Na Mara

Cambridge Folk Club, 29th May 2009

2009-05-30T15:46:00.002+01:00

We were honoured by another terrific night at the Cambridge Folk Club. We shared the bill with the extremely talented Richard Brown and Carl Hogsden, and the Marina Florance band. Marina played with four others and delivered a very beautiful, entertaining and upbeat session.

I am very pleased to report that our 50 minute set was very well received and there were strong calls for an encore at the end. We introduced two new songs into the set. The first was Broken in the Past - a homage to the suffering of refugees now and through the ages, which uses the tune from the traditional French Canadian song Le Vieux Cheval, first heard by the magnificent Le Vent du Nord, but with words penned by myself. The second was Nellie Torrence and Jeannie Waldie - a tale of the first known true body snatchers in Edinburgh, which is a na-mara original. Having remembered the words (! - through a lot of private rehearsal), both songs seemed to go down well.

We played some of our better known song, including When I Took my Horse to Water, and even had some in the audience singing it along with us - a great feeling.

We had a lot of very good feedback at the end of the night and were still talking as the last of the chairs were being cleared away. We were also very pleased to hear that Cambridge will be offering us a full booking in 2010. This is very generous - they have supported and encouraged us all the way through from when we turned up a long time ago to do two songs, then to do 20 minutes, then a couple of showcases, then to share the bill last night and, now, to give us a full slot! And, of course, they have asked us to play the Folk Club tent at the Cambridge Folk Festival which we are over the moon about.

The drive home flew by and, not drinking before we play, and the bar being shut by the time we had finished, I had a self-congratulatory bottle of beer when I got in. But, I was still home before my daughter, who came in and we had a nice long chat while I quaffed my Innes & Gunn beer (highly recommended!!)

Watford Folk Club, The Pump House, Watford, 1st May 2009

2009-05-02T19:09:00.004+01:00

What can I say! This was an incredibly welcoming and friendly club. Carrie had liaised with Rob over a full gig for us - and, despite being from a neighbouring town we were a new act for them.

From the very first moment, club members were happy to come up and talk guitars, guest and musical preferences. We played in a small hall next to the Pump Rooms and it was very cosily laid out for a fairly rudimentary hall - soon to be given a facelift. The bar served excellent beer and, by the time we were due to go on, there was around 40+ in the audience. We heard some excellent floor singers and had everything from an excellent I am a Wee Weaver (from one of the member of the excellent Warp and Weft), through to a super Aria from Handel and wonderful renditions of a David Bowie and a Matt Maginn song. We were boosted as our friends Ruth and Dave arrived to support us.

If I say so myself, we played really well. We were focused, we were really enjoying playing and this clearly transferred to the audience who were extremely appreciative throughout. We were brave enough to through Les Larmes Aux Yeux in in a second half set, and probably did our best ever performance of Billy Don't You Weep for Me and the Asturian danzas. Very pleasingly, we were asked to do a double encore.

We were overwhelmed by the kind words after the show and sold a considerable number of CDs. When someone compliments you on taking them on 'a musical and educational journey', it really means a lot. We work hard to get things right, and to have listeners compliment the musicality is so rewarding.

Naturally, we were buzzing by the time we left and, on getting home, needed a decent bottle of Innes and Gunn beer before settling down for bed.

We very much hope the Watford Folk Club thrives - it certainly deserves to with such friendly and dedicated people - and are as keen as mustard to return.

Dartford Folk Club, April 28th 2009

2009-05-02T18:59:00.005+01:00

This was a voyage of discovery outside our normal 'catchment'. We had long wanted to visit Dartford Folk Club and contacted them to see if we could do a singers spot. It was a long way to go to play a couple of numbers - but it was a good night out.

Home from work, quick munch of a sarnie or two and off round the M25. We arrived in good time to hear a Welsh band Bare Bones, who were very good. Then we did the Breton sea shanty, Three Matelots, followed by The Flower of Magherally. We played well, but tuning was a slight issue, and then the main act, Harvey Andrews, came on.

With a 6.00am getting up for work the next morning looming, Rob and I humbly made our excuses in the break and left before the second half began. A number of people were very complimentary about our playing, as we made our way out - which was very nice.

Then homeski with a can of Polish lager (ZUBR) for me in the passenger seat! (Rob naturally kept his can of WARKA for when he got home.)

We found Dartford a very friendly and welcoming club and it was obvious why they had won Folk Club of the Year 2008 - very well organised and wonderfully supported. We certainly aim to keep in contact and hope they might find a longer slot for us some time in the future.

