All eyes are on Eliza

By Bill Francis, getbracknell, 15/ 9/2008

Eliza Carthy, the winner of two Mercury prize nominations and innumerable other accolades in her 15-year career, returns to the Concert Hall, Reading on Friday.

Eliza has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists including Paul Weller, the Wainwrights, Billy Bragg, Nick Cave and Joan Baez.

She also featured on vocals of this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ winning track Cold Haily Rainy Night by the Imagined Village, which picked up the award for Best Traditional Track.

A truly inventive and innovative singer and fiddle-player, Eliza is a gifted musical conceptualist confirming her position as, arguably, the most impressive and engaging performer of a generation and the winner of an unrivalled seven BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

In 2003 she became the first traditional English musician to be nominated a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music, for Anglicana. For her new album and the current tour, Eliza is accompanied by Willie Molleson on drums, Emma Smith on double bass and Phil Alexander (Salsa Celtica) on keyboards/piano accordion.

Eliza will showcase original material from her forthcoming album Dreams of Breathing Underwater, due for release via Topic Records in 2008. Powerful, vital and exuberant rhythms, absorbed from her travels around the globe, characterize this highly original, self-penned music.

Yorkshire-born and now Edinburgh-based, Carthy grew up immersed in the world of traditional music. She divides her time between touring and recording with her legendary parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and numerous pioneering solo and band projects.

Describing herself simply as a ‘modern British musician’, Eliza Carthy is only just beginning to reach the height of her musical powers. She has become one of the most dazzling and recognised folk musicians of a generation, having revitalised and made folk music relevant to new audiences, capturing the most hardened of dissenters with intelligent, charismatic and boundary-crossing performances.

- Tickets cost from £12 and the performance starts at 7.30pm.

For more information, call the box office on (0118) 960 6060 or log on to www.readingarts.com

Wychwood festival, Cheltenham Racecourse

Family-friendly festival kicks off with style, and even avoids the floods

When it comes to festivals, it pays to be first. Getting a jump on the big guns of Glastonbury, V and Reading, as well as local rival Cornbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire, has been the ace in Wychwood's hole. That, and its setting at Cheltenham Racecourse, with green, lush, rolling hills around the track, but also all the amenities expected at a venue more commonly associated with the sport of kings.

When Sunrise down in Somerset is cancelled because of flooding and its refugees make their way to Wychwood, it makes sense to be on higher ground where the going might be soft but everything else goes to plan. It's therefore no wonder that Wychwood, now in its fourth year, has won so many awards and become the family-friendly three-day event par excellence.

Artists enjoy the festival too and keep returning like homing pigeons, most notably Eliza Carthy, who will make it four Wychwood appearances in a row tomorrow when singing with the Imagined Village, Simon Emmerson's folk history in the making project.

The festival kicked off in style last night with sets by Robyn Hitchcock and Dreadzone, two acts who have also played Wychwood before, and headliners The Proclaimers, who brought singalong goodwill from Leith to Gloucestershire.

Find of the day earlier on the Wickwar Stage were The Maladies of Bellafontaine, a psych-folk group who, despite an unwieldy moniker, seemed to bridge the gap between the Cowboy Junkies and Belle and Sebastian. Hitchcock keeps changing the name of his band – they're now called The Psychedelic Trams – but gets better the greyer his hair. He didn't bring John Paul Jones, with whom he recently supported REM at the Royal Albert Hall, but an impressive batch of covers to match his suitably skewed compositions.

Best described as Syd Barrett's true heir, wearing violet trousers and a black-and-white polka-dot shirt, the former Soft Boys frontman looked and sounded like the Pink Floyd founder might have done if he'd thrown up a dose of caustic wit rather than swallowed a dodgy tab of acid. His surreal stage introductions were a match for warped songs like "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and "Kingdom Of Love" though sterling versions of the Elvis Presley standard "Mystery Train", with fellow Soft Boy Kimberley Rew making like Scotty Moore on lead guitar, and Beatles curios "Within You, Without You" and "Old Brown Shoe" shone like crazy diamonds.

Dreadzone, perennially described as festival favourites, lived up to their reputation with their heady mixture of dub and dance, which sounds as fresh as it did when first heard on the John Peel show more than a decade ago. As the sun set and hit the sunrise depicted on The Independent stage backdrop, the clarion call of "Little Britain", Dreadzone's biggest hit, had everyone smiling, parents bouncing kids on their shoulders in time to the beat.

