20,000 expected to join Leigh Folk Fest fun

But what to see, what to see?

With so much going on and such a diverse array of spectacular talent, it seems almost rude, not to mention impossible, to pick out some highlights.

However, for the purposes of bringing something a little different to your attention, and with the help of artistic director Paul Collier, a man who is obviously most 'in the know', we have done just that.

We start with the absolute centrepiece of the festival, which has be the double-headline concert featuring a collaboration between Scottish folk favourite Alasdair Roberts, electronic composer Amble Skuse and pianist David McGuinness along with the Emily Askew band, which takes place in the historic surroundings of St Clement's Church in Leigh, on Saturday June 23.

The Emily Askew band is made up of singer/guitarist/fiddler Jamie Roberts (Gilmore Roberts, The Dovetail Trio), fiddler/viola d'amore playing John Dipper (English Acoustic Collective, Methera, Dipper Malkin, and Alma), percussionist Simon Whittaker and of course Emily herself, who had created the band as a way to fuse her passions for medieval and renaissance songs and modern folk styles.

Alasdair and his collaborators will be putting on this rare live appearance in support of their recently released, and hugely acclaimed album What News.

The album originated from an idea of Alasdair’s (a Leigh Folk Festival regular over many years), but the result is undeniably the union of three peers combining distinctive but complementary disciplines.

Rather than relying on his typical guitar arrangements, Alasdair approached David McGuinness, with whom he had previously worked in the former's eclectic Concerto Caledonia ensemble, and asked him to adapt the songs for fortepiano (a piano of late 18th and 19th century design often associated with composers like Haydn and Mozart).

Amble Skuse is said to have "a great affection for traditional material of the British Isles" and her contributions are a key element in how the songs are presented.

"Seeing and hearing the work come alive within the historic confines of St Clement’s Church will be a special moment, and one not to be missed" said Leigh Folk Festival artistic director, Paul Collier.

Meanwhile, sharing the star spot with Alasdair and his pals, the Emily Askew Band's recent album release - Alchemy - has also garnered glowing reviews, with The Times name it 'one of the albums of the year'.

On it, Emily - who has had a successful career in both folk (Askew Sisters, Alma, Ceilidh Factor and the Elizabethan Session) and early music (the Artisans, Shakespeare's Globe, Glyndebourne, the Dufay Collective, Joglaresa, Mediva and the Medieval Babes) - wanted to explore the possibilities of mixing unusual sounds on various early music instruments she plays, such as vielle, shawm, bagpipes, recorders and medieval harp, with modern instruments.

You can witness this promisingly superb set, from 6:30pm.

The Leigh Folk Festival is a charity organisation run entirely by volunteers and remains the UK’s largest fee folk festival.

Now in its 27th year, the festival attracts up to 20,000 visitors over the long weekend, offering indoor and outdoor stages, dance arenas, diverse music, poetry, storytelling, children’s activities, food stalls and more.

Past artists have included The Unthanks, Waterson-Carthy, Wizz Jones, James Yorkston, Shirley Collins and so many others.

The night is ticketed, at £12 available via leighfolkfestival.com

SOMEONE definitely worth making time for across the event, includes the American Singer/musician/inventor Thomas Truax.

It isn't his first time this Steampunk-esque man has visited Southend, as he has stopped off at the Railway Hotel in Southend on a number of occasions, when on tour. But it is the first time this imaginative artist will have appeared at the Folk Festival.

Since 2000, Thomas has been travelling the world performing with his evolving 'band' of bizarre self-made Harry Partch-esque instruments, including a motorised drum machine made of bike wheels called Mother Superior and a pimped-up Dr. Seuss-ian Gramophone called The Hornicator, as well as his venerable resonator guitar Hank.

Truax crafts rich, poetically evocative songs about insects, trees, technology, and a lifelong obsession with things lunar, including various reasons Why Dogs Howl at The Moon. Notable supporters and collaborators include Jarvis Cocker, Duke Special, Richard Hawley, Amanda Palmer, Brian Viglione (of the Dresden Dolls/Violent Femmes) and the late author Terry Pratchett.

