rather shy and exposed in the end! They got an encore and were obviously un-prepared as they played a song they had already used in the set. Haja were due to appear the next day too, and we looked forward to it.


Dobet Gnahore hails from the Ivory Coast and she continued the trend set by Haja by starting the performance off stage and having the band come on one by one! Dobet is a small striking character with a great voice and lots of energy, backed by a white band with some interesting accents she sang her way through her set with some very impressive dance moves, one, notably, was a sudden stop during a fast routine which left her eyes wide in a mock startled manner while she waited for the band to start up again a moment later, then continuing on as before, perfectly timed. The group supported her well with a good range of songs including some reggae, some beautiful acoustic guitar from a young man with a Shumacher smile, and some really subtle percussion. Dobet herself played a small handheld instrument which looked for all the world like a wooden games console controller, especially with the pickup wire. Her thumbs seemed to work a number of buttons or levers which produced an interesting sound.


Kinobe Herbert played a gentle set with delicate, plucked strings, and some percussion. The songs were all rooted in tradition and were often introduced with a story from a culture were kings can't be seen to cry, so when a baby is crowned king, a team of courtiers dance in front of the throne for years on end to shield the people from seeing any royal tears.

That is all I wrote down, because by now it was definitely TOO HOT and we were flagging a bit, the occasional cloud or breeze being welcomed with enthusiasm. Fickle aren't we when it comes to weather, but it was so hot, I got burnt in several places where I missed with the cream!


And so to the last act - the Gangbe Brass Band - a rare returning act - Oye! is not known for getting repeat acts. A big band - 10 of them in fact, many swapping instruments and sharing the vocal duties, this was Big Band meets Africa and they played everything as if they were having a great time - Great Stuff I wrote down afterwards, too busy dancing to take notes.

After we chilled out and finished our picnic while the sun set behind the trees through a mist of barbecue smoke as many of the crowd stayed to enjoy the cooler evening. Gill was asked if she would take Mthombeni as a husband while I was away, and my shirt was recognised by the guy that sold it to me last year - "hey! That's my shirt!" he hollered - I promised to seek him out the next day.

We had a great day and wished we could have shared it with others, but we had already begun to make new friends, dancing with strangers, so we went home looking forward to tomorrow and more of the same, little knowing how different tomorrow can be sometimes.....

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Tanglefoot and Baker's Fabulous Boys

Tanglefoot - Vale Park, New Brighton - Afternoon

We arrived at Vale Park at the appointed hour and had the chance to hear Tanglefoot's sound check. There was lots of stopping and starting and "Can I have more of his guitar in my wedge please Dave?", but what we heard was enough to whet our appetite for later. Tanglefoot are 5 Canadians - most of them BIG Canadians with long hair, beards, big boots, billowing shirts, colourful jackets and waistcoats. They start with a big song and carry on in the same vein, using vocal harmony to good effect. But this is BIG music - the harmonies are powerful and the instruments played with vigour - guitar, mandolin, bass, keyboards, and whistles occasionally.


They played 2 sets with most songs getting some introduction and explanation by way of an amusing anecdote. The songs covered a wide range of topics, from hockey to war via love and wireless repairs(!).

The second set looked likely to be foreshortened by rain, but as the "last song" came to an end the sun came out again and we were treated to 3 more, which went down very well. This is a very competant act and they seem to enjoy playing - certainly there is lots of jumping about and there are lots of almost rock-band like poses, not least the bass being played Pete Townsend style and finally being held over the guy's head, to be brought down (more carefully than it looked!) at the last "blam!" It made me feel a little like we were watching a bit of an act rather than, say Bakers Fabulous Boys who were clearly having a ball, but its a very good act, and we shall be seeing them again soon at Parkgate, in the upper room at the Boathouse (30th June) - it will be interesting to see how they cram into that tiny space, and how the act changes to fit in.

Fiddlestone played in between the 2 sets by Tanglefoot and sadly the set was let down by the sound system, which was not set up to deal with the band's more subtle style. Mal reckoned that it was mainly down to them not using their own mikes. So it was a bit of a strain to hear them sometimes, but it was obvious that behind the nervous vocals and the hesitancy because of the sound, there were some nice delicate sounds coming out of the instruments, and the vocals often produced the traditional English folk style harmonies that I like so much.

They deserved to be heard, and they can be at the Old Manor Folk Club on Sunday 19th June.

These 2 acts were supported by a good assortment of folk from the local clubs, and one song for the children to join in, which they did, I even saw 2 of them jostlig for position on the mike!

It was a nice afternoon, with the weather just managing to stay dry (mostly), and we even had some sunshine. Our only complaint might have been the lack of toilets, the queues for those in the Vale Cafe being too long.

Baker's Fabulous Boys - Old Manor FC - Evening

After being fed and watered (half and a curry), we came to the last event of the Folk on the Coast Festival. The room was jammed with every ticket being used, and there was a sense of excitement building as Frank, the host, led out with a few very well executed songs, including my favourite blues "Down and Out."