Short of the east end of London, it would be hard to find a more unlikely place for The Proclaimers to appear than Gloucestershire but the Scots twins went down a storm. It helps that they have quite a catalogue of hits – "I'm On My Way", "Letters From America" and "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"– and that their voices can be as soulful as Kevin Rowland. Indeed, there is more than a hint of Dexys Midnight Runners about them but less of a second-hand element about their music. At times, as on "Restless Soul" and many of the selections from the current album, Life With You, they really sounded like The Band. Their cover of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" became the festival anthem it was always meant to be.

You can go to festivals all over the world but none will be quite as homely as Wychwood.

By Pierre Perrone

Bands announced for summer festival

WYCHWOOD Festival 2008 at Cheltenham Racecourse takes place from Saturday, May 30 to Monday, June 1.

The final crop of bands has been confirmed: joining the previously announced songstress Kate Rusby are 'indie upstarts' Palladium, The Blockheads featuring Phill Jupitus (who will also be appearing as part of the festivals comedy line-up).

Also appearing will be Simon Emmerson's much-talked about project of collaborations, The Imagined Village which debuted at Womad this summer.

Featuring Wychwood favourite Eliza Carthy and her father Martin Carthy, alongside the likes of Billy Bragg; Sheila Chandra from Transglobal Underground; Andy Gangadeen from The Bays; Francis Hylton; Johnny Kalsi from The Dhol Foundation; Barney Morse Brown; Sheema Mukherjee and Chris Wood, this project is already promising to be a highlight.

Joining The Divine Comedy as a Wychwood headliner are Scottish identical twins The Proclaimers. Having shot to fame in 1987 following an appearance on The Tube, the band's single Letters From America' peaked at number three in the UK singles chart, while album This Is The Story' achieved gold status.

The Wychwood Festival will also feature a wide range of other performers including comedians Terry Saunders; Barry Dodds; Bradford based 'scatologically cerebral' comic Ben Schofield; and finally former stockbroker and now accomplished comic Damion Larkin.

By Emily Thwaite

Impressions of England

I'm writing this on the May Day bank holiday, with birds singing outside, probably in terror as the cat Nelson is on the prowl, searching for some luckless fledgling to kill and devour on our doorstep. He will then roll on his back, wave his legs in the air and look cute, expecting to be congratulated on his brutality. Tennyson knew what he was about when he wrote of nature red in tooth and claw. Serial killing aside, it has been the most beautiful of springs. You'll probably riposte that it has been mostly wet and cold but that's my point. The weather seems to have slowed down spring. Most years the season seems to pass in a flash, before you have properly appreciated it. This year it has taken its time. The primroses in the lanes of Dorset lasted for many weeks. Here in suburban Surrey the magnolias weren't blasted by frost or storms, the apple and cherry blossom are still on the trees, while the bluebells have just reached their almost purple haze of glory.

(....)

As well as listening to Denny and Fairport Convention these past weeks, I've also discovered that the English folk tradition has recently received an invigorating shot in the arm. The Imagined Village, released at the end of last year, is the most ambitious and engaging reinvention of folk since Liege and Lief.

Spearheaded by Simon Emmerson and featuring such artists as the Copper family from Sussex -- who have been singing traditional songs for the past five generations -- Martin and Eliza Carthy, Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, Trans-Global Underground, Sheila Chandra and the folktronica group Tunng, the album marries the English folk tradition to dub, electronica, modern dance rhythms and exotic world music.

The effect is haunting and hypnotic, with Benjamin Zephaniah delivering a brilliant reworking of 'Tam Lyn', and John Copper remembering his old grandfather on the wonderfully atmospheric opening track, ' 'Ouses, 'Ouses 'Ouses'. It describes the loss of the countryside his granddad ploughed as a boy, combining traditional folk and modern beats with the sounds of police cars and helicopters.

This is an explicitly English (rather than British) album, and one that tries to connect the England of the past with our complex, multicultural society today. English accents are joined with black and Asian voices, violins combine with the sitar and the synthesiser. All of this might be merely worthy if the tunes weren't so strong and the performances so full of passion, charm, wit and invention. The Imagined Village, in fact, strikes me as a brilliantly inventive modern classic, recycling old tunes and old stories to create a vivid impression of England past, present and future.

For those with adventurous ears, it is a disc I cannot recommend too highly.

By Spencer, Charles

Beth Orton, Pama International, and The Imagined Village for Big Chill

The Big Chill which happens at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire has announced more acts performing in front of audiences over the weekend of Friday 1st until Sunday 3rd August.

Big Chill have announced that Beth Orton will be giving a rare acoustic performance accompanied only by multi-instrumentalist Rob Moose from Antony and the Johnsons. Other musical additions to the bill include Pama International, Lykke Li, Camille, The Imagined Village, Gong Gong, and Afro Funk All Stars featuring JB Horns, Tony Allen, Manu Dibango, and Cheikh Lô.