6th April 2009 Waltham Abbey Folk Club and other bits and pieces

2009-04-12T17:38:00.000+01:00

In line with our interest of visiting new clubs, Rob and I attended a singer’s night at the Waltham Abbey Folk Club. Jan Ayres, who runs this very friendly club, very kindly allowed us to double up and do a couple of numbers each round in what was a very talented room of singers and players. Resident duo Blue Harbour performed some excellent bluesy material, and there was some great fiddle music, excellent accordion playing and some very funny banter all night.
As Rob and I have been travelling in recent weeks, we have been talking a lot about the need for us to get back into the studio and do a third CD. We are acutely aware that the two CDs we currently have cover only a modest proportion of our current repertoire. I have now invested in some Cubase software and am slowly beginning to master it – and this might liberate us from making too much call on friends in St Albans and Suffolk. But, it will take some considerable time to master this complex software to a level that we could realistically make a quality recording – even if I have some decent mikes, etc. So, we are still working on what best to do. The real problem is, of course with full time ‘day jobs’ is simply finding the time. We are both active family guys as well as professionals in our own field, with jobs that require a fair amount of travel – so finding two or three days (or preferably a lot more) to do a recording session justice, is going to be hard.
Elsewhere, I am proud to say that we have been asked again by Marlene Sideway to play at the International Brigade Memorial in Jubilee Gardens on July 4th. It was a moving and stimulating event last year and I assume it will be so again this year.

Late March 2009, St Albans and a little bit of news !

2009-04-12T17:37:00.000+01:00

We have a wee while now before our next commitment, so we decided to spend a Saturday looking at some new material. We are working on two songs in particular. The first is one that has its origins in Broadstairs last year. In our ‘downtime’ there, Rob and I investigated the second hand bookshops in the town. I’m afraid I can’t recall the name of the shop now but there is one in Broadstairs which is quite amazing, with books of all sorts and about anything and everything, loosely available throughout a very sizeable two storey building. Browsing in there, I came across a book called The Resurrection Men about the practices of the body snatchers. The book contains the tale of Helen Torrence and Jean Waldie, accredited as being amongst the first true body snatchers in Edinburgh – who murdered to get the corpses to sell to the anatomists. The fears and contradictions around the sale of bodies – wanting and needing scientific advances but clearly not wanting to have oneself or one’s loved ones operated upon – are really very interesting. So, I have written (and put my own tune to) a song about Nellie and Jeannie. I have another more general song in progress about ‘night gardeners’ and the strangeness of their crop. One of these days I’ll get chance to finish.
I have also been putting together a new set of words to a French Canadian song recorded by Le Vent du Nord. Having recently read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, a French authoress murdered by the Nazis in the death camps in 1942, I was deeply affected by her description of the travails of the refugees leaving Paris ahead of the German advance on the city, and the chaos, the comfort of strangers, the speed of unexpected violence, their doubts and concerns over loved ones, and their uncertainties about the future. There are probably too many songs glorifying heroes and too few relaying the harm that ensues from ‘the arguments of kings’ – an everywhere and every epoch issue.
The little bit of news we have had – well actually we have known for some time but were asked to keep it under wraps until the details were fully worked out – is that we have been asked by the Cambridge Folk Club to play their tent at the Cambridge Folk Festival. We are deeply grateful to the Cambridge Folk Club for this honour. This is an event of national significance and we are very very excited at being allowed to be part of it.

18th March 2009 Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:36:00.000+01:00

The night after Bury St Edmonds, Rob and I were back on our travels with friends Tam Lin, to play The Headgate Theatre in Colchester and support Alan Prosser from The Oysterband – nice fella, and another wonderful guitarist .
Then, a few days later, we were back with Alan and Sue Hewson from Tam Lin to start the night as na-mara at Alan and Sue’s club in Baldock, and finish the evening as Tam Lin. This was a full night with plenty of singers in for the evening. Our good friend and excellent performer Malcolm Hobbs was there, and we managed to get a copy of his new CD ‘In for a Penny’, check it out!
With it being St Patrick’s night, Rob and I stayed to Irish material throughout – which is rather unusual for us as we roam across the British Isles and placed further afield usually.
Later that week we had two St Patrick’s night gigs – one in a pub in Little Wymondley in north Hertfordshire (? Or is it south Beds?), and a big gig down on the south coast at Selsey, where, with Tam Lin we supported the blues band The Commitments – great fun and, again, really nice people.
So, a pretty exhausting round of ‘gigging’ but we wouldn’t trade it for the world. What fun we have had over recent weeks.