Born in Denver, Colorado, as a young boy Thomas attempted to build a synthesizer out of an old radio. He put on magic shows and made stop-motion animated films with a Super 8 camera. He later studied film making at NYU. In his “day job years” he did time as an animator for MTV‘s hit series Celebrity Deathmatch and Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken.

He “ran away with” the Toby Tyler Circus in Florida for a spell (as a billposter) before deciding he might benefit more by hanging flyers for his own act back in New York City.

His rock band Like Wow toured and released several well-received albums in the 1990s, but Thomas eventually grew frustrated with typical band problems (such as a rotating lineup of drummers).

He finally decided to build his own motorised mechanical drummer and ‘go solo’ and he hasn’t looked back since.

Sunday June 24: Leigh Sailing Club, Old Leigh. 4:30pm

TARTINE de Clous (Geoffroy Dudouit, Thomas Georget and Guillaume Maupin) is a singing trio originally from the department of Charente in western France.

Following in the footsteps of some of the great French groups of the late 20th century folk revival (such as Mélusine and La Bamboche), they sing largely unaccompanied three-part harmony arrangements of the traditional songs of their native land.

Their repertoire is diligently sourced from field recordings, books and other singers from various regions of France, delivered in an unaffected and direct style.

The group first met in the city of Poitiers, and as a trio were drawn to the ancient modal sounds of French folk music. Rather than the formality of appearing on a conventional stage, they enjoy performing seated around a table with their audience spread all around them.

In what will be a treat for the ears, look out for their performance in the Fishermen’s Chapel on Saturday night, and don’t miss their collaboration with Alasdair Roberts and Neil McDermott, the following day.

Saturday June 23: Fishermen’s Chapel 10pm

Sunday June 24: Fishermen’s Chapel 3.20pm (with Alasdair Roberts and Neil McDermott)

MEIN Haus is an instrumental duo consisting of Patricia Stepien (violin) and Elliot Murphy (cello).

Currently based in Berlin but originally hailing respectively from Poland and Ireland, they’ve been making music together since they fortuitously met on a train in Deptford. Their performances are high in energy and musically unpredictable, and have been described as ‘Shostakovich and Arvo Pärt being kicked down a flight of stairs in an oil barrel’, with influences ranging from the Sex Pistols through Penderecki, Battles and Kraftwerk.

This will be another feast for the ears, so make a mark in your programme to catch this pair.

Saturday June 23: Fishermen’s Chapel 9.30pm

Sunday June 24: Fishermen’s Chapel 4.25pm

To get more specific times, please buy a programme at the festival. Not only will it prove super handy to ensure you get the most out of the weekend, but some the LFF relies on the revenue made to help this gigantic affair remain largely free!

Leigh Folk Festival 2018:

Music & Spoken Word Programme Outline

THURSDAY JUNE 21

El Rey at Leigh Community Centre (£5 in advance, doors 7.30pm)

Doug Sure

Beckie Margaret Mooney

Dirty Fairies

El Rey

St Clement’s Church (free, 8pm)

Poetry by Candlelight

FRIDAY JUNE 22

Twenty One, Southend (£7 in advance, £10 on the door, from 7.15pm)

Collaboration with Southend YMCA, ‘A Place to Dwell’ CD / download launch

MG Boulter

Robert Sunday

Circle / Temple

Alasdair Roberts

St Clement’s Church (free, 8pm)

‘Tales of the Unexpected’, storytelling, with Hannah Brailsford

Crooked Billet (from 7.30pm)

Singaround, coordinated by Tony Prior

SATURDAY JUNE 23

Upper Library Gardens (free, morning + afternoon)

4&20 Blackbirds

Pick Yer Feet Up

Thameside Mummers

Stone Angel

Family Ceilidh

Wildwood Jack

Digby Fairweather & Band

Mad King Ludwig & the Mojo Company

Lower Library Gardens (free, morning + afternoon)

