Crosswires Festival: Kit & Cutter at the Albany

A sunny Saturday of music at the Albany on the May Day bank holiday weekend (3rd May), with Kit & Cutter returning to Deptford to put on an afternoon and evening of folk-tinged sound as part of the Crosswires Festival.

London Sacred Harp singers made a Joyful Noise Unto The Creator with heavenly harmonies that made the hairs stand up on my neck. Is beautiful music evidence of a benificent God, or is our attribution of it to the angels an example of humans projecting the best of our achievements on to the Divine? You decide!

Nick Hart and Tom Oscar-Moore were among the musicians in a traditional music session in the cafe at the Albany.

A couple of member of Pigeon Heroes sang outside in the garden. There was more later, but unfortunately I had to leave.

I've never seen the garden at the Albany looking so lovely or well-used. It's a bit of a shame that, as Deptford Dame reported a while ago, the Albany is planning to sell the land to developers to build on (assume this is going ahead). I do understand the pressure on cash strapped voluntary organisations to sell off their assets to make ends meet, but it will be a long term loss.

Music Monday: Crosswires Festival

Next Saturday May 3rd sees Crosswires Festival taking place across venues in New Cross and Deptford - the Amersham Arms, the Deptford Lounge and the Albany. There's a great and diverse line up with everything from Irish travellers songs to afro-beat electronica. Most of it's free too, with the exception of  the evening session at the Amersham.

I'm definitely going to try and get along to the Albany, where Kit and Cutter are presenting an afternoon/evening. Their folk club at the Deptford Arms and then the Old Nun's Head was great, but I think it's been a couple of years since they've put something like this on. Next week they have The Boat Band, Thomas McCarthy and more, including London Sacred Harp Singing Workshops.

There's also a 'Misguided tour of Deptford' with Radio 4/Utter's Richard Tyrone Jones; 'a mixture of local and art/community history, spoken word, urban myths and outright lies. But can you tell the difference', starting off at 1:30 pm at the New Cross Inn.

Here's a mix of some of the music to be featured in the festival:

Crosswires Festival 03/05/14 - Promo Mix www.crosswires.org.uk by Mango Park on Mixcloud

Tracklist - all acts playing at festival except Kyekyeku-Koo Nimo-Vishal Nagan (track 2)

1.Indian's Petition by London Sacred Harp
2.Pay Me Friday Night by Kyekyeku-Koo Nimo-Vishal Nagan
3.Mary Jane by Savage Henry
4.Supersonic by Amy True
5.Ball Point Pen Thief by Selectric
6.Gold Getter by Resonators
7.Marabout by Débruit
8.Labadi Warrior by The Busy Twist
9.Jibal Alnuba by Débruit & Alsarah
10.Clasped To The Pig by Thomas McCarthy

Kit and Cutter February

Kit and Cutter have another of their always excellent 'Adventures in Pre-Modern Music' folk nights at The Old Nuns Head on Saturday 18th February (doors 7.30pm, £5).

Guests include Cath & Phil Tyler, 'Purveyors of Anglo-American folk music using guitar, banjo, voice and fiddle bought together musically through a shared love of traditional narrative song, full voiced sacred harp singing and sparse mountain banjo'...

...and Rún (pronounced Rooooon), 'close-harmony arrangements of songs in Irish, Scots Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton dialects. The four strong all - female group bring new life to old Celtic songs about one-horned cows and gigolos, blackbirds and bogeymen, drinking and debauchery, ardor and arable farming'.

Don't worry if you think folk music's not your thing, if you like good tunes beautifully sung in a lovely atmosphere you cannot beat Kit & Cutter. Tickets available on the door or at: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/154385

Kit & Cutter Winter Warmer

Kit & Cutter are doing another of their lovely folk nights at The Old Nuns Head (Nunhead Green, SE15)on Saturday 3rd December 2011. The Kit & Cutter Winter Warmer has the cutest possible flyer too.

'So we were thinking… what would we all really enjoy to ease us into December? It’s a bit murkish and foggy outside so what further delights could our musical adventures together offer up? After some mulling the answer floated into our minds all of a sudden: psyche tinged trad folk and a steel pan band! A steel pan band? – Yes! It was obvious!! And maybe the Sacred Harp choir could come back and do some Christmas songs? And so we have a very special show lined up with some extra seasonal trimmings…

Rapunzel & Sedayne: From Lancashire (where women die of love, as Balzac would have it) charming husband and wife team, Rapunzel & Sedayne play traditional arrangements alongside their own compositions with a gentle eccentricity, spontaneity and lovely floating fluting vocals. They specialise in a variety of ancient and traditional instruments including kemence, violin, crwth, flute, kaossilator, 5-string banjo, lap-top harmonium, frame-drum and drones. We don’t even know what some of those are....