13th March 2009 The Milkmaid Folk Club, Bury St Edmunds

2009-04-12T17:35:00.002+01:00

I told you we were busy and so it was home from work early, soggy Morrisons sarnie snaffled in the car, a hell for leather drive across to Bury St Edmonds, three times round the one way system and into the club for a sound check just in time. Rob and I just love visiting new clubs. The previous night had been the intimate atmosphere of a front parlour, with the audience right up close and playing acoustically; tonight was totally different – a large room, c80-90 in the audience and a real pukka p.a. system, with a quality sound technician helping us out.
We were supporting the Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley – two musicians I was not familiar with, but I won’t now forget. Setting aside what a nice pair of blokes they were, very approachable and open to both of us, they were both very funny and (more importantly) very impressive and entertaining musicians. What I would pay for a teaching session with Denny - who is one of the best Irish guitar players I have ever seen. The fact that they hadn’t played prior to this night for some considerable time, just shows how good they are. They played a wide variety of music, including a wonderful rendition of a Voice Squad song The Sheepstealers.
Terry in his ‘Waffle’ (his term not mine) reviewed the night recently and Rob and I are overwhelmed by his kind comments on our performance which read “Support by The Duo Na-Mara was indeed quite lovely. Their performance nicely blended with the main act. These guys are really going to make a mark in the folk world and deserve to have success in clubs and festivals.” Terry (and all at The Milkmaid, who helped us and were so welcoming on the night), many thanks!! http://www.milkmaidmusic.co.uk/waffle09.html

12th March 2009 Redbourn Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:35:00.001+01:00

The start of the busy season! Of course, with our friends at Tam Lin, we get a lot of bookings around the time of St Patrick’s Day. With our own bookings, it means that Rob and I have a couple of weeks with 3 nights each week playing – just like proper pros eh!
Jan Strapp at Redbourn Folk Club, gave us the chance to support George Papavgeris, at the new venue for the club, The Hollybush pub in Redbourn. I think the club used to be there some years ago, and they have now gone back. This is a very intimate club in an outhouse from the pub – so it is cosy and not affected by pub noise.
It was also the chance for us to meet with George Papavgeris who is clearly a legend in this North London/Herts area , but was someone whose music we had not heard before. Larger than life, George is a hell of a presence and, on saying goodbye to him at the end of the evening he was very kind to say how much our song ‘Solo Por Tres Meses’ had affected him.
Jan also seems to have enjoyed the evening because she has promised us a ‘full spot’ at Redbourn in 2010. This is a real honour and thanks to Jan for that. Jan was kind enough to tell us that we “just get better and better” – we couldn’t hope for a nicer comment because this is absolutely our aim.

8th February 2009 Readifolk, Reading Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:34:00.000+01:00

As we have said elsewhere in this blog, Reading Folk Club has been incredibly generous to us over the years. They were the first to give us any sizeable slot on a folk evening, the first to give us a ‘full booking’ and the first to give us a second full booking.
So, after a January of working on some new material and getting ourselves properly rested, then properly rehearsed, we were very much looking forward to the evening – at Readifolk’s new venue, The RISC Centre in London Street in the centre of Reading (which is the third venue we have played at, and very much the nicest.) The Reading hosts were as welcoming as ever. Sadly, the appalling weather in the previous week and on the evening itself meant that the audience was lower than they usually manage.
We had some excellent floor acts on before us – including some excellent French songs and tunes. When Rob and I started our ‘project’ of taking French and Breton songs and making them more accessible to an English speaking audience, we thought we would be pretty much alone in this – but far from it. There are many players playing French tunes and even performing French songs.
We took the opportunity to introduce two more new songs to our repertoire, developed over the Christmas and New Year period. Of late, I have become very enamoured of the French Canadian band Le Vent du Nord (if you haven’t heard them, track them down!!) and I have translated their song Les Larmes Aux Yeux – which has a wonderful but tricky instrumental tune embedded in it, written by the superb Scottish fiddler Fiona Cuthill. Rob, in his inimitable challenging style felt that we definitely needed one of the verses sung in French – so, this is what we have done. So, this is a tricksy, full on, number requiring total concentration – but the song and the tune are great – and the Reading audience were very appreciative.
The other song we introduced was a song that I have been working on for a long while but really only got a grip on when it was converted over into a DADGAD version; it is The Child Mother - which is a translation of a La Bamboche song sung by Evelyne Girardon. In our quest for variation in the act, we always try and vary the combinations of instruments we play, and try and get different sounds. In this particular song, I play my Taylor in DADGAD, and Rob drinks a pint of lager – yes, it’s me on ‘me tod’. Nice to say then, that the Readifolk audience really appreciated this somewhat harrowing song about a girl who becomes pregnant and, in desperation, kills her newborn and is then discovered.
Thanks to all at Readifolk for a lovely evening and such a warm welcome. We very much hope to be back. Thanks also to Clare who gave us such a wonderful write-up in the (excellent and professionally produced Readifolk newsletter, see http://www.readifolk.org.uk/Readifolk_NL2.pdf

5th December 2008, Cambridge Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:33:00.000+01:00

