Wetherby Festival » 2008

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Tickets

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

You can buy tickets in several ways from 6 September 2008:

ONLINE BOOKING – here at www.wetherbyfestival.co.uk/online. Credit card booking only. Secure site. Note: handling charge is £2 per transaction, not per ticket.

BY POST – Please send your order, together with a cheque payable to Wetherby Festival, plus SAE, to the Festival Office, 47 North Street, Wetherby, LS22 6NU.

IN PERSON – On Saturday 6 November in the Garden of Rest, from 10 am till 2 pm, and thereafter from Wetherby Library during opening hours.

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Folk in the Fall

Friday, June 20th, 2008

We’re planning something very special for Wetherby this year!

Folk in the Fall: a superb weekendof the very best in contemporary British folk and acoustic music!

Thursday 30 October 2008 – the Swan & Talbot pub (time to be confirmed)

Come and spend an enjoyable evening listening to improbably tall tales in the Swan & Talbot pub whilst enjoying a drink – help us decide upon Wetherby’s Biggest Liar. If last year’s contest is anything to go by, we’re in for a treat – and a good laugh!

Friday evening, 31 October 2008 – Wetherby High School/Festival Marquee

7 pm – 7.45 pm Edwina Hayes – Nashville-inspired, York-based singer-songwriter Edwina has played to a crowd of 6000 at nearby Harewood House. She writes lovely original songs, and sings them beautifully. Her gig calendar is always full, and we’re delighted she is coming to play in Wetherby for us. She’s inspired by the likes of Mindy Smith, Carole King, Bob Dylan and Nanci Griffith, and her songs are a joy

8 pm -9.15 pm Bellevue Rendezvous – This wonderful Anglo-Scots trio will be performing a passionate, lyrical selection of Celtic and European tunes on nyckelharpa, fiddle and bouzouki. These musicians have soaked up the most beautiful tunes on their travels around France, Scandinavia, and beyond, and they intersperse them with fiddler Gavin Marwick’s wonderful original compositions. Genuine listening pleasure.

9.30 pm – 10.45 pm Rachel Walker Band – you can expect very beautiful Gaelic singing from Rachel, the original founder of Dochas (who wowed Wetherby Festival last October). Rachel will be accompanied by the very graceful, highly gifted Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid, singer/guitarist Ewan Robertson, and bagpiper Angus Mackenzie of the powerhouse Scottish band Daimh. Ewan was voted BBC Scotland’s Young Trad Musician of the Year in 2008. Expect a set that throws gorgeous Gaelic songs at you one minute, and lively instrumental tunes the next!

Saturday, 1 November 2008, all day – Wetherby High School/Festival Marquee

12 noon – 1 pm Duncan MacFarlane – foot-stomping folk and great craic from one of Yorkshire’s finest folk musicians. Duncan will be superbly accompanied by the excellent Anne Brivonese on fiddle, and singer-songwriter Gerry MacNeice on bass, and will be playing a fantastic selection of songs and tunes from his highly acclaimed CD ‘All Rogues and Villains.’

13.15 pm – 14.30 pm Rachel Hair – this highly gifted young Scottish harpist/composer from Ullapool will be superbly accompanied by Paul Tracey on guitar and the beautiful voice of Joy Dunlop, who will also be step-dancing for us! Rachel is one of the hardest working musicians on the scene and can be seen at many of the major folk festivals at home and abroad – you will love her sparkling original tunes, such as Hubcaps and Potholes – inspired by the damage she did to her mum’s car when she’d just learned to drive! Joy is actively involved in the furtherance of Scottish Gaelic language and song, both in her native Argyll and overseas.

14.45 pm – 16.00 pm Ruth Notman – Nottingham’s Ruth Notman is being hailed as ‘the new Kate Rusby’, and listening to her beautiful voice, already so full of maturity, you can so easily see why. She caught the ear of BBC Radio 2 presenter Mike Harding, who described her debut album Threads as ‘a stunning piece of work.’ She’ll be accompanied by the incredibly fine musicianship of Hannah Edmonds and Saul Rose.

16.15 pm – 17.30 pm Calum Stewart Trio – Calum is a Morayshire flautist who plays with a beautifully fluid style. He’ll be accompanied by award-winning Black Isle fiddler Lauren MacColl, who plays with real intensity, and by Northumbrian multi-instrumentalist Andy May – expect a Northumbrian pipe tune or two, and a whole host of gorgeous original compositions. Here we have 3 of the finest contemporary instrumentalists around.

