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News

Wath Festival 2013 - An MC's Perspective


 
Once again I spent the May Day Bank Holiday weekend in the small Dearne Valley town of Wath-upon-Dearne, where the community came out in force, at precisely the same time as the sun, for their annual spring celebrations. Now in its forty-first year, the festival continues to run two specific aspects simultaneously, an outdoor community festival with a whole range of activities, including various dance displays, samba, fame academy showcases, theatre, children's magic shows and a whole variety of stalls, whilst five music concerts take place over the weekend at the Montgomery Hall, featuring the cream of British and international folk and acoustic roots music.

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Festival News: Doncaster Folk Festival

Friday 31 May - Sunday 2 June 2013


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Review

  Once again the Ukrainian Centre in Doncaster was pretty much full to capacity for another fund raising event for the forthcoming Doncaster Folk Festival in May/June 2013.
Allan Wilkinson
27 October 2012 - 11:50pm
  With a steadily growing reputation as a small but well packaged event on the festival calendar, the Doncaster Folk Festival drew in its biggest audience thus far for another weekend of music. Once again The Ukrainian Centre, just a short walk from Doncaster Town Centre, hosted the main part of the event over the weekend, opening with an evening of local and regional artists including The Jar Family, Emma Jade, Paul Pearson, Halloe Away and from Hull, Circus Envy who collectively got the whole thing off to a good start, whilst a ceilidh took place across town at Doncaster College for the Deaf.
Allan Wilkinson
21 May 2012 - 11:00am
Allan Wilkinson
19 February 2012 - 12:00pm

Festival News: Beverley Folk Festival 2013

Friday 21 - Sunday 23 June 2013

Beverley Racecourse


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Review

Part One: A Note or Two About Beverley..   It doesn't take visitors long to acclimatise themselves to the sights and sounds of the Beverley Folk Acoustic Roots Festival, whether it be the music coming from the main hall in the Leisure Complex or the various marquees scattered around the festival village, the club rooms, the local pubs, the occasional duelling horns outside the Chango Music stall or just from the camp site, as musicians of all ages break out their instruments for a bit of a play, after the tents are up that is. It may even be the sound of BBC Radio Humberside coming from a neighbouring tranny (transistor radio if you will) whose presenters would keep the town and surrounding area informed of the festivities via their live outside broadcasts throughout the weekend - although why Friday's broadcast started with Irene Cara squealing out the infamous Fame theme bewilders me still. These sonic delights would mingle with the familiar sounds of the area, those sounds...
Allan Wilkinson
20 June 2011 - 12:00am
'"Ello Beverley!" begins Rory Motion as he steps into the pink-yellow glow of the acoustic stage lights. "It feels quite intimate, saying 'ello Beverley," he continues in his familiar, friendly North Yorkshire accent, referring to the town as if it were an old mate of the same name who had, perhaps, been waiting there since last year's festival. And as Rory begins shuffling his scraps of paper and nudging his guitar, harmonica and vibraphone into position at his feet, one feels almost compelled to respond with a jovial "welcome back" or a much more suitable "how's tha been, feller?"
Allan Wilkinson
21 June 2010 - 12:00am
'Do you want the quiet camp?' asked one of the friendly box office stewards as I checked into the Beverley Acoustic Roots Festival on Friday afternoon, to which I responded, without hesitation, 'oh noo, put me down for the noisy camp!' Of course there's nothing that could really be described as 'noisy' at this charming little East Riding festival, not even if you happened to find yourself right next to the speaker stacks during Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams' extraordinarily vibrant set on Saturday night, or if you chose to postpone sleep temporarily in order to squeeze into the Wold Top Marquee for one of their popular late night sessions. The normally sleepy town of Beverley does however come alive at this time of the year for a weekend full of quality music, poetry, comedy, storytelling and dance events, all of which run simultaneously on various stages throughout the weekend, including one main...
Allan Wilkinson
21 June 2010 - 12:00am
Curtis Eller
FRIDAY It doesn't take long to acclimatise yourself to the Beverley and East Riding Folk Festival once you've got yourself suitably accustomed to the handful of minor changes from the previous year. This year for instance, a new Concert Marquee was to be found on the Festival Village site, which replaces the usual Memorial Hall across town, currently closed for refurbishment. All the main concerts could therefore be accessed within a short walking distance, making those of us suffering from chronic idleness grin like a kindle of Cheshire kittens. The parking therefore had to be separated from the camp site, in order to make extra room on the festival site itself. This was really no hardship at all as the car park was located just over the road from the main site gates. Despite the blustery wind that blew across the camping field on Friday afternoon, the weather was fine when most of the festival goers arrived and the sun was out, which helped to create a good festival atmosphere...
Allan Wilkinson
22 June 2009 - 8:48pm
Swarb FRIDAY
Allan Wilkinson
22 June 2008 - 12:00am