John Thomas Steel Pan Duo: In the winter what better to lift our spirits than the sultry tones of Trinidad and Tobago? John has been performing all over the world since 1976. He has performed on the same bill with folk greats Diana Ross, Liza Minelli and has performed live on stage with Blondie. As well as being an illustrious performer of the steel pan, he is also a sought after teacher with a great deal of knowledge about the history and development of the instrument.

Let's get December rolling with Carols, free Xmas buffet, Extra Special Festive Tombola, some rousing Sacred Harp, and as yet undreamed of wintery delights to surprise you with… And in case it was all getting a bit too cheery for you, your hosts will serenade you with THE WORLDS MOST DEPRESSING CHRISTMAS SONG'.

Doors 7.30pm, £7 entry. Wonder what the 'most depressing Christmas song' will be? My bet is 'Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis' by Tom Waits - surely hard to beat on the miserable scale.

Kit and Cutter Return to Old Nun's Head

Kit & Cutter's Adventures in Pre-Modern Music folk nights are always a treat, and they have another one coming up in a couple of weeks on Saturday 22nd October 2011 at The Old Nuns Head, Nunhead Green, SE15. They say:

'Will Duke and Dan Quinn play traditional songs from our small densely populated island on melodeon and concertina. Redolent in the busy history, and steeped in the sounds of the South, they perform with a dry wit and friendship built over many years as musical comrades. They sing in unison with a natural sympathy rarely found outside of families. It’s a treat to be welcomed into their company for the evening.

Ayarkhaan hail from a very different landscape. Yakust is on the outskirts of Siberia, where less than a million people inhabit a space as large as India. This isolation has helped the preservation of this most distinctive of musical traditions: the three striking ladies who comprise the band sing in unearthly harmony, play the local variant of the Jews harp, the Khomus, and imitate the sounds of nature, birds and air. Not to be missed'.

Plus the usual high quality floor singers and much more. Worth £5 of everybody's money (facebook event). See review here of their last event and an earlier event at the late lamented Deptford Arms.

Kit and Cutter

A great night at the Old Nun's Head last Saturday, with another evening of folk from Kit and Cutter.

Headliner was Thomas McCarthy, with his Irish Traveller songs. A fine voice, and some great songs (check out his album, Round Top Wagon).

A Kit and Cutter banner - 'Go down you blood red roses, go down' (it's an old sea shanty):


From New York City, the Dust Busters old time string band certainly kicked up the dust in Nunhead, prompting a sudden outbreak of footstompin' dancing.

They are planning more nights in the autumn, do try and get along, the quality of the music is always outstanding (check their facebook page for details).

South London Folk

A couple of good folk nights coming up.

Southwark Folk

On the Friday 24th June, Nigel Of Bermondsey is hosting 'Southwark Folk', a free evening of songs about Southwark by local artists at the Cuming Museum (Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle end) on Friday 24th June between 6pm and 8pm. It's a post-work early evening do and will start at 6pm prompt.

Artists include:

Nigel Of Bermondsey: 'a South London psycho-geographical singer-songwriter. He sings songs about Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Walworth and Wapping. He will soon be incorporating more boroughs into his song almanack. His third album, “Bermondsey Folk” will be released this year'.
John Constable: 'celebrated South London playwright, author, poet and singer. His acclaimed work, ‘The Southwark Mysteries”, was performed in Southwark Cathedral in April 2010.

Russell Dryden: 'runs the fish stall in the Blue Market in Bermondsey and has lived and worked in Bermondsey all his born days. His songs are inspired by his experience of the day-to-day locale'.

Transpontine Music Club 'ballads of Nunhead Cemetery, New Cross Road and other South London beauty spots'.

Stewart Forester: 'Lives in Mitcham but is so good he is playing'.

Facebook events details here.

Kit and Cutter

Meanwhile Kit & Cutter have another night coming at the Old Nun's Head (15 Nunhead Green SE15) on 2 July with the Irish travellers' songs of Thomas McCarthy - featured recently in the Guardian.

Folk nights in Nunhead and Deptford

Kit and Cutter

Kit and Cutter used to run a delightful folk night at the sadly-missed Deptford Arms, including a memorable night last year when I shared the stage with Martin Carthy (OK I wasn't actually on the stage at the same time, but I did give a little talk on May Day as part of the same event).

