Author Archives: bridget

Tony Hall on Friday 13 January

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Fresh from an appearance at Camden’s Cellar Upstairs Folk Club, Norfolk cartoonist, singer and melodeon player Tony Hall is much appreciated at festivals and folk clubs all over the country. A review in Living Tradition describes Tony as being ‘the master of playing distinctive, quintessentially English style two-row melodeon’, pointing out that he ‘has been heard on Maddy Prior and June Tabor’s Silly Sisters album, and Nic Jones’ superb Penguin Eggs‘, and concluding that he is ‘a man of rare talent’. We look forward to an evening full of entertaining music and good humour to lift our spirits in this chilly season.

Please email via the contact page to let us know if you would like us to save tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members). Bring your own drinks, as the kitchen will be closed. Contributions to Shirley’s donation box will be taken to the local food bank.

Coracle on Friday 25 November

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Photo by Head Girl Photography

On Friday 25 November we look forward to welcoming Coracle, a new group bringing together the talents, imagination and creativity of three artists with vastly different backgrounds, who have come together through their love of traditional music cut through with experimentation, boldness, humour and risk. Be thrilled by the silvern voice of Anna Tam, the free-flowing mix of reeds … clarinet and accordion … cello, nyckelharpa, viola da gamba and hurdy-gurdy.

Accordionist Paul Hutchinson is a BBC Folk Award Best Live nominee (Belshazzar’s Feast), Karen Wimhurst is an accomplished clarinet player and composer, and Anna Tam, shortlisted as Fatea’s 2021 Instrumentalist of the Year and a former Mediaeval Baebe, brings a range of other instruments as well as her ‘gin-pure’ voice.

This event will start at 7.30 pm. Tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) can be reserved by emailing via our contact page. Bring your own drinks, as the kitchen will be closed.

 

John Kirkpatrick on Friday 4 November

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On Friday 4 November we look forward to welcoming one of the most prolific figures on the English folk scene (performing solo, in duos, acoustic groups and electric bands) John Kirkpatrick MBE. John has established an enviable reputation as an instrumental virtuoso (melodeon, Anglo concertina and button accordion), as well as a leading interpreter of English folk music, a fine singer and dancer.

John’s performances of songs and tunes are brimful of life, vitality and humour, making for a great night’s entertainment. The event starts at 7.30 pm, and please email us through our contact page if you would like us to save tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members). Bring your own drinks.

Song session showcase with The Marisca Trio on Friday 14 October

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Norwich band The Marisca Trio perform an eclectic range of music. Traditional songs from the North East, Music Hall monologues, Shetland jigs, twin fiddle Polkas, French mazurkas and South American tangos are just some of the directions they may head in on any evening; mainly playing piano and fiddles, but sometimes bringing out a guitar, banjo or musical saw.
The trio are Bob Hanna, piano and vocals, and Suzie Hanna and Lucy Ellis on fiddles. Bob started singing in folk clubs in the late sixties up in Shotley Bridge, and he ran the Sheffield University Folk Club in the early seventies. Suzie and Lucy are sisters and have been playing fiddles together since childhood, making their debut at Studio 4 in the 1960s. They all used to play in the Oily Rag Band in Norwich in the eighties, and Suzie played in an all girl country band Way Out West in the nineties. They reckon Bob is Norwich’s answer to Violet Tulloch, so prepare to tap your feet!
This event starts at 7 pm and is a song session showcase. There will be opportunities for participation in the first half of the evening, so do bring instruments and voices. There is no charge, but there will be a tip jar and raffle to help with expenses. Bring your own drinks, and there will be teas and coffee in the kitchen (50 p). Shirley’s donation box will be on the counter for any contributions that you can spare for the local food bank.