Bakers Fabulous Boys are a young, vibrant and very, very good band. Featuring Russ and Stuart Williams from the Helsby Bluegrass enclave on Mandolin and guitar, Lorraine Baker on electric double bass and John from Manchester on Banjo, all 4 singing and all 4 gathered around one mike in the old style, they started high and finished higher! This was a great way to send off the festival, we had old country, bluegrass, celtic reels,blues and "fiddle tunes" all played out in frenetic style with the band clearly having so much fun together and sharing it with the audience.

I was so full of music (and a little Black Sheep), that I was temporarily phased when they launched into Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and followed with an Otis Redding number, but I quickly recovered in time to enjoy this fine performance. The band were worn out having played in a cave in Cornwall the previous night, and had drove down on Saturday, played, then drove back in time to play for us, so I suspect they were secretly pleased that the club has to stop by 11pm, becasue we were all hungry for more, and the bar staff (retiring after tonight) might have let us carry on, but it was not to be and the applause at the end was full and well meant.

It was a musically well fed audience that went home after that, for many of us it was the 5th consecutive night of free music - how good is that? - and we were feeling the pace, but equally, many of us knew that we would be in The Farmers on monday for the 6th night, because its the friendships made that continue in these sessions and the music brings us all together and fuels our lives.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Sad Pig and Sea Shanties

Me, John O and Mal singing along to Sad Pig. (Photo: Gilly)

Just for a change I'm doing this one in reverse chronological order, starting with the early hours of Sunday morning where you find us all ensconced in the cellar of Fort Perch Rock having a heavenly session. It took a bit of persuading to get Mal to come along because he had to up early the next day, but come along he did, and what a warm welcome we were given. I'm going to harp on for a moment here because this needs saying - I have never felt so welcome in a group as when I arrive at some of these sessions, and many of those there don't even know me. It's a fine feeling, and its led to us making many new friends, and it felt like they were all there this night!

We nearly didn't get in, the Fort's gates were locked and we had to make a bit of a din to attract anybody's attention, but it was worth waiting.

We enjoyed the usual round of songs and tunes, a great mixture with added spice from Ginger, Ian, Bob and the cajon crew, Alison with her 3rd Men, Brass Tacks, Shay, Mal etc etc. Gill and Jim made session debuts with the Bodhram, Gill getting a few encouraging nods from Shay. We had more from Jerry Lee's niece and we could have stayed forever. Thank you all.


Sea Shanties at the Baltic Fleet

Photo: Gilly Farrie
A mad night of music mixed in with crowds and noise as the Liverpool River Festival Sea Shanty Festival drew to a close. Many of the acts dropped in to give a few songs, and some of them were outstanding - Four'n'Aft, Portsmouth Shantymen, and the Norwegians in particular. With this heady mix and the Wapping Ale, it was good fun, if a little cramped.

We were a little tired o "Bound for South Australia" by the 5th time (no kidding), but there were some other old favourites in there, some of which I recall being taught at Primary School from the BBC Schools Radio "Singing Together" series.

A side mention for the spring that seems to have chosen the basement toilets to rise in, something to do with the adjacent building works.

On the way out we witnessed a cameo that will remain with me for some time, the fiddle player from Cream of the Barley was giving a fiddle workshop to two or three others round a table in the street outside, with the backdrop of a large half built building - just surreal.


Fort Perch Rock - Afternoon

Sad Pig headlined the afternoon's proceedings with a mixture of popular music, traditional folk, and adverts for their own festival! I missed most of it on the phone, but Gill enjoyed it very much.

Third Man played- Alison Parker's band, sadly they couldn't hear each other's instruments because of a technical glitch,so Alison wasn't very impressed with the results, but whatever the problems, they still had us all listening and dancing, a sign of the professionalism and skill of this local band.

And then there was Bayou Rhythms -

a thrown together band of locals and ex-pats including Ginger, Bob on bass, triangle, accordian, harp and washboard, Ian on guitar and several others we didn't know, they played an infectious mix of songs that had us all tieing ourselves in knots attempting to dance.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Ceilidh and Session

Fort Perch Rock hosted the some of the weekend's events, its an ancient monument - well it's a World War 2 gun emplacement that may be a little bit older, and its a museum of itself too - strange place for:

A Ceilidh - called and accompanied by Arthur Marshall and the Lifeboat band - we missed the first half, but had a good dance in part 2, slightly hampered by the poles keeping the marquee up, but it was a good fling. It was a bit chilly out of the dance area, so being under the warm lights was a bonus.

Anthony John Clarke also played some fine songs, maybe a bit subdued for the middle of a Ceilidh but he is a good song writer and would be worth a second listen sometime.

ps FORT PERCH ROCK was built as a coastal defense battery during the Napoleonic period to protect the Port of Liverpool. It was paid for by Liverpool merchants. - Gill

Session in the cellar:

A lovely warmth and unity filled the room this evening despite the wide mix of musical styles that we experienced, unaccompanied folk, there was cajun, Jerry Lee Lewis' Niece singing Amazing Grace, Alison's blues, John's lilt, Shay's Irish, Mal's lovely reedy voice and many others. We sang on until the landlord threw us out about 2am, of course we all went quietly!

