It was an evening of the old and the new at Folking Live on 24th November. Upon entering the Cellar Bar we were presented with two particularly unusual and ancient instruments on the stage (of which more later) and shortly were to greet appearances by two solo artists performing for the first time at FL. The music began with Folking Live newbie, Arnold Ghostmun, who commanded the microphone and played a confident set of bluesy self-penned songs of well-crafted wordplay.
The first of the double-bill of headliners to take the stage was Damian Clarke of the band Pressgang who as a solo artist specialises in a fascinating variety of songs and tunes from all round Europe. We were treated on this, his Folking Live debut, to his singing in regional languages such as Frisian, Plattdeutsch and Breton, and his playing on hitherto unseen instruments at FL – hammered dulcimer and hurdy-gurdy. There were so many highlights to pick out from his diverse repertoire that evening. Elsewhere described as a ‘tone poem’ and literally hammered out on the dulcimer, ‘The River Wherever’ is the title track of Damian’s solo 2010 CD and which was inspired by one of his own paintings. We were introduced to medieval technology with the hurdy-gurdy which he forewarned us had the capability to feed back but fortunately did not! A big personality and a striking stage presence in semi-piratical garb, Damian got the audience joining in early on with ‘He Who Will Not Merry Be’. Demonstrating a strong singing voice – without aid of the microphone – the songs were all well-received and memorably included settings of Irish poems like WB Yeats’s ‘Down By The Salley Gardens’, sung both in Irish and English, and the set closer, the romantic ‘Ned Of The Hill’, about the Irish rapparee or Robin Hood figure, Edmund Ryan.
With such a hard act to follow Reading-based four piece The Andy Raven Band were nonetheless up for the challenge. They took to the stage smartly and carried on the evening in the traditional vein, opening with two Irish tunes ‘Cabin Hunter’ and ‘Dunmore Lassies’. From their assured delivery, led by Andy on fiddle, you would be forgiven for thinking that we would be spending the rest of the evening wallowing in this genre. Indeed ‘Parsons Green’ and tunes learned from Karen Tweed, notably ‘Jim O’Keefe’s’, were smoothly and pleasingly played. But moreover we enjoyed a real miscellany of urban folk, featuring Andy on vocals and rhythm guitar. Predominantly wry observations of modern life, the many stand-outs included the percussive ‘Monkeys’ and the acerbic ‘Money Go Round’. ‘(Oil Flows,) Money Talks’ had been updated in the light of recent events with the financial crisis. Andy’s ‘Where Is My Love?’ showed off his vocal talents and was one number guaranteed to appeal to the locals with its tongue in cheek tale of pursuit of a lover in the mean streets of the Thames Valley. The band were subtle but supportive – Indian harmonium playing bass player Ben on backing vocals, Graham with tastefully economic lead guitar and percussionist Luke operating a fusion kit including cajón, cymbals, shakers and spoons. A Raven hallmark track, ‘Gallis Pole’, popularised by Leadbelly and covered by Led Zeppelin, was sung and swung beautifully and exemplified their eclectic approach. A rock ‘n’ roll tribute to morris dancers, ‘Morris’, was definitely a new take on an old tradition. Given the news that there was to be only one more Thursday Folking Live evening prior to promotion(!) in February to a Saturday night time slot we left with the promise of further high quality acts, old and new, coming our way in the New Year.