17.45 pm – 19.15 pm Bella Hardy & Chris Sherburn – Derbyshire singer-fiddler meets Yorkshire concertinist for a set of superb traditional and contemporary songs. But songs with a twist, for Bella pulls no punches in her choice of material. And with Bella and Chris on stage, you will laugh, for Chris is hilarious! Bella is taking part in the BBC Proms ‘Folk Day’ this July – it’s pretty much official now: folk music is cool! Edale-born Bella is deservedly building herself an assured reputation on the folk circuit. We were delighted that she and Chris could make Wetherby.

19.30 pm – 21.00 pm Karine Polwart Trio – this Horizon Award-winning Scottish singer-songwriter will move you with her exquisitely crafted songs. She will be accompanied by Fair Isle accordionist Inge Thomson, blessed with a very beautiful voice herself, and by her brother Steven Polwart, superb on acoustic and electric guitar. Karine’s songs are full of conscience, she sings about subjects that matter, tackles subjects that are often very painful. She sings songs with allegorical lyrics about George Bush, and a mother’s terrible anguish at the loss of her son to AIDS (The Fire Thief). And truly inspiring songs like ‘Dig a Little Well for Zoe’, highlighting the work of an organisation providing safe drinking water in Malawi.

21.15 pm – 22 45 pm The Shee – we round off Folk in the Fall with a superbly lively set from all-girl powerhouse band The Shee, who emerged out of the Newcastle Folk Degree – this is great music for dancing to! Fantastic instrumentalists each and every one, and fine singers too. Wetherby Festival has strong links with Newcastle, and a fair chunk of our audience regularly travels down from the North East for our main events. Beware, these lasses recently rebranded themselves: they used to be called The Sirens, but we think they wanted to emphasise their all-girl status even more when they chose their new name!

We’re also offering an exciting programme of music-related workshops in local schools in the week before the October half term, featuring well-loved Yorkshire folk musician Sam Pirt. We’ll be offering something similarly music-related for our older students too.

Plus: live music in the Bar Marquee with the fabulous lads of the Leeds-based Gary Stewart Band, Morris dancing in town, quality on-site catering, a fine Festival Ale from Rudgate Brewery, excellent car parking, good quality accommodation, shops, pubs and restaurants in town, and much more.

Other events planned for 2008

An evening of celestial music with Peadar Long in our Parish Church, planned for December 2008.

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Humphrey Lyttelton & His Band

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Review By Mary Anslow and Debbie Koritsas, Photos by Debbie Koritsas

Humphrey Lyttelton and Band – Wetherby High School, October 21 2007.

The first event at Wetherby High School for this year’s 30th Anniversary Festival saw the main hall truly swing. Humphrey (affectionately known as “Humph” by millions) was in his element and on superb form on his welcome return visit to Wetherby Festival. His band was clearly thrilled to be supporting him, and the standard of musicianship was more than impressive.

An added delight was Humph’s wit, bringing little snippets of the long-running radio show “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” to the stage. His performance was warm, relaxed and very engaging throughout.

We were treated to piano, drums, clarinets, tenor and bass saxophones, trombones and, of course, to Humph playing his trumpet. Eight superb musicians in total and their pleasure in being on stage was palpable.

Sensational

It is without doubt thanks to its sponsors that Wetherby Festival can bring such prestigious names to town – on this occasion the sponsors were Ware and Kay. Tickets sold out well in advance of this performance and no-one can have left the High School without feeling they had been part of a sensational evening of music as only Humphrey Lyttelton knows how to play it!

The High School has traditionally been used as a venue for the Festival’s “big events” over the years. This year, an added touch was a heated, carpeted and lined marquee, located just in front of the entrance to the main hall.

During the interval for Humph’s performance, it was lovely to see this space filled with festival-goers, all enjoying a glass of wine, a cup of tea or a pint of excellent Festival Ale – specially brewed for the Festival’s 30th Anniversary by Rudgate Brewery of Tockwith!

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Julie Fowlis & Dochas

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Review/photos of Julie Fowlis and Carol-Anne Mackay by Debbie Koritsas

Dochas – Wetherby High School, October 22 2007.
Dochas played to one of the most appreciative Festival audiences I have ever been part of in this town. This young, exciting band comprises musicians from Scotland and Ireland, totally passionate about their music tradition and proud to take it to audiences everywhere. Wetherby was the last stop on Dochas’ latest tour which even saw them taking in the Basque Country in Spain. They’d literally stepped off the plane in Glasgow, caught up on a few hours sleep, and were on the road to Wetherby within hours.