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Real Time at Parkgate Folk Club

Day 2 of the Festival and we're all still buzzing from last night with Cream of the Barley. Tonight it's Real Time from the borderlands of Northumbria and Scotland.

Judy Denning has previously sung with Jez Lowe and Bad Pennies and has been professionally trained, and you could tell, she has a great voice, well honed and clear. Young Joe Wright, fiddle player with the band is a previous Scottish Champion - and he's only 27 - and you could tell that too - his style is very neat, no need for frills, he plays to the mood and in at least one person's opinion, he holds the band together. The keyboard player on the other hand is always swaying about and making great gestures as if to say "I'm here too"- there's a maverick voice at the back of my head that's whispering about folk music not needing keyboards, unless its a harmonium of course, but I'm not really that opinionated, its just that the last few times I've come across them they seem to be a bit incongruous. Kenny Speirs' guitar and vocals didn't leave much of an impression on me, not to say that he wasn't good at either.

I came away a bit disappointed because they spoilt the act for me when the 2 older men appeared to be publicly bidding for Judy's favours, it felt like old chauvenism and it has no place. Shame really because they did produce some fine moments, Dougie Macleans's Turning Away and a song by Burns to name but two.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Cream of the Barley

Opening up the Festival, our friend Mal and the residents of Bromborough Folk Club provided a keen if nervous set of favourites, Brass Tacks followed and Phil Chisnall played some fine guitar and sang for us in his well known and well liked manner.

Discussing it later Gill thought we should have had more traditional and local songs to celebrate the Wirral, and I have to agree, in fact the more we think about it, the more focused we are becoming. These opening sets were all "run of the mill" - by which I mean familiar rather anything derogatory, but when Cream of the Barley appeared at the microphones there was a palpable change in the whole room, it was as Gill said, as if a bolt of lightening had passed through and left excess energy in every pore.

Storming into - well to be honest I can't remember - looking back (and it was only 2 days ago) - it seems like there was a maelstrom of players and instruments in front of us, out of which was pouring a boiling liquid Ireland whose vapour became music that so intoxicated the audience that those of us lucky enough to have been there will not forget it in a hurry, and many of us will seek out more of the same.

"The Leaving of Liverpool", "Dublin in the Rare Old Times", "Molly Malone" were included in the set, all delivered with the love and care for the music that I like to see in musicians, but with an extra layer of manic enthusiasm that was at least partly Guiness fuelled, but certainly include a heady mix of Liverpool and Irish humour. The band's rare talents include PJ on vocals, Bodhram, and Spoons, and there are few that can play as well as he does - his wrist is a complete blur as the stick races around the skin producing such rhythms that left us gasping. Eddie on banjo was on some kind of trip, jumping up from his seat, whooping and calling, performing high kicks, and yet played his parts with such empathy to the music - his banjo often providing the pathos componant to the music. The fiddler played the scouse clown with Eddie, his deadpan face occasionally twitching into a smile, his fiddle smooth as silk and the bloke on vocals with the guitar kept it all together without needing any recourse to humour at all!

This was live music in every sense of the word - music played live, music about life, life affirming music and music that makes us feel so alive and eager to live more.

Special mention for the Landlord who was called up to sing Danny Boy with the band.

Coming Soon! Wirral - Folk on the Coast

Wirr' al looking forward to Folk on the Coast - Wirral's FREE folk festival coming up this week.

Lots of reviews to follow as soon as I have time to write them up.

Monsieur Pantin at Chester Folk Festival - 30th May 2005

Mr Pantin in full swing
Tucked away in the corner of Kelsall's Social Club on the last night of a 4 day festival, by which time many people had gone home, was the livliest little band I'd seen all weekend. Three men sat on chairs, with the middle chair apparantly surrounded on 3 sides by a pile of cushions and recorders: Paul Martin, left and his Mandocello, Steve Cobham, right on Acoustic Guitar and Jean-Pierre Rasle, centre woodwind, bagpipes and vocals.

While the 2 strings players were clearly enjoying themselves, Mr Rasle was having a whale of a time - he switched instruments often - though not effortlessly, there seemed to be several occasions when the bagpipes were due on but weren't quite fully inflated - and he sang his heart out (in French), often piping with both his legs bouncing up and down, managing almost all of the time to miss the microphone with the drones. This was exciting stuff, Gaellic sounding tunes with energetic backing from the strings, the instrumentals becoming almost folk-trance at times.

The songs were perhaps slightly less pleasing, maybe because being in French I couldn't follow the lyrics, despite having had the story explained in advance, but Jean-Pierre has a fine and distinctive voice and he sings with the same passion as that with which he plays.

I was pleased that the little tingle that had struck me when I read the advance information about this band proved to be a portend of good things to come, and the CD which I purchased right after the performance is nonetheless exciting either.