Below Sea Level

The Umbrella Factory

Joe Migdal

Colette Meury

Mains’l Haul Shanty Crew

Roy Mette

Elie Rees

Bob’s Barbershop Boys

Thameside Mummers

Random Folk

Hoy Shanty Crew

Revival

Mucky Dennis & the Grifters

Carousel

Emerald Hill

Arfur Doo & the Toe Rags

Grand Reunion

Buskers’ Square, Grove End, outside Ten Green Bottles (free, afternoon)

Sam Fraser & Herbie Buckley-Robinson

Genevieve Johnson

Niamh O’Shea

Darren Jones

Lucy O’Driscoll

Tim Clark

Owen Williams

El Rey

David Woodcock

St Clement’s Church (free, morning)

Storytelling for children, with Hannah Brailsford

St Clement’s Church (free, 12pm -4pm)

Open mic competition

St Clement’s Church (ticketed, doors open 6.15pm)

Emily Askew Band

Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness

Fishermen’s Chapel (free, from 9pm)

London Hardingfelelag

Mein Haus

Tartine de Clous

Jason Steel

Café Bar Hogar del Mar, St Clement’s Arcade (free, from 7pm)

Open session, hosted by Yael Bebb

The Smack (free, from 8:30pm)

Grand Reunion

SUNDAY JUNE 24

Fishermen’s Chapel (free, from 12.30pm)

Mudlarks

Masal

Doomed Bird of Providence

Alasdair Roberts, Neil McDermott & Tartine de Clous

Mein Haus

You Are Wolf

Fishermen’s Chapel Downstairs Hall (free, from 1.30pm)

Programme curated by ‘Hello You’

Warm Boys

Estuary Improvisers Ensemble

Russell Walker

Tom James Scott

Markers

Peter Boat (free, from 11am)

Peter Boat curated programme

Emily Frith

Megan Rose

Chris Robson Band

Owen Williams Band

Big Jacket

Emerald Hill

Leigh Sailing Club (free, from 12 noon)

Cable Car

Daniel Forbes

Bird in the Belly

Marisa, Jack and Davy

El Rey

Thomas Truax

Stick in the Wheel

Diamond Family Archive

Strand Wharf (free, from 12.30pm)

Angel & the Melodyhorns

Bridport Dagger

Famous Potatoes

Daisy Bowlers

T Bitch

Men Diamler

David Woodcock & the Fixtures

Billet Wharf (free, from 11am)

Hoy at Anchor Folk Club

Hoy Showcase

Hoy Shanty Crew

Emerald Hill

John Ward Trio

Paul Downes & Mick Ryan

Said the Maiden

Arfur Doo & the Toe Rags

Ol’ Panama Red

Bell Wharf (free, from 1.30pm)

Pink Flamingo programme

Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou

Mucky Dennis & the Grifters

Tuppenny Bunters

The Invaders

Lucky Strikes

Bob Collum & the Welfare Mothers

Victoria Wharf (free, from 11am)

Preview Club programme

Nigel Townend

Cheap Joint

Clive Cowan

54 Red Door

Captain Morgan’s Rum Do

Whiskeytones

Dave Symonds

Phazed

Ynamit

Roy Mette

The Blarneys

The Smack (free, from 12 noon)

Leigh Folk Festival collaboration with SoSlam

BaVard

Josie Tullett & Scarlett Taylor

Si Brandon

Gemma Khawaja

Russell Joslin & Sarah McCaig

Paul Burns

Caitlin King

Leo C

Nicola Collis

Trevor Moss

Owen Williams

Maverick & Stevie Band

Woodmans

Daniel Forbes

Emerald Hill + Special folk

Mayflower (free, from 2pm)

Yael Bebb

Johnny Guy

Peter Dunhill

Umbrella Factory

Holly Hannigan

Jones Boys

The Gillies

The Kimberleys