Festival News: Madfest 2013

Friday 2 - Sunday 4 August

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Barnsley

Artists Appearing:
 
Capercaillie
Carthy,Hardy,Farrell & Young
Le Vent Du Nord (Can)
Larkin Poe (usa)
Emily Smith
Birds of Chicago (usa)
Gilmore & Roberts
Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer (usa)
Baghdaddies
Rita Payne
Mambo Jambo
Red Hippo
Eilidh Forster
Lauren Tate
B'Steward sons of Val Doonican
Treebeard
Frumptarn Guggenband
Feet First Appalachian Clog
La Navet Bete
Pif Paf Theatre
+ more to be confirmed!!

Free entertainment around the centre, street walkabout entertainers, street theatre, free outside stage, village green, poetry corner, folk train.
 
Open mic' marquee 12.00-6pm Sun afternoon.
 
Craft fair.  
Real Ale Bar!
 
Weekend tickets Only £35!! 
An absolute steal for such an amazing 3days!!
Limited camping available. Only £10
Individual concert tickets available.
Tickets 01226 740203
 

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Festival News: Moonbeams Wold Top Folk Festival

Friday 12 and Saturday 13 July

Wold Top Brewery, Hanmanby, East Yorkshire

More Info: www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/events/moonbeams/‎

 


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Jackie Oates

 
The staff at the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds tonight provided the ideal setting for Jackie Oates' latest music project Lullabies, by creating an enchanting sitting room atmosphere in the concert hall, complete with comfy armchairs, blankets, subdued lighting incorporating decorative standard lamps and tea lights, together with complimentary hot chocolate for all upon entry. Every effort was made to relax the audience tonight, with Jackie Oates providing two sets made up completely of lullabies and sleep songs.

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Audio Interview

Northern Sky chats with Jackie Oates backstage at the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds.  
Allan Wilkinson
13 April 2013 - 11:00pm

Review

  The danger with this new album by Jackie Oates is that you're likely to nod off before the first song is through. That's the nature of lullabies; they're just too soothing for their own good.
Allan Wilkinson
26 February 2013 - 1:00am

Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer

 
 
Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer's first visit to the UK has seen them play pretty much exclusively small venues around the southern counties of England, the furthest north being the tiny Oxfordshire village of Cropredy, just outside Banbury. The village and surrounding snow-covered meadows, are well known in music circles especially during the summer months when twenty-odd thousand souls gather to celebrate the folk rock phenomenon that is Fairport Convention. The Brasenose Arms also has its Fairport connections and was once featured on the back cover of the band's ninth LP and has changed very little over the last forty years. The landlord likes to point out the little alcove in the bar to visitors, where one Sandy Denny used to sit in order to write her songs. The 500 year old building tonight provided the ideal setting for Dave and Mandy's performance, where both the music and the environment were equally rich in atmosphere.

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Audio Interview

Northern Sky met up with Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer at The Brasenose Arms in Cropredy.  
Allan Wilkinson
25 March 2013 - 12:00pm

Review

Allan Wilkinson
26 February 2012 - 11:00am

Rebecca Pronsky and Rich Bennett

 
The elegant setting of the newly restored listed Old Courthouse in the small North Yorkshire market town of Thirsk, played host to Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Rebecca Pronsky and husband/guitarist Rich Bennett as part of their current UK tour.

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Audio Interview

Northern Sky meets up with Rebecca Pronsky and Rich Bennett at The Courthouse in Thirsk. (Photo: Liam Wilkinson)  
Allan Wilkinson
23 March 2013 - 12:30am

Review

  Brooklyn-born Rebecca Pronsky is unquestionably blessed with the same sort of voice that was handed out to some of our pioneering female singer/songwriters of a few years ago; that comparable timbre, that no-more-no-less-but-sufficient vibrato, that highly listenable factor.
Allan Wilkinson
19 March 2013 - 1:00am

Sam Lee and Friends

 
Band On  Wall, Manchester, 15 March 2013

Sam Lee has a Mercury Music Prize nominated album GROUND OF ITS OWN under his belt and an accomplished band at his disposal so it's a wonder he hasn't gigged more often over recent months. The 19 dates on this tour and the four London shows that immediately preceded them may well represent the biggest commitment for Sam and Friends in their relatively short lifespan. If that's the case then I certainly doesn't seem to faze them when they roll into Manchester's historic Band On The Wall on a particularly frosty Friday evening.

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