Jon Wilks on Friday 30 September

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At 7.30 pm on Friday 30 September we look forward to seeing Jon Wilks, an acclaimed fingerpicking guitarist and singer of traditional folk songs and broadside ballads from the English repertoire. Jon’s background as a journalist (a former editor of Time Out magazine and contributor to Dazed & Confused, The Guardian and other publications) means that he has a great eye/ear for a story, and this shows in his live shows – an amusing mix of folk song performance and storytelling.

Please let us know via our contact page if you would like us to put you on the list for tickets: £13 non-members, £10 club members. Bring your own drinks.

Dick Miles on Friday 2 September

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On Friday 2 September, we welcome the accomplished singer and concertina-player Dick Miles, who has been singing and playing traditional music since he was 13. Dick lived for many years in Suffolk and some of his favourite songs are based on the superb traditional tales of East Anglia. Now living in the South-West of Ireland, Dick finds himself incorporating the local traditional music style into his own.

During the last 30 years Dick has been singing at maritime festivals, folk festivals and clubs all over the British and Irish Islands. He has also written two concertina tutors, one of which is on song accompaniment.

Guest nights start at 7.30 pm. Tickets £13 (£10 club members) can be reserved by emailing via our contact page. Teas and coffee are available in the kitchen, or you are welcome to bring your own drinks.

We continue to meet from 7 pm every Friday for song sessions throughout the summer. There is a tip jar for contributions to our costs.

Winter Wilson on Friday 22 July

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Norwich Folk Club welcomes Winter Wilson at 7.30 pm on Friday 22 July. Kip Winter and Dave Wilson bring a sense of intimacy to every venue, blending superb, often hard-hitting original songs, stunning harmonies and musicianship with sometimes hilarious humour and tales of life on the road. Kip (vocals, accordion, guitar, flute) ​”simply has a voice to die for” (​ John Roffey, Maverick Magazine), whilst Dave (vocals, guitar and banjo) is now rightly recognized as being amongst the top tier of British songwriters, with his songs sung in folk clubs across the UK and beyond. Together, their voices are sublime.

Please let us know if you would like tickets (£10 members, £13 non-members) by emailing via the contact page. Bring your own drinks.

Bob Fox on Friday 1 July

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At 7.30 pm on Friday 1 July Norwich Folk Club looks forward to welcoming Bob Fox, a Pitman Poet and the acclaimed Songman in the National Theatre’s West End production of WarHorse. ‘One of the truly great voices from the North East with musicianship second to none’, Vin Garbutt.

Bring your own drinks. Please let us know via the contact form if you would like us to save tickets (£13).

The Churchfitters on Friday 3 June

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At 7.30 pm on Friday 3 June we welcome The Churchfitters, a delightfully quirky band that plays a dazzling array of unusual items, from a motorcycle petrol tank to a glass harp, as well as a number of more conventional instruments, including fiddle, banjo, sax and whistle. Singer Rosie Short’s voice has been described as being ‘like Annie Lennox in full flow’ (Fab Nights Productions).

These three flamboyant characters present their uplifting and entertaining show with a unique dynamism and describe their music as ‘Folk Unlimited’. Mike Harding calls it ‘brilliant and beautiful’ while Dave Pegg says they are ‘the most musically inventive group I’ve seen in decades’.

Reserve your tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) by emailing via our contact page. Bring your own drinks.

Martin Carthy on Friday 13 May

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For more than 50 years Martin Carthy has been one of folk music’s greatest innovators, one of its best loved, most enthusiastic and, at times, most quietly controversial of figures. His skill, stage presence and natural charm have won him many admirers, not only from within the folk scene, but also far beyond it.

Martin is a ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic and electric-guitarist and an authoritative interpreter of newly composed material. He always prefers to follow an insatiable musical curiosity rather than cash in on his unrivalled position. Perhaps, most significant of all, are his settings of traditional songs with guitar, which have influenced a generation of artists, including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, on both sides of the Atlantic.

The event starts at 7.30 pm. There are some tickets left (£15 non-members, £12 club members). These can be reserved by emailing us via the contact page. Bring your own drinks.