It’s always nice to receive poems from our listeners, especially when they’re as good as the two we’ve included in this show.
I’ll Follow The Sun – The Beatles
Mr Sits In The Dark – Eliza Carthy & The Restitution
High Germany – Martin Carthy
Everyhin’s Changed – Cheery Odin
Orion’s Belt – Donald WG Lindsay & Roo Geddes
Mars Rover – Heather Cartwright
Sandman – America
Been So Long in Babylon – The Donald Anderson Band
How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean – Joan Armatrading
Love And Affection – Clare Teal & Ben Cipolla
Introverts By Nature – M G Boulter & Jenny Sturgeon
POEM: ‘Evening, Carradale’ by Colin Macduff
Nice Now – Lorne Macdougall
The Long And Winding Road – Ray Charles & The Count Basie Orchestra
Albert O’ The Fleece – Cheery Odin
A Horse With No Name – America
Shoals of Herring – The Corries
Second Song – Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts
POEM: ‘Komorebi’ by Rosemary McLeish
Under The Mat – Tom Houston
Willow – Joan Armatrading
The Weakness In Me – Flock Of Dimes
Gan Teh The Shows – Cheery Odin
Three Roses – America
There Was A Time – Sheila K Cameron
Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert
Face The Rain – Laura Cortese
Iain, thank you for reading Rosie’s poem Komorebi so movingly. A third collection is in preparation which combines poems with photographs of her amazing artwork. Early sightings suggest it is going to be exceptional.
Last week was Broadstairs Folk Week which was a wonderful event as usual and there I discovered one of the finest singers I have ever heard live. Music was everywhere and there were many highlights for me. Isaac Parker, a fine blues guitarist, and stunning Scottish based melodeon player, Aaron Clark were exceptional at the Magnet pub. And I finally got to see Bridget St. John. I bought her first album over fifty years ago and, at nearly 80, she sang last week if anything better than she did back then. I hadn’t realised that she had moved to New York and she felt she had so much to apologise for about what what’s going on in America, singing Joni’s The Fiddle and the Drum a cappella which was very moving. She signed my album. Obviously, I am still a fanboy.
But the place to go every day is the Sailing Club from 3 to 5. The sessions are run by the wonderful Morag Butler as an offshoot of her Rosslyn Court Club in Cliftonville near Margate where she has sessions on Thursdays, the first hour of which is available on line – https://www.rosslyncourt.com/. She is helped in her role as organiser by the fact she herself is fabulous performer and can compensate for a subpar guest should there be one which is rare.
This year was better than ever. I saw several people I didn’t know starting with Chan Reid who has a quite beautiful voice on the first day. Then there was Muco who is extraordinary. His mother is Burundian and he uses a large Burundian string instrument to back himself singing songs which come from medieval Britain, being in Old or Middle English, so Gawain and the Green Knight featured for instance. The session on the last day was headlined by the fine fiddler Laura Targett, accompanied by Spanish guitarist Luis Nicolás and they were so good that I loved their set despite the facts, firstly that they had rushed from another gig across town and secondly that they followed Yana Vlaeva, which is something I would never ever want to do.
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Yana is Bulgarian and lives in London. I think that the singing I hear from the Bulgarian tradition is as beautiful as that from anywhere on earth, but I was unprepared for how utterly wonderful Yana was. I have several albums of great Bulgarian singing and she was as good as anything on those records. And she was in a small room, a couple of feet in front of me. This immediately found a place in my favourite ten performances. You can find her at https://www.yanavlaeva.com and you should certainly play her music if you can.