Ulverston Town Centre
July 12 -14
Featuring
Ross Ainslie & Tim Edey
Two award winning musical geniuses who are old friends and two of the best musicians of their generation come together for this all too rare demonstration of their combined talents.
Tim (guitar, melodeon), is brilliant in every which way. As a guitarist he has few peers. As a box player he’s a magician. As a character he’s off the scale (Colin Irwin, fRoots).
Ross, one of Scotland’s finest traditional musicians and composers (pipes, whistles, cittern) is an acclaimed soloist and prolific collaborator with a long list of high profile awards and nominations going back as far as 2005 including Scots Trad Music Awards Instrumentalist of the Year (2015), Composer of the Year (2015) and Album of the Year (2016).
Holly & The Reivers
Holly Clarke (Voice,Guitar), Merle Harbron (Voice,Fiddle) and Bertie Armstrong (Voice,Banjo) weave their arrangements around these old songs and bring their voices together, to create a soundscape that accompanies these old stories. This soundscape approach comes from the prolific influence of Folk Horror cinema, that the band views as a muse for their sound, both in a metaphorical sense as well as musical. The Reivers lean toward the songs with a darker narrative tapestry, where the songs reveal the more sinister stories from humanities past. Whether it be a murmuring fiddle heralding the arrival of vengeful ghost or the powerful voices rising that embodies the message of a political song, Holly & The Reivers are a band that holds the story at the centre of what they do.
Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly
Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly are a ground-breaking new collaboration that seek to capture the excitement that lies within traditional song and breathe new life into old stories from the British Isles. Featuring Jon on Guitar, Bouzouki and vocals, Jordan Aikin on bagpipes and whistle and Heather Ferrier on accordion, the trio formed with a desire to introduce these songs to new audiences by injecting the energy they feel these narratives deserve.
Consciously moving away from the conventional folk song performance style, the trio rely upon their vastly dissimilar musical upbringings and experiences to conjure emotions and communicate a story far deeper than the words of the song. They never fail to take their audience on a journey that explores the full spectrum of human experience.
The English Fiddle Ensemble
Four of England’s finest traditional fiddle players, Bryony Griffith, Jim Boyle, Ross Grant and Rosie Butler-Hall have joined forces to create The English Fiddle Ensemble.
All with a passion for traditional English dance and its music, their combined experience and repertoire is vast and includes rarely played and unusual regional versions of tunes alongside more familiar session favourites.
Their aim is to engage with the audience in a way that allows them to feel the bite and lift of four fiddles resonating to create joyous harmonies and striking rhythms.
Jack Rutter
Yorkshire folk singer Jack Rutter has established himself as one of the standout voices of the folk, roots and acoustic music scene in recent years.
A hugely engaging stage presence, his soaring vocal, powerhouse guitar and bouzouki playing and masterful arrangements of traditional songs and contemporary covers have enthralled audiences from the largest festival main stages to the most intimate folk clubs.
This year sees the release of his critically acclaimed third album This Is Something Constant, a compelling and spellbinding showcase of gripping story ballads and upbeat festival-stage firecrackers, perfectly pitched and delivered with soaring, crystal clear vocals that breathe new life into ancient tales.
Joe Broughton’s Birmingham Conservatoire Folk Ensemble
A huge hit at last year’s festival, We are delighted to bring them back again.
The band’s touring line-up features a stage-challenging 50 members. Among them are 15 horns, four cellos, five percussionists, five electric guitarists, plus fiddles, flutes, clarinets, electric bass, banjos, acoustic guitars, and an accordion. They sing too.
Formed in 1997 at Birmingham’s prestigious Conservatoire by fiddle player and arranger Joe Broughton, the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble have established a reputation for creating energetic and powerful shows. Their increasingly popular live appearances – especially at such festivals as Cropredy, Towersey, Shambala and Kendal Calling – have left audiences ecstatic.
Dance Sides
Eccleston Heritage Clog Dancers
Eccleston Heritage Clog are a community group promoting and developing clog dance as a local tradition. Led by Alex Fisher the dance team perform a variety of clog dance styles & traditions – from Lakeland Hornpipes, Competition Hornpipes & Waltzes to Street Clog Steps, Lancashire Irish steps & Music Hall Ragtime steps.
Pateley Longsword Dancers
Based in North Yorkshire, Pateley Longsword – formerly Pateley Real Ale Tasting Society (Prats) was formed in 2004 by experienced dancers from other Morris traditions.
All their longsword dances are devised by themselves and bring a vitality and freshness to the tradition.
They intersperse the longsword with other dances such as a Basque dance or a Border Morris dance.
Yorkshire Long Sword dancing is a form of English ritual hilt-and-point sword dance from the 15th century, or even earlier; the dances could have been brought across by the Vikings invaders; they may also have started due to the belief that iron was thought to have magical properties, which would promote fertility and encourage the coming of a good spring and summer.
Perree Bane
Formed in 1982, Perree Bane is a Manx traditional dance, music and song group based in Ballasalla, in the South of the Isle of Man. The group has around fifty members of all ages with a strong children’s section who also perform as a group in their own right.
The name ‘Perree Bane’ is Manx Gaelic for ‘White Jacket’, which the men wear along with their Loaghtan wool trousers. The ladies’ costume is a woollen skirt with a 19th Century Juan y Cleary weave, white blouse and red ‘begoon rooie’ fitted jacket. The aim of the group is to keep alive and to some extent extend the repertoire of traditional Manx dances. Perree Bane performs regularly at events around the Isle of Man and also at festivals and competitions further afield, such as Wales, Brittany, Germany and Cornwall
Newcatle Kingsmen Sword and Clog Dancers
The Newcastle Kingsmen were founded in 1949 as a rag-week stunt by students at King’s College. Taught by Professor Bill Cassie, the team started by performing the Winlaton rapper dance, and decided to continue after rag week.
Members of the side travelled out to rapper villages around Newcastle to find old rapper dancers and learn about their traditional dances. Many of these dances had not been performed for many years and may well have died out without trace without the efforts of these students. As well as performing their own rapper dances, their repertoire includes the Grenoside longsword dance and Royton northwest dance.