Anyway the good news is that they are back in the area, putting on a night at The Old Nuns Head, SE15, on Saturday 21st May 2011 (7:30pm, £5 to get in). Line up includes:

Jeff Warner: 'Among the nation’s foremost interpreters of traditional music, from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountaintops of America, Jeff’s songs connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives–and artistry–of 19th century Americans. Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. On a whistle stop visit to these shores, catch him while you can…'



Wagon Tales: 'Push the tables against the walls – the Wagon Tales are an energetic bluegrass band who play up tempo bluegrass with a raw blues sound. They pride themselves on their rich vocal harmonies and the ability to create a good old knees up'.

Breakspears Southern Harmony Singers: 'twelve-strong group following the tradition of Sacred Harp singing from a 200 yr old songbook of gallant, rousing anthems, saturated in 4-part harmonies and intricate lyrical layers'.

Facebook event details here.

Utrophia

On 18th June, there's Alt Folk Night 4, the final music night at Utrophia in the old ice cream factory at 136 Tanners Hill, Deptford SE8. Folie à Deux presents This is the Kit, Rozi Plain and Mouth 4 Rusty.

Tickets are £6 and can be purchased here.

Master Shipwright's Revelry

Kit & Cutter's ambitious folk nights at The Deptford Arms are much missed (I took part in their fine May Day Spectacular). Tomorrow night (Sunday November 7th) they are back in Deptford for a one-off special, a unique musical event at the Shipwrights Palace. To be honest this will be worth going to for the venue alone, never mind the diverse menu of top-notch music. There's only a few tickets left, but there will also be a few on the door. Ful details follow:

'Master Shipwright's Revelry: Sunday November 7th 2010, Watergate Street, Deptford, SE8 3JF, 4pm til late, £15/£10

So Kit & Cutter was cut adrift from our home on Deptford High Street and in the intervening months we’ve been mulling and floating along, wondering where we might wash up… And now we're back with a lifesaving hand from our friends at The Magpie's Nest for the biggest event we've ever attempted:

A twilight festival of sea songs, sessions, fireworks and folk on November 7th. In a secret Palace. In Deptford. The Master Shipwright’s Palace in Deptford, is opening its doors for the evening’s events (which take place in the private house's grounds, unique riverside wooden theatre and ballrooms), include performances by artists from the esoteric end of modern folk and world music, and art noise including: Spiro, Princes In The Tower, Mamane Barka (from Niger), Perunika Trio (from Bulgaria), City Shanty Band, Boat Band, Kidnap Alice, Keith Kendrick & Sylvia Needham, Ladywoodsman, Nick Hart …and more

Musicians amongst you please BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS as there will be an open session and opportunities for floor spots. Throats and hips will be necessary for the singing and dancing.

There will be food, there will be drink, flotsam, jetsam, sparklers, spectres... There’ll also be a fire-lit ritual for a drowned sailor with river burial procession (we're not quite sure what this is yet but it will be invented shortly), plus lectures on London’s river faring traditions.

Tickets are £15 (bargain!) available from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/95723

Unless you arrive via the river in which case you get in free'.

Kit and Cutter May Day Special

Kit and Cutter's May Day special at the Deptford Arms last night was really special. It was packed, as indeed it should have been for the presence of one of the most important figures in the last 50 years of English music - Martin Carthy. His two sets were great, a mixture of some of the finest played guitar tunes you are ever likely to hear with awesome folk songs. As a nod to his South London audience he sang Georgie, a song about poaching and gallows on Shooters Hill. A few years ago I sang this on Shooters Hill at the start of a South East London Folklore Society walk. Let's just say his version was better!

But his was not the only good voice on display. Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham were a revelation to me, they sounded amazing. Highlight for me was Ball O'Yarn - a song that begins 'In the merry month of may, when the men were making hay...' is followed by a predictable end nine months later.

Club hosts Kit and Cutter also sing beautifully - would like to see them do a full set some time. The Belles of London City coped admirably with the small and crowded stage to perform some high energy morris dancing (they recently explained it all to Paul Morley - check video here).

So obviously it was a great privilege for me to share the bill with this lot. The Neil Transpontine contribution was a short talk/slideshow giving a quick history of May Days in South London (will post up the talk later in the week).

That was the last Kit & Cutter at the Deptford Arms, as the pub looks set to be bookiefied. I am sure putting on a folk club there with its smelly toilets and noisy drunks in the public bar has been a bit of a challenge, but it's great to see this kind of music filling rooms in high street pubs. Hopefully they will find another venue soon not too far away.

(see also review at Crosswhatfields?)