There are also more musical acts in the Rizla Arena with Greg Wilson, Justin Robertson, Annie Nightingale, Kid Acne, and the Rizla Arena Invisible Players all added to the bill.

In the comedy tent there is The Singing Dentists, Mitch Benn, Richard Morton, Matt Blaize, Tony Law, Greg Davies, Danny Bhoy, Silky, and John Fothergill who are all new additions to the line-up.

Underbelly presents has added Greg Davies, and Perverse Universe, featuring WanDan Human Beatbox, the Top Bananas 5-piece Stilt Band, a Strongman, Lazlo the Gender Blender, The Tragic Loungeabout and more.

Plus there's some new additions for the entertainment to keep the children happy in the Kids' Tent with Lolly Jangles, Live to Tell the Tale, Herefordshire Library Van, and Carnival Arts 3D Sculpture Workshops.

Artists already confirmed for the festival include Leonard Cohen, Bomb The Bass, Fujiya & Miyagi, Roisin Murphy, Alabama 3 (acoustic), Bill Bailey, Jilted John, Plaid, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, Trentemøller, Buzzcocks, Hot 8 Brass Band, Fat Freddy's Drop, The Mighty Boosh, Norman Jay, Portico Quartet, Thievery Corporation, Random Dance, Shaanti Sound System with DJ Krush, DJ Manga, DJ Joe Claussell, and Benji B, Roots Manuva & DJ MK, DJ Luke Vibert, DJ Vadim,Daedalus, DJ Joe Claussell (Body & Soul, NY), Ron Trent (Chicago), Ame (Germany, Sonar Kollectiv), Rap Saunders, and Kartel DJs. With more promised over the next few weeks. Expect a mix of chilled beats from live bands and DJs, plus the media mix, a body & soul area, kids area, workshops, visuals, etc. For the line-up details as available please click here.

British folk legend in the making

...Unfazed by the pop set, he claims that the best part of playing at Glastonbury was meeting Peter Gabriel, whose production techniques Lakeman has always admired.

However, in a rather sweet moment Lakeman lets slip that his list of musical heroes doesn't just include the cult folk figures of fiddler Tom McConville, Richard Thompson and Irish singer Paul Brady, but also stems to Kate Bush (again "in a production sense") and the Prodigy.
"I used to be a big fan of dance music ten years ago. A really big fan," he says unashamedly, suggesting that some people may be able to detect the influence House has had over his on rhythmic style of fiddling.

His hopes for the future stem a European tour sometime in April, with Lakeman's main concern just getting his new songs out there. Like a true artist, as opposed to a popstar, he doesn't care for a number one record, but just wants to "get out there and get a reaction".

"I think we just want to spread the word as much as possible, obviously that's an important thing for us, and [for] myself as an artist. I'm itching to get it out."

Seth Lakeman will be playing at the Shepherds Bush Empire on October 18th and 19th. An EP of tracks from the forthcoming album will be released on October 15th, with the full album expected to follow in early 2008.

England’s dreaming

A star-studded musical collaboration is bringing English folk into the 21st century.

In the unprepossessing surroundings of a converted corrugated-iron aircraft hangar in Wiltshire, a stellar group of musicians has assembled to reimagine what it is to be English. This is the first rehearsal for the Imagined Village, an ambitious project bringing together folk musicians including Eliza and Martin Carthy with established pop and rock acts - Paul Weller, Billy Bragg - and a flavour of multicultural England from Transglobal Underground, the British-Asian singer Sheila Chandra and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

Their aim is no less than to redefine our ideas about Englishness through their unique collaboration. "You shouldn't try to define Englishness, because it's personal," says Bragg. "The key to appreciating it is understanding how all these things come to be here at this particular time. Imagined Village is a snapshot of this, because it attempts to draw together some of the things that are part of the culture of England, in both a traditional and a contemporary sense."

The group are putting together an album that will be out this month, featuring ancient songs such as "John Barleycorn", "Tam Lyn", "Cold Hailey Rainy Night" and "Hard Times of Old England" given an Asian, dub, drum'n'bass, African and lushly orchestrated twist. It is an album that is restless in its affectionate exploration of the oral folk tradition. Such fusion projects always run the risk of going horribly wrong, but this is an enticing, intoxicating journey into England's past and future.

Musicians at the rehearsal include the cellist Barney Morse-Brown, the bass player Francis Hylton and the sitar player Sheema Mukherjee. Eliza and Martin Carthy are practising the album's opener - "'Ouses, 'ouses, 'ouses" - and "John Barleycorn" in one room, while the percussion section of Johnny Kalsi and Andy Gangadeen tackles complex backbeats, surrounded by cables and Mac laptops.

