A folk-filled weekend

Phew! I've just had a very busy yet highly enjoyable weekend packed full of folk! Saturday night saw me and my Half Moon-friend Dave going to the Town Hall to see Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band. It was quite a special gig for me because Maddy was the first folk gig (indeed, the first gig!) I ever went to, when my dad bought me surprise tickets when I was about 13 or so. We saw her at the Chester town hall and it more or less converted me to English folk music overnight, so it felt especially full-circle that Oxford's town hall actually resembles Chester's, with its wood-panelling and portraits etc. Mulled wine was served, and there was a lovely full crowd.
Maddy was well-kitted out as usual, in the first half with a minstrel's outfit and in the second half a gorgeous glittering orange net skirt so she could do her infamous dancing onstage. I didn't really know what to expect as I haven't been keeping that up to date with what Maddy has been doing, but the set-list was varied, inventive and by turns moving and funny. The band were tight and managed the daunting task of making some (over?)popular Christmas carols sound fresh. One of their Latin encores, sung by the whole band in close harmony, was absolutely stunning. I also had one of the great 'small-world' feelings common to both Oxford and the folk world in general - the violinist/flautist/singer of the band, Giles Lewin, looked very familiar to me, and after a few songs I realised that I had seen him perform with a wonderful singer called Vivien Ellis in a duo called Alva. The gig was over the summer in the fantastically atmospheric setting of St John's Church in Chester, and the two of them specialise in traditional songs from many different cultures, though frequently medieval France or England. Find more here: http://www.alva.uk.com/index.html
A bit of reading on Wikipedia has also informed me that Giles not only lives in Oxford at the moment, but that he is a member of Bellowhead (with fellow Oxfordians and Half-Moon regulars Spiers and Boden) and acquainted with other Half-Mooners/folk legends Magpie Lane (keep reading for more)...One of these days I really must draw a family tree of folkies!

On Sunday was the aforementioned Magpie Lane concert, at the Holywell Music Room (the oldest concert hall in Europe apparently). I had never seen the place before, and was impressed by the gorgeously sparse decor and fantastic acoustics, perfectly suited to the Magpies' robust harmonies and arrangements. I had also never had the pleasure of seeing Magpie Lane perform either, although I have some of their CDs (and know most of them through the Half Moon!). It was a faultless show of wonderfully off-the-beaten-track Christmas carols with a healthy dose of tunes, secular wassailing and drinking songs thrown in! Check the band out at http://www.magpielane.dsl.pipex.com/
I had an especial treat hearing Sophie do a breathtaking version of the 'Corpus Christi Carol' [?] with the words I wrote about in my last post. Sophie also sang a gorgeous song called 'The Nine Joys of Mary', which I had never heard before, to the tune of 'God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen'. I have just found the words from a great website, www.folkinfo.org:

The first good joy that Mary had, It was the joy of one,
To see her own son Jesus Christ to suck at the breastbone,
To suck at the breastbone, O Lord, and bless-ed may we be.
This brings tidings, sweet comfort and joy, and great joy,
This brings tidings, sweet comfort and joy.

The next ... two ... to read the Bible through.

The next ... three ... to make the blind to see.

The next ... four ... to say the Bible o'er.

The next ... five ... to raise the dead alive.

The next ... six ... to bear the crucifix.

The next ... seven ... to eat the bread of Heaven.

The next ... eight ... to make the crooked straight.

The next ... nine ... to turn water into wine.


(The website adds that this song was collected from Mr Wiltshire from the workhouse , Royston, Hertforshire in 1907 by Vaughan Williams.)

After the Magpie Lane gig I was lucky enough to meet local (well, actually, how about national!) treasure Tim Healy, who runs the fantastic Beautiful Jo record label (http://www.bejo.co.uk/), the Oxford Folk Festival, writes local history articles, performs with the Oxford Waits (http://www.bejo.co.uk/bejo/html/artWaits.htm), and has his fingers in numerous other pies. I had first heard of Tim a while back through my good friend Terry, road manager to the fantastic Martin Simpson, and since moving to Oxford, have heard a lot about Tim but never actually met him. So it was a nice surprise to see him on the ticket stand and CD stall for Magpie Lane! As a result of Tim's smooth sales technique, I ended up being very sinful and buying six CDs, which I hope *eventually* to actually get time to listen to and review on here; but for now they include a hurdy gurdy CD (you will, dear reader, be hearing a lot about hurdy gurdies, for which I make no apology....), a hammered dulcimer CD (a beautiful instrument), a Magpie Lane CD (as was only right) of Oxfordshire-based folk songs, an Alva album and a CD of tunes and songs mentioned in Thomas Hardy novels (Hardy being another love of mine). I have an awful and seemingly incurable habit of acquiring a steady stream of CDs and not keeping up with them. The same terrible affliction has stricken with me and books too, but that's another saga...

Sunday evening, post-Magpie Lane now, and guess what, we are in the Half Moon! It was my friend Lizzy's birthday so we all dressed up (Lizzy was in a ball dress, some other brave men in white tie!) and wore masks (slightly conspicuous in any other pub, but in the Half Moon anything goes). It being Lizzy's birthday was lovely enough, but it also ended up being possibly the best session I have ever spent in the place, not least because Jon Boden turned up with his lovely wife Fay. Jon used to live above the Half Moon and always pops back when he's gigging in or visiting Oxford. He was there on my first ever Half Moon session - I remember walking rather timidly in, not knowing what to expect, and hearing a familiar voice in the corner. After a few minutes I realised I had heard the voice on the radio and television many times! I am still pathetically star-struck whenever Jon appears, which is silly considering he's the most down-to-earth bloke ever, and everyone else there knows him really well, but I still go ridiculously girly. We all have our foibles I suppose, and I'm sure there are many Spiers and Boden/Bellowhead fans out there who can sympathise with my plight!
Having Jon there gave the place an extra kick, but the session was full of the usual cracking musicians anyway, and there were a good number of singers in too. I sang three songs, 'The Cuckoo' (complete with Joe Ryan's [landlord] bird noises...), 'Waly Waly' (which I also sang on Friday, but I haven't had time to learn any new songs for a good while!), and 'O mo Dhuthaich' ['O my Country'], one of the most beautiful Gaelic songs about emigration/the Clearances. Dave gave us a number of great songs as always, including one of my favourites, 'Shallow Brown', which sent shivers down my spine when the entire pub joined in on the response lines. Various Magpie Lane members joined us, and Ian and Darren did their stunningly harmonised medieval song 'Gentle Robin', which I *always* request whenever I see them in the bar! Steph and Emily regaled us with their lovely voices too. I was there until around 4:30am (I have still never been brave enough to stay for longer than that with work the next day) before dragging myself home for a few hours' sleep. As Lizzy would say, 'Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends, tell me where I can get more wax!'

So all in all, a fantastic weekend which continued to reaffirm my love for the tradition and for the Oxford folk scene in particular! I really don't think there is anywhere else like Oxford; it seems to be the central point of countless lines of musical activity, and its village-esque 'everyone-knows-everyone' atmosphere constantly amazes (and slightly terrifies) me!

Right, now I'd better learn some new songs...