Sunday 24 November 2013

NEWS

BBC Radio2 Folk Awards 2014

Royal Albert Hall

The nominees for the BBC Radio2 Folk awards have been announced and this year the ceremony is being held at the Royal Albert Hall, London on February 19.

Entertainment which is lined up so far for the night includes Bellowhead, who are noticeably absent from the nominees list this year, Irish band Clannad, family musicians Eliza and Martin Carthy, Suzanne Vega and Fisherman's Friends and no doubt this list will grow before the big event. The nominees are listed below.
Fay Hield one of the nominees
for Folk Singer of the Year
Folk Singer of the Year: Bella HardyFay HieldLisa Knapp and Lucy Ward
Best Duo: Ross Ainslie & Jarlath HendersonJosienne Clarke & Ben WalkerCatrin Finch & Seckou KeitaPhillip Henry & Hannah Martin
Best Group: BreabachThe Full English*, Lau and Melrose Quartet
Best Album: Child Ballads – Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer, The Full English – The Full English (see previous link), Hidden Seam – Lisa Knapp (see previous link), Vagrant Stanzas – Martin Simpson, Won’t Be Long Now – Linda Thompson
You can cast your vote for the best album category and to do so you must register on the BBC website
Horizon Award: Olivia Chaney, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker (see previous link), Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar and Georgia Ruth
Musician of the Year: Aidan O’RourkeWill Pound, Martin Simpson (see previous link) and Sam Sweeney
Best Original Song: Love’s For Babies and Fools – Linda Thompson (see previous link), None the Wiser – Chris Wood, Swimming in the Longest River – Olivia Chaney (see previous link) and Two Ravens – Lisa Knapp (see previous link)
Best Traditional Track: Codi Angor – Georgia Ruth (see previous link), Les Bras de Mer – Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita (see previous link), Mary Macdonald’s – Rant and Willie of Winsbury - Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer (see previous link
BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award: Hattie BriggsGentlemen of FewGranny’s Attic and The Mischa Macpherson Trio.
From this year, which is the 15th the awards have been running, there will be an induction into the new Hall of Fame which is for individuals who have made a great contribution and lasting impression in the world of folk music. The first inductee, although personally I think it should have been a dual induction which included Ralph Vaughan Williams, will be rightly enough Cecil Sharp.
Ticket information is available from the BBC site and the Royal Albert Hall's own site.
Presumably as in previous years the whole proceedings will broadcast on radio and televised on the red button.
* other websites

Seth Lakeman - Word of Mouth
In the same month, February 3 to be precise, as the Folk Awards Seth Lakeman’s new album Word Of Mouth will be released. Fans of The Full English will have already had a taster of one of the tracks, Portrait of  My Wife, as Seth has played it while touring with the band and it is included on The Full English album.
 You can pre-order your copy and there are several versions and bonus packs to be had so worth looking at the deals on Seth's site.

Katie Melua will be releasing the second single, The Love I'm Frightened Of, from her new album Ketevan. The album was released in September on Katie's 29th birthday and the single will be out on October 28.

Michael Kiwanuka will be playing two intimate acoustic gigs in London next month which will be at the Effra Social, SW2 on December 5 and The Troubadour, SW5 December 9. Tickets for the shows are on sale through MusicGlue.com and are £12.50.

A Carnival of Carols is a weekend workshop for singers and instrumentalists which will feature the music of Maddy Prior and The Carnival Band and will be led by Andy Watts of the band. The weekend will feature of repertoire of around 60 carols and traditional Christmas songs.
The number of places is limited to 50 and will be at St Gwladys Church Hall, Church Place, Bargoed. CF81 8RP on December 7 & 8. For more details contact 01443 836600.

Jackie Oates
Folk Weekend Oxford have announced the dates of their festival next year which will be April 25 to 27, so far the weekend will feature patron Jackie Oates, York band Blackbeard's Tea Party and Chris Sarjeant. Next month the organisers are staging a fundraiser with A Very Folky Christmas on December 18 and will feature Rising Voices Community Choir who will be joined by Jackie OatesJames Bell, and duo Sue Brown and Lorraine Irwing. If you can't make the fundraiser there are plenty of other ways to support the festival through links on their website.

Warwick Arts Centre is hosting John Cooper Clarke. The machine gun poet whose words are as loaded as a bandit's rifle will be bringing his brand of odes to the centre on November 28. Next month the centre also welcomes Steeleye Span who are on their Wintersmith tour in collaboration with Terry Pratchett. They will be playing on December 3. Following this is Yorkshire sweetie and songstress Kate Rusby who brings her heart-warming Christmas show to the centre on December 6 and then the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton the following night.

Next year it will be 10 years since Bellowhead did their first concert at Oxford Folk Festival and to mark the anniversary the band is going to put on two special shows, one in Manchester and one in London. The first will be at the Bridgewater Hall on April 19 and the second will be on the following day, Easter Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall no less. Tickets are on sale now
The Manchester box office is on 0844 907 9000 or visit www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk while the London box office 0845 401 5034 or visit www.royalalberthall.com. You can also buy tickets through Gigantic.comGigsandtours.com.

Headliners, Fairport Convention
The Great British Folk Festival is being staged at Butlin's Skegness at the end of the month. Some of the acts lined up for the four day event from November 29 to December 2 include headliners Fairport Convention along with fellow folk rockers Steeleye Span with Maddy Prior, Cara Dillon, Bob  Fox & Billy Mitchell, Martyn Joseph,  Judy Tzuke, Richard Digance, Barbara Dickson and many more. For more details visit http://www.bigweekends.com/your-break/94452.

Radio2 Folk Awards best singer nominee Bella Hardy will be coming to Wolverhampton next month. The trio will be playing at the Newhampton Arts Centre, Dunkley Street, Whitmore Reans on December 20. The doors open at 7.30pm and tickets are £12.50.

Before heading up to Skegness Martyn Joseph will be bringing his songs and music to the Slade Rooms, Broad Street, Wolverhampton on November 29.

Earlybird tickets are now on sale for next year's Moseley Folk Festival which runs from August 29 to 31. Lau is the only band which has been confirmed so far. Submission for bands and artists must be in by January 15 2014.

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