October Programme
1999
Keeping music alive in the
Allen Valley
Live Music, and Welcome to
it!
Scroll Down to See Current
Offerings
..
Friday/Saturday/Sunday
October 1-3
FOLK 'N' FUN
Weekend
Organised by Dave Minikin, we were delighted to welcome 50 or so folky fanatics to Allendale for several sessions of music and song at The King's Head. What is a Folk 'N' Fun weekend? Where have you been for the last sixteen years? These entertaining residential weekends started around sixteen years ago with a group of people from the Black Bull Folk Club in blaydon going to Isthmus Cottage on the side of Lake Derwentwater. The weekend was so popular that it had to be done again, and again, and again, and in fact, they're still doing it year in and year out.
The idea basically is that a group of like minded people over a weekend in pleasant surroundings with an ample supply of lubrication and enjoy themselves, singing, listening, joining in, etc. This year, Dave Minikin managed to find a great rustic accommodation facility at The Deneholme Centre in Allendale, with plenty of beds, comfortable surroundings, and most important of all, in close walking proximity to The King's Head. This year the price for the entire weekend was a staggering £16.00 which included dormitory accommodation, tea, coffee milk and sugar, some bread, evening meal on Saturday, and of course, lots and lots of song! Sounds incredible, but from the faces of all the folk on the entertainment evenings, it was great fun!
We'll be happy to pass on any enquiries to Dave for next year's Folk 'N' Fun weekend, which will be the first weekend in October, like clockwork.
Look out for
it!
Friday October 8: Music
Night
Saturday October 9: The
Bob Hall Show at The King's Head for £4.00 / £2.50
concessions
As important as the folk music tradition is, to regulars at The King's Head, Allendale, it's great to experience different kinds of music as well. Next Saturday, thanks to the consistently helpful efforts of the region's local Rural Touring Arts promoters, 'North Pennine Highlights', the intimate function room will feature a unique evening's entertainment in the boogie-woogie good-time blues idiom.
The Bob Hall Show features keyboard wizard Bob, whose authentic piano style developed with the great blues originals, along with Hilary Blythe, whose rock steady bass guitar and poignant vocals mean achingly endearing blues and storming gospel vibes. It looks like a good-time session of exciting keyboard pyrotechnics and thumping bass.
Bob's career has taken him throughout accompaniments with some of the best and most popular musicians of the past decades, including Fleetwood Mac, Manfred Mann and even The Rollin gStones, so it's a sure bet that this evening will be professional from start to finish.
Aye, and it was a great
night!
Sunday October
17
il
Tratturo at Allendale
Village Hall for only £4.00
They're saying, "You've never heard anything like this", and no doubt they're absolutely right. Sunday the 17th of October sees a particularly significant event in the cultural calendar of the East Allen valley, when the proud town of Allendale welcomes a visit by musical representatives of the proud town of Scapoli, Italy.
This past July saw members of the Northumbrian Music Nights group, which promotes a variety of live entertainment out of Allendale, visiting Scapoli for their 23rd annual International Festival of the Bagpipe. The impromptu band, known as Cappy's Drift, was a surprise sensation of the festival. As the first international visitors to Northumberland's County-Wide Music Festival, the local band from Scapoli, known as il Tratturo, will be returning the compliment.
The sound made by this professional band is a mixture of jumping, rhythmically passionate danceable Latin music, and passionate colloratura vocals, but the only way to experience it is to hear it at first hand. Everyone knows what bagpipes sound like, but think again! This sound is, as they do say, 'like nothing you've ever heard before!' When the bagpipe is as big as a man, you know it's something different! And these 'zampogna', perhaps the original bagpipe (after all, it was that famous Italian, Mr. Hadrian, who brought a particular cultural experience to the North Pennines!), have a truly unique sound that has to be heard to be believed.
But in addition to the unique sounds of il Tratturo, the evening also promises to feature, by popular demand, the entrancing sounds of local heroes, the Northumbrian-pipe based band called Cappy's Drift. It looks like a brilliant night out, and ticket information can be found by contacting the promoters, Northumbrian Music Nights, at (01434) 685047.
IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
Friday October 22:
Music Night at The King's Head
THE BIG ONE
GRAND FINALE CONCERT
GRAND FINALE CONCERT
Sunday October 24: The
Kathryn Tickell Band
At the end of this year's Music Festival with its wide variety of events -- from lectures and concerts to ceilidhs and pub nights -- what better choice of performer could there be for the finale concert than Northumberland's most popular folk musician, Kathryn Tickell? And what better choice of Northumbrian venue could there be for the occasion than the village hall in the remote North Pennines village of Allendale, which is sure to be packed solid for the occasion?
Kathryn's current band includes Kit Haigh (guitar), Julian Sutton (melodeon) and Gregor borland (fiddle and bass) and the concert will be part of the band's national autumn tour to promote their new album, 'Debateable Lands' -- Kathryn's 7th album. Steeped in her Northumbrian roots, the album's title refers to a stretch of border country about four miles wide and over a dozen miles long. The ownership of the area was long disputed by England and Scotland and it became a constant menace to both and a haven for outlaws and trouble makers.
The concert is certain to also include work from last year's 'Northumberland Collection' CD which has already become the standard introduction to Northumberland Music on CD -- a must for everyone who loves the County and its remarkable musical traditions.
"With fluent Northumbrian piping and fiddle playing, faultless professionalism and an engaging stage presence, Kathryn Tickell may well be the best living advertisement for English folk music." (Daily Telegraph).
What we said
about the superlatively brilliant concert
Friday October 29:
Sally Barker with Keith Richard Buck
I