Request show 20th August - post your suggestions here!
I've been presenting the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ folk show for ten years and more, and yet I never fail to get excited at a fresh young folk singer coming along like , or Bella Hardy...
Archives for July 2008
Bella Hardy on the glorious festival season
Bella Hardy writes:
I hope everyone's been enjoying the glorious weather.Ìý Chris and I did a set in Ian Anderson's fRoots Showcase at WOMAD, a brilliant crowd in a tent covered in bunting, fairy lights and hanging baskets...
Bella Hardy on the joy of folk clubs
One of the things I most love about my job is the unpredictability of where you'll end up.Ìý Although I've been performing in bands at festivals for a few years, many of the folk clubs I'm going to at the moment are new to me...
Bella Hardy on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms Folk Day
I first heard Bella Hardy perform during the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2 Young Folk Award way back in 2004 when she got through to the final...
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Martin Simpson on Scots talent and onomatopoeia
MartinÌýSimpson writes:
It is of course currently the other season to be festive, and I've been at several festivals already. was particularly enjoyable...
Martin Simpson on his dad and the 5 string banjo
Martin Simpson writes:
As Folk Day at The Proms draws near, I am thinking about my father...
Martin Simpson on 'wonderful musicians'
Way, way back I found myself one Sunday night in the wilds of
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Karine Polwart on the traditional ballad and Seth Lakeman
Karine Polwart writes:
The National Theatre of Scotland's powerful production of 'Black Watch', currently showing at The Barbican, has, threaded through it, perhaps the most moving creative use of traditional music and song that I've ever seen.
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Karine Polwart on late nights at the Orkney Folk Festival
Karine Polwart writes:
If you've never tried to pick up a matchbox from the floor with your teeth, no hands down, then let me tell you from cruel experience that it's near impossible!Ìý
Karine Polwart on Michael Marra
I came across Karine Polwart for the first time when I heard her singing with that braw Scots group Malinky. The song was William Taylor and I was immediately drawn...
John Tams' Radio Ballads blog - Part 3
John Tams' Radio Ballads blog - Part 2
John Tams writes:
The Royal Concert Hall,
John Tams' Radio Ballads blog - Part 1
My guest blogger this week is John Tams. As well as being a brilliant musician, songwriter, singer and actor, John has been involved as musical director with some of the finest theatre productions this island has seen, from his work with The Mysteries to the more recent production at the National Theatre of Michael Morpurgo's War Horse.
He was also, of course, one of the driving forces behind the recent ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2 Radio Ballads. In fact there isn't much the chap hasn't done. I admire and respect him greatly. And he owes me a pint...