The audience was clearly delighted they came, greeting their performance with a huge roar of approval at the end of the evening. And D”chas were delighted to be here; these are some of the friendliest musicians on the folk circuit, and they’re much in demand both as performers and teachers.

Stunning

Fronted by Horizon Award-winning Gaelic songstress Julie Fowlis, originally from the Hebridean island of North Uist, Dochas gave a storming, immeasurably impressive performance. The audience knew it was in for a treat as the sound of Carol-Anne Mackay warming up her Highland bagpipes backstage swept through to the main auditorium.

Once the band took to the stage, they blasted their way through a stunning set of jigs and reels, interspersed with Julie’s exquisite Gaelic singing, proving, as always, that her voice “carries the songs of the Hebrides with coolest grace.”

Carol-Anne, together with Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid, provided gorgeous harmony vocals to several songs. Very special moments were had when Julie sang puirt a beul (Gaelic mouth music) and traditional Hebridean songs of occupation, known as waulking songs.

Inspired

Martin O’Neill almost stopped the show with an outstanding display of bodhran-playing, taking the Irish drum to its limit and showing why he’s won numerous championships for his playing. He told me once that he views the instrument in exactly the same way as a drum kit, and it shows.

Julie’s husband Eamon Doorley (of Irish band Danú) accompanied on his new guitar-bouzouki, replacing harpist Eilidh MacLeod who is currently on maternity leave. Kathleen Boyle provided keyboard and accordion accompaniment to her customary inspired and very high standard. Carol-Anne sometimes switched to accordion. Julie played whistle with an outstanding musicality, and together, the band made a huge, stirring sound.

The individual members of Dochas are a credit to the Scottish and Irish music tradition – would that such a sense of pride in ones’ heritage existed within the English soul! Their ability to connect with their audience using warmth and humour ensures that they captivate the listener with every single performance.

Privilege

They take the trouble to tell you who taught them as children, who inspired them. They are carrying on the tradition with a real sense of love and purpose, and it was a privilege to spend an evening in the company of such musicians.

The musicians played out the gig with a show-stopping set featuring the twin Highland bagpipes of Julie Fowlis and Carol-Anne Mackay. The entire band’s stamina is astonishing, their musicality unrivalled. Believe it or not, several band members had to be up for work in Glasgow the morning after this performance. D”chas is the Scottish Gaelic word for “hope” – let’s hope they return to Wetherby Festival before too long, perhaps even for a full-blown ceilidh!

www.dochas.co.uk

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Voulez Vous

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Review & Photograph by Debbie Koritsas

If you want to wow a festival audience, then book a tribute band! You’re more or less guaranteed to get everybody on their feet if you’re playing songs that people love.
Abba was a worldwide phenomenon whose album sales during their heyday topped those even of Sweden’s biggest car manufacturer, Volvo.

Abba is remembered for presenting the world with some of the most brilliantly written, brilliantly executed pop songs in modern music history.

Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote songs that had timeless, fabulous tunes, and deceptively simple but often searingly sad lyrics.

Distinctive

They had the most stunning pair of aces up their sleeves, in the shape of their partners Annifrid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog, both blessed with fabulous, distinctive voices capable of delivering these songs with immense clarity.

They recorded a succession of chart-topping singles in the mid-to-late 70′s, their popularity gradually waning in the early 80s, by which time the creative juices that had driven this band towards such staggering success had seemingly run dry.

The band members’ marriages had disintegrated under the pressure of fame, and they went their separate ways.

Voulez Vous, based in the North West of England, are without doubt one of the best and most convincing of the Abba tribute bands. Hart Law Solicitors sponsored this incredibly popular event, which sold out not long after the ticket office opened.

Spectacular

The band installed their own impressive lighting and stage rig for this spectacular performance. A glitterball was suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the stage, while the drummer and bassist stood aloft on huge onstage risers.

Bjorn took up his guitar and his customary position left-stage, whilst Benny’s piano (actually two keyboards disguised as a piano!) was placed to the right of the stage. The girls took centre-stage, exactly as it should be.

Large screens displayed video footage of the band’s history and songs, with an audio commentary interspersing many of the band’s favourites.

