The Harrison All Day Folk Festival XVI
The legendary Harrison All Day Folk Festival returns for it’s sixteenth instalment in conjunction with the Bloomsbury Festival. 10 hours of magical music all for free!
2pm SOPHIE CRAWFORD
Sophie is an actor, musician, writer and producer and co-artistic director of Glimmer Theatre. Her latest album ‘Silver Pin’ came out in November 2018.
‘This album is an interesting collection of songs that have a fairly dramatic feel to them…It is not just about the storyline though. Sophie has a clear and strong voice that can deliver these unhappy tales with appropriate attitude and does not hide behind a lot of instrumentation. Her sparse use of the dulcimer, accordion or ukulele, or that of producer Oliver Coates’ cello, serve to underline or add to the texture, the atmosphere becoming tangible, for example in the Wreck of the Dandenong.
Silver Pin is an excellent first release with a great selection of songs. Sophie Crawford has a lot to offer in both her voice and her rendition.’ Folk Radio
3pm JEREMY TUPLIN
Jeremy Tuplin is a singer-songwriter from Somerset, living in London. His sophomore album ‘Pink Mirror’ is out now on Trapped Animal Records (released 5th April), after 2017’s acclaimed debut ‘I Dreamt I Was An Astronaut’
Loud & Quiet Magazine (link) “9/10 – The craftsmanship is self-effacingly brilliant… some of the year’s most poignant songwriting”
8/10 – “An intoxicating, enthralling mix.” The Line Of Best Fit
“A cosmic gem… cooking up something special.” Clash Music
“Unconventional, conversational and intimate.” Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6
“Very good.” Gideon Coe, BBC Radio 6
“Hints of Leonard Cohen and Bill Callahan… Stunningly candid.” The Telegraph Culture
4pm MIKEY KENNEY
Mikey Kenney is a fiddle player and balladeer from Liverpool, whose playing is steeped in both English and Irish traditional music. Well known as a constant traveller and collaborator, Mikey is a member of the acclaimed Robert Burns’ celebration Band of Burns, lead fiddler in the Liverpool Céilí Band and at work with Italian legend Vinicio Capossela. He also directs the cross-sea Irish traditional music collective, Hop the Sea.
He is a majestic singer, poetic songwriter, and English folk, Irish, Celtic, Bluegrass and Americana style fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist – could’ve been born any time in the past 500 years, but it’s no coincidence that he is alive and well today; for there are no coincidences in nature or the music that grows from its seed. This is indeed a stroke of luck for today’s booking agents, tavern owners, and all present and future lovers of ‘the real’.
A veritable magician of such substantive law, Kenney’s music (solo or collaborative) is a subtly powerful homage to the earth and hearts of humankind, and it succeeds from the bawdy level of spit and sawdust barroom sing-alongs to the lofty heights of the soul set free. Once heard, never forgotten.
A true professional, Kenney has given himself completely to his art, for he is it and it is life, and will still be heard in the northern winds and wilds in 500 years to come; a thread in the web that spans the ages.
“Mikey Kenney is a multi-facetted talent; fiddle, guitar and banjo all flow capably in his hands… Kenney’s music is thoughtful and refreshingly unique. There is much to admire here.” – Maverick Magazine
“Kenney’s music is thoughtful and refreshingly unique. There’s much to admire here.” -** John Brindle **
“As adventurous as it is accessible,The Counsel of Owls is a splendidly idiosyncratic record from a original talent” – 5/5 fROOTS magazine
5pm NADINE KHOURI
Nadine Khouri is a musician and songwriter currently based in London. Influenced by alt-folk, film soundtracks and spoken-word, her sound has been described as a “music born of perennial outsider-status.” …
“Meditative, spectral dreamscapes … extraordinary voice: a fragile, sensuous instrument” – MOJO ★★★★
“Lush, dreamy songwriting with a gilded edge… Deliciously moody.” – CLASH
“Khouri’s voice is breathy, sensual, beguiling, meditative and her phrasing is a joy” – R2 ★★★★★
“A pocket-sized book of lullabies, and gothic shanties, whose sounds and lyrics evoke a series of wondrous daydreams and sorrowful, mood-filled, late-night tales.” – Drowned in Sound
“The voice. It’s the first and last thing you notice about The Salted Air, a dreamy, handsome, hushed album designed to be played in the blue hours of night, a thing of smoke and pearls and silvered mirrors and bruised hearts.” – The Herald
“Perfumed traces of Galaxie 500, Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins… a wonderfully spectral incantation” – UNCUT
6pm QUEEN CAKE
Queen Cake is the brain child of Sasha Theodora, Grace Daily and Dayna Pirso, a group focused on harmony singing in Jazz, Swing, Mountain tunes, Old Time and Gospel. Hailing from different areas of North America, each found themselves at the mouth of the Mighty Mississippi, in New Orleans, working on their musical pursuits when they found each other and formed a band.
7pm Chacaré
An exploration of folk music with elements of England, Scandinavia & Latin America.
United by their passion for folk music they decided to team up and play together original compositions as well as wonderful pieces from all over the world.
Band members:
– Rachel Hayter (Flute)
– Shem Jarrold (Violin)
– Camilo Menjura (Guitar)
– Leandro ‘Lele’ Mancini (Percussion)
8pm CLAY BOTTOM JUG BUSTERS
Clay Bottom Jug Busters are Bristol’s neighbourhood jugband playing booty shaking blues hits from the streets of Memphis circa 1930. Fronted by Joe Strouzer playing harp and jug alongside Joe Trudgeon on guitar, Tim Hearn on mandolin, Wild Bill Frampton on upright bass and Paul Archibald on drums, its one hell of a show.
9pm OLD BABY MACKEREL
Old Baby Mackerel play furiously fast, knee-slapping bluegrass, mixing blistering solos, harmonies and raucous, over-the-top hillbilly antics that make you “yee-haw” harder than a nine pound hammer. Good old fashioned songs about whisky, murder, and railroads played at 500 BPM with harmonies that make the Beach Boys sound like Eric Cartman!
10pm THE ODDBEATS
Multinational gypsy, folk and psychedelia, combining Turkish folk, Balkan dance beats, and Greek Rebetiko amongst other world music flavours. Queen of hearts Dila V spreads positive vibes with her superb voice and beaming smile, while Fati Ebrem’s psychedelic guitar mesmerises all who experience The Odd Beats. Their music is embellished with eastern percussion and powerful ethnic rhythms for an uplifting dance experience.
Plus Old-time & Bluegrass // Irish sessions on the ground floor, roasts served all day // night & the best vibes in town. This is UNMISSABLE…
Source: The Harrison website