Chandra supplies accompaniment on "'Ouses . . ." and joint lead vocals on "Welcome Sailor", while Bragg offers a modern countryside-angst take on "Hard Times of Old England". Joining them later on in the week will be the celebrated English folkster Chris Wood, the Copper Family singers from Rottingdean in Sussex (John Copper provides the album's atmospheric opener, reminiscing about chalk downs and handing down oral traditions), the Dhol Foundation and the Gloworms, a new ceilidh squeezebox-and-fiddle trio who feature in a medley alongside their older counterparts Tiger Moth in "Kit Whites 1 and 2".

What they are trying to achieve in five days is ambitious, but even in a couple of hours Sheema Mukherjee, Martin Carthy and Morse-Brown seem to have mastered a unique instrumental version of "Scarborough Fair". They play it later as part of their set at the Womad music festival, accompanied by Billy Bragg, reading a paragraph or two from his book The Progressive Patriot - a "revisionist celebration of Englishness".

The project has been masterminded by Simon Emmerson, a DJ and producer best known for his work with the Afro-Celt Sound System and with African acts such as Baaba Maal and Manu Dibango. Emmerson was determined for traditional English music to assume its rightful place on the "world music" scene. "Until recently there weren't any English acts at Womad," he tells me when we sit down to a late lunch. "You would go to any world music festival and there would be music from all around the world - but not from England. Until five or six years ago there were English folk festivals in one corner and world music festivals in the other. I think Eliza [Carthy] broke that mould. She was the first one to say that we should be up there on the main stage, and it's now happening."

After a long career working with African musicians, he draws parallels between the two traditions. "The first vocal on the album is by John Copper, and in it he's referring back to his father and his father's father. He is evoking his family. In effect, they are the English equivalent of griots [the Malian musical dynasties] - they've kept the oral tradition going."

Bragg agrees. "What is English folk music if it isn't world music? The term itself is just a fancy name for a genre that often has its roots in tradition, which is what we're touching on here."

The ensemble will set out on an extensive UK tour in November. Unfortunately, Paul Weller is unlikely to appear, but his presence looms large on the album. He contributes to Tunng's "Death and the Maiden" and to "John Barleycorn" with Martin and Eliza Carthy. Another highlight of the album is Benjamin Zephaniah's bold reinterpretation of the old Scottish ballad "Tam Lyn". He turns an ancient story of phantasmagorical love involving a pregnant maiden and her bewitched changeling lover into a modern tale about a girl falling in love with an immigrant who's about to be deported: "There's no peace in my nation/I'm a war refugee/There are people in uniforms/Out to get me . . ./If you really do love me/Will you stay by my side?"

"I think Englishness is to do with mongrelness," the twice Mercury Prize-nominated Eliza Carthy tells me later. "This country has always been a nation of travellers. There have always been people here from other cultures, right down to the Vikings. I actually think that being English is living in a transient nation: people that live together and make this place their own. I know there are people here whose family was in the Domesday Book and all that kind of stuff, but my family are all gypsies. Gypsies and musicians - seven generations of musicians on Dad's side . . . on Mum's side no one knows, because they're all gypsies!"

Sheila Chandra is of Indian descent, and sang with the band Monsoon before forging a successful solo career. She believes she has been "completely absorbed into English culture", and disputes the idea that Englishness should involve inherited guilt. "Englishness isn't about Westminster. The people in Lancashire 150 years ago were being colonised by Westminster in exactly the same way as people in India were. So I think there's a ruling-class guilt that should be put in its correct place. I don't think there's anything wrong in celebrating English culture per se, as long as you're not using it to make a culturally superior stand against any other culture."

It is likely that the Imagined Village project will get a sniffy reception from some in the folk world. It is full of electronic manipulation, with a big sound that Eliza Carthy describes as "slightly Hollywood". But her father isn't worried about such negative reactions.

"Some folk musicians are scared of change," Martin says. "I think it's down to the fact that there is a real lack of confidence in this music, its resilience, and its ability to absorb anything. There's still this attitude that you must protect it, which comes from people like Cecil Sharp, who stated that 'this is a delicate flower, and if we don't take care of it now it will disappear'. Well, it's taking an awful long time."

Bragg sums up the Imagined Village experience when we discuss our Anglo-Saxon origins. "What sound could be more multicultural than Anglo-hyphen-Saxon? Tell me another nation in the world that's got a hyphen in their racial title. Even back to our earliest origins we've always been a mixed people, and we've always revelled in that mix."

"Imagined Village" is out on 10 September. A full UK tour starts in November. For more info log on to: http://imaginedvillage.com

Phil Meadley