For the hardened Abba fan, this gig was a treat because less well-known songs like “Angel Eyes,” “The Day Before You Came” and “Under Attack” were performed. There were many costume changes too.

Aplomb

Reports from behind the stage wings confirmed my suspicion that these costume changes were completed with only a fraction of a second to spare before taking the mic.

The choreography was great too, with Agnetha and Frida recreating those 30 year old dance routines with some aplomb.

The audience was treated to just about every chart-topping song Abba ever recorded, and whilst they might have been a bit slow to get up on their feet dancing (not so the occupants of the back row, who asked to be put there especially because they intended to party right from the off!), it was clear the audience had a ball.

Singer Jo, playing Agnetha for the first time that night, told me she could see from the stage how much the audience was enjoying themselves even when they weren’t dancing!

Belting

By the second half though, the urge to get up and move became irresistible, and soon the entire hall was belting out classics like “Super Trouper,” “Waterloo,” “Dancing Queen” and “Thank You for the Music” along with the band.

They might call it 70s kitsch, but they just don’t write songs like these any more, and the Wetherby Festival audience had a fabulous time – young and old alike said what a good evening they’d had.

It’s no wonder that bands like Voulez Vous are in such regular demand these days!

Wetherby High School, October 27 2007. Review by Debbie Koritsas.

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The New World Steel Orchestra and The Mighty Zulu Nation Theatre Group

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Photo by Debbie Koritsas

A Friday night out in the centre of Leeds or Wakefield usually produces some rare sights, but this Friday nothing was likely to compete with Wetherby.

At five minutes past eight, a Ford Transit pulled up sharply at the High schools rear entrance and out jumped, seven rather muscular young men dressed in leopard print loincloths and headbands, and two young women dressed in slightly more but still appearing rather outlandish for our usually tame town.

There was urgency to their arrival; they were an hour late, after being caught up in heavy traffic on the A1. The sight they presented for other frustrated travellers as they traversed the traffic, must have led to some bemusement.

Entertaining

Meanwhile, in the bar, Arthur France, the organiser behind NWSO was engaged in a q&a session with Joyce Bale, the festival committees secretary, providing the audience with impromptu tales of their recent performance in the Messiah at Harewood, and other information about the orchestra, which helped the 40 minute interval to pass as quick for the audience as for the anxious stage crew.

Earlier, the young members of the band had given a highly entertaining performance, which ranged from covering modern pop, reggae and a few classical tunes all on assorted steel drums. The excitement of the band members was infectious and soon the audience was clapping along, and from the front row, glimpses could be caught of band members dancing away in the wings as they awaited their turn to perform.

Transfixed

After what transpired to be the longest interval and shortest sound check at this year’s festival, the MZN bounced onto stage, and soon had the audience transfixed, the many young children in the audience craning their necks to watch in amazement and probably some bewilderment.

What the performance lacked in musical sophistication (there was only one instrument, a drum), it more then made up for in charm, warmth and sheer good entertainment. The band leader soon had the audience singing along in Zulu (one of the 11 official languages of South Africa), but not before he played few tricks on the audience teasing them with the complexity of the language and its strange clicks and intonations.

Ambitious

‘You’re so good at this” he proclaimed, ”are you all?” The audience lapped it up, the children laughed as the band leader challenged other members of the cast to a dancing competition, but most adults just winced as each round of jousting ended with the two dancers leaping up as high in the air as possible and landing flat on their bottoms.

Not surprisingly, no one from the audience volunteered to get involved.
Overall, what had been from the start an ambitious attempt by the festival committee to combine two shows into one night’s performance, ended up as a thoroughly enjoyable night’s entertainment, and provided the ideal opportunity to sample another pint of the special festival ale during that extended interval.

If MZN are touring again in these parts, they really are a not to be missed, good fun night out for all the family.

Wetherby High School, October 26 2007. Review by Dave Richmond.

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Maire Ni Chathasaigh & Chris Newman

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Maire Ni Chathasaigh (pictured right) and Chris Newman – The Bridge Inn, Walshford
October 18 2007.

Britain’s traditional music scene is exciting, and constantly evolving, and Wetherby Festival played host to several high-profile folk musicians for its 30th year celebrations.

Tonight’s sell-out performance in the intimate, relaxed setting of The Bridge Inn was by two outstanding Yorkshire-based musicians; harpist Maire Ni Chathasaigh, originally from Cork, and English acoustic guitarist Chris Newman.

