Can you believe a whole year has passed since Lancaster's inaugural Hurdy Gurdy Festival? Me neither. Well folks, throw your hats in the air cos it's back.
The festival is offering workshops from Friday to Sunday with a 'gurdy tuition, and a program of concerts and dances featuring music from England, France, Hungary, Sweden, and the Balkans.
These range from Baroque and Medieval music all the way th
rough to through to Folkadelic improv! The weekend includes French dancing with Red Dog Green Dog (Saturday night) and Cyser (Saturday lunchtime), and French dance workshops with Cathy Goss. Also featured are Steve Tyler, Cliff Stapleton, Nuada, Drohne and much more. All instrumentalists can join the massed 'gurdies for the Grand Orchestre de Lancaster to play some rousing bourreés and schottisches in the closing concert on Sunday pm. Events are taking place at the Friends Meeting House and Gregson Centre, and more info on the weekend's events is available at www.gurdy.co.uk
Personally, I view the hurdy gurdy as a bit populist. When are people going to realise that the Crumhorn is really where it's at?
Anyway, back to the live stuff – Manchester's wonderful Working For A Nuclear Free City are performing at the Yorkshire House on Saturday. If anyone hasn't caught their catchy glitchcore I suggest you rectify this immediately. Here's what the hipsters are saying about them: "Their mix of psychedelia, krautrock and electronic does sound strange - deliciously so." NME. "A brilliant musical journey through myriad genres and time, folding in elements of British Invasion, '70s rock, post-punk, baggy, electronica, space rock, and even Afro-beat." –AllMusic. "Constantly shifting musical sands during their rolling course, they swamp layers of beauty, beats, spills and thrills that waft you skyward, pull you to the dancefloor, blow your mind and soothe your soul." BBC
Beat The Radar, Pushbike Army, and Steve Morgan complete the line up for what promises to be a memorable night.
Also on Friday, The Occasional Rascuedos are on stage at The Stonewell Tavern from 9.30pm.
Snake the 'Sax Man' slithers into The Platform in Morecambe on Saturday. I've never heard of him (and I'm pretty sure he's equally unaware of me) but Snake the 'Sax Man' is responsible for the solos on tracks such as Lisa Stansfield's 'Change', M-People's 'Search For A Hero' and 'Moving on Up' and Take That's 'A Million Love Songs'. He's played and recorded with artists ranging from James Brown to Paul McCartney, and from The Eurythmics to Amy Winehouse. Tickets cost £11 adults, £10 concessions, and are available from the Box Office on 01524 582803.
Meanwhile, Mostly Hums are performing at the Golden Lion, where the show will be entirely free of M-People songs and free of charge. I know where I'd be going…
There's two musical sessions happening at the John O Gaunt on Sunday with Mike Atherton's jazz/blues band Out To Lunch performing at lunchtime and the effervescent How's My Pop? Doing the evening stint.
On Monday, post-rock promo stalwarts Slow Riot Records present Grinding Halt, The Freezing Fog, Leif Ericson, Volition. While over in Lancaster Library Stewart Parson's excellent Get it Loud in Libraries hosts another shindig with the increasingly popular iLiKETRAiNS. Kyte and Married To The Sea also perform.
Finally, the Yorkshire House brings the week to a close with Arkaic, Last Song Is The Loudest, I Sol Hate, and Joyeax.
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