Kate Rusby celebrates 20 years of music!

On the evening of Sunday 23rd September 2012 I attended the Kate Rusby concert at Norwich Theatre Royal. She is the defining voice of contemporary English folk music with exquisite interpretations of traditional songs and finely self-penned tunes.

This tour was to celebrate 20 years of making music from the Barnsley Nightingale and she played many songs from her new double album 20 which features new recordings of Kate's favourite songs as well as a new song called Sun Grazers.

Kate Rusby's wonderful singing combined with her Yorkshire wit made this a fun night at Norwich Theatre Royal. She was given brilliant support from her band on many emotional and moving songs. This was the perfect venue for Kate Rusby to help celebrate 20 years of music making on this tour of celebration.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

On Wednesday 30th November 2011 I made my way to Norwich Arts Centre for the showing of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors with A Hawk And A Hacksaw playing a rescore of the soundtrack. This was a special show only being played at this beautiful Norwich venue along with The Barbican and All Tomorrow's Parties Festival.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is the first major work by the legendary Russian filmmaker Sergei Parajadnov. Hailed as a genius by the likes of Fellini, Antonioni and Tarkovsky, his films are as allegorical and mysterious as Byzantine frescos, each a beautiful riot of small movements within his almost always static frames.

For us lucky enough to be at Norwich Arts Centre it was a night to be taken to another world. The film is the story of a young Ukrainian peasant who marries the daughter of his father’s killer, loses her, falls into a long spiral of sadness and then remarries again, with tragic results. Paradjanov enriches the tale with occult imagery, swooping camerawork and a wide tableaux of breathtaking landscapes.

A Hawk And A Hacksaw the folk duo from New Mexico were brilliant on the night with their wonderful music making the perfect complement for this epic story. This was a unique evening that will be long remembered by the audience who showed their appreciation at the end with warm and loud applause.

Laura Marling sings when the bell tolls

On Wednesday 19th October 2011 Laura Marling's When The Bell Tolls Tour arrived at Norwich Cathedral with support from The Leisure Society. Her former band Noah And The Whale were playing at Norwich UEA on the same night but I choose to be at the Cathedral along with a sell out audience at this nine hundred year old building.

The Leisure Society warmed us up with a great show full of folk pop led by Nick Hemming. They maybe murky water but it was definately holy water at Norwich Cathedral as we experienced a night of folk heaven. This is what you would expect from of a tour of Britain's oldest, sometimes eeriest and most beautiful buildings which definately include this amazing Cathedral in the Fine City.

Laura Marling put on a magical show of her timeless folk with her set concentrating mostly on material from her new album A Creature I Don't Know but with also tracks from her first two albums including splendid performaces of Rambling Man and Goodbye England. The night would have been perfect if snow had started falling during the set.

We were treated to a new song, Laura Marling playing solo and numerous facts about Norwich Cathedral from her band. A night to remember from a truly talentered artist who with her latest album has shown how far she has progressed since her debut album Alas I Cannot Swim.