These musicians tour extensively, and both teach at England’s renowned folk degree course at Newcastle University, helping to ensure that a whole new generation of music students is being turned on to the tradition.

Influential

Maire is an inspirational figure for many harpists today. She plays clarsach and electro-acoustic harp, and tonight she played her Breton-made Camac electro-acoustic harp. Her playing was pristine, poised, and exquisite throughout.

Maire enthralled her audience with modern pieces, often with an element of jazz, historic pieces from as early as the 17th century, and folk tunes, each with their own little story, from her own and her father’s childhood. Chris is a finger style acoustic guitarist in the same league as John Renbourn, and he justly deserves his accolade as “one of the UK’s most staggering and influential guitarists.”

He performs with breathtaking flourish and precision, and tonight played a hand built mahogany & rosewood acoustic guitar (with mother of pearl inlay) made for him by New Zealand luthier Davy Stuart.

Lively

Both instruments resonated throughout the room beautifully. The audience held its collective breath as Maire performed an exquisite Gaelic piece, “Am Buahaillin Ban” and a wonderful composition by blind 17th century Irish harpist Turlough O’Carolan. Lively jigs and hornpipes, including ‘The Chestnut Tree’ were played at breakneck speed and with evident relish by both musicians, ensuring a wonderfully balanced set.

And who could have guessed that Celtic harps were moody? Maire explained to her appreciative audience how the change in room temperature affected the sound. The diverse range of music played by this duo this evening illustrated exactly why the harp has such a firm place in Irish history, and how beautifully it combines with the acoustic guitar in this intimate acoustic setting.

Tonight’s audience enjoyed a stunning evening of music by a duo highly skilled in their craft. Watch out – they may be back!

The Bridge Inn at Walshford.

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Kathryn Tickell

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Review & photographs by Debbie Koritsas

Kathryn Tickell needs little introduction to Wetherby audiences. This was a welcome return to the Festival by this acclaimed Northumbrian piper and fiddle player and her fabulously talented band.
She was accompanied by her brother Peter Tickell, a magnificent fiddler in his own right, and he occasionally played acoustic guitar during the set.

Julian Sutton, a musician who composes the most stunningy lyrical tunes, played melodeon. He is also a member of Anglo/Scandinavian band The Auvo Quartet.

Re-joining the band after an interval of several years working with a rock band was Joss Clapp. Tonight he played acoustic bass and acoustic guitar (but mainly acoustic bass), and he played with beautifully “muscular” control.

Improvisational

There was some laughter as Kathryn told a packed audience how Joss had finally and very sensibly “returned to the fold” – presumably the reassuring fold of English folk music!

Kathryn worked her way through the most exquisite set of Northumbrian tunes imaginable. Tunes like Rothbury Hills, Peter Man, and many tunes from her new “Instrumental” album.

It was a lovely, hugely improvisational set. These musicians don’t work from a set list. They play the tunes they love, often asking the audience what they’d like to hear.

Quality

It’s a formula that engages the audience every time. Kathryn herself has a lovely onstage manner, and her contribution to this year’s festival will be remembered for some time to come.

The quality of the sound at this year’s events cannot go uncommented, and allowed the audience to listen to these beautiful acoustic instruments at their best.

The lighting too was imaginatively done, with the musicians playing against an ever-changing backdrop of green, blue, amber and red lights. It was difficult at times to remember that you were enjoying world-class music, beautifully presented, in the relatively ordinary setting of a town’s high school.

The quartet setting is a hugely winning formula in folk music – melodeon and acoustic bass lend the music support and structure, embellished by the gloriously sweet sound of Northumbrian pipes and the lyricism of fiddle.

Knowledgeable

It made for intoxicating and very pleasurable listening. I heard reports of people travelling from as far away as Reading in Berkshire for this gig, and what impressed me equally was how knowledgeable Wetherby Festival’s folk audience is.

Wetherby is pretty much on the music-lovers’ map anyway these days, with people travelling good distances for tonight’s gig, and with last week’s D”chas performance even receiving a timely plug on the popular BBC Radio 2 Mike Harding Show!

Both Kathryn and her brother Peter are passing on their fabulous music heritage through their teaching on Newcastle University’s folk degree course. The English tradition is in very safe hands, and it’s reassuring to know this.

This event was sponsored by Nick Hopkinson and Wetherby Osteopaths, who have supported previous folk events at the Festival, including Kate Rusby’s last performance here.

Wetherby High School, October 25 2007.

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