A trip to Cambridge is almost like a trip to a home club. The welcome is always guaranteed to be warm and the acts are almost universally of the highest standard. This night was no exception. We shared the evening with two other acts – local heroes - The Ouse Brothers – who, as usual, played some truly excellent blues material, mostly self-penned, intimate and exceptionally well performed – and Sunday Driver, who are a most unusual band, blending successfully Asian sounds from tablas and sitar with harp and other more conventional folk instruments, to provide a very interesting sound. Stimulating songs, very well performed – no wonder they are listed for the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2009.
We introduced some new material to the act –we like to do new things for Cambridge. The audience is sophisticated and demanding and so it is a great challenge to get things right for presentation there. So, we introduced ‘Billy Don’t You Weep For Me’ which Rob and I have fallen in love with after hearing the wonderful Nic Jones version. We are very keen to engender variety in our act and, as such, Rob plays this on mandola and I sing without guitar – very relaxing for me as it allows me to concentrate on the vocals (and getting the lyrics right!) We also gave the northern Irish song, The Flower of Magherally, its first run out.
Even more amazing, we were told that our friends Chicken Lickin, residents at Cambridge have decided to cover our translated French song, When I took my horse to water, which we took from the music of Malicorne. This is a great honour and we wish them well with it.

31st October 2008: Barnet Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:32:00.000+01:00

A trip home to north London for Rob. The Barnet Folk Club, run by JJ Dunne, now holds its events in the Arts Depot – in North Finchley. A surprisingly warm venue this, given that, to all intents and purposes it is in the Lobby of the Arts Depot. But, with an array of cafe tables and comfy sofas, and an excellent p.a. system, well managed, the venue wasn’t intimidating or remote, but was very cosy and welcoming.
JJ had asked us to come along and finish the evening off for them with c50minutes of material. We had an evening of French poetry and some great blues guitar, by two of the resident members of the club, and then Rob and I did a mix of British, Asturian, Galician and Breton material. Overall, there must have been 30-40 people there, including some of Rob’s good friends from the da Capo foundation who have a school nearby.
JJ Finished the evening off with us with what seems to be a traditional rendition of Whiskey in the Jar. Photos can be seen at http://www.communigate.co.uk/london/barnetfolkclub/page49.phtml
I very much hope we will get a return invite to Folk in the Lobby at Barnet. We enjoyed ourselves and it appeared that those attending enjoyed what we did – we sold a pleasing number of CDs at the end of the evening which is always a good sign of how well we have done.

15th October 2008: Ely Folk Club

2009-04-12T17:30:00.000+01:00

An early escape from work, this one - St Albans to Ely to be there for an 8.00pm! However, the night itself made it well worth munching a soggy Morrisons sarnie in the car on the way over. Rob and I had met Ruthie, who is one of the people running the Ely Folk Club, when she was calling for us and our friends from Tam Lin at a recent ceilidh. Very kindly, after hearing our CD, she invited us over and provided us with a wonderful support slot – namely supporting the wonderful Mawkin-Causley.
It is clear that Mawkin Causley are going from strength to strength and, I have to confess, prior to the evening, we were unfamiliar with their work – but class will out, and they were superb that evening. Our abiding memory is of a satisfaction that such a young and skilful band is there to carry on the tradition going forward. There was an excellent attendance of 50-60 to watch and, to our satisfaction, they were very much a listening audience.
We acquitted ourselves well and, unusually for professional bands with a growing reputation, it was nice to see (Gentleman) Jim Causley come in towards the end of our set and have a listen. Naturally, at the end of the evening, Jim was surrounded by well-wishers, but he still took the time to congratulate us a good set and wish us well for the future and a safe journey home. Since that time, Rob and I have heard more and more about the band, and we similarly wish them well.
A definite petrol station pee stop and a bar of Cadbury’s to keep us awake going home – getting up at 6.00am the next morning wasn’t too much fun.

Back in the Queen's Crescent studio, 7th September 2008

2008-12-29T11:25:00.002Z

We are increasingly conscious that a lot of our current working material has not yet been properly recorded. The track that most people ask for and which fits into this category is 'The Bite' - our song about the experiences of George Wheeler in the Spanish Civil War. We also know that we haven't got enough video material either on You Tube or on our myspace site (www.myspace.com\namaramusic) .

So, we had a session with our great friend Andy who both video-ed us and made a recording of The Bite.

Various gigs lie ahead of us. A lot of these are with our great friends Tam Lin over the next few months, and we have a wonderful project to work with Rob's wife on recording an album (or two) of songs for toddlers. So, a busy time ahead. We are also moving new material forward. I think I have already menationed Le Vent du Nord and Nic Jones. I am also working on a La Bamboche song (which I am calling The Child Mother - a tragic tale) and a version of Annan Water - taken from the wonderful singing of The Voice Squad.

However, as na-mara we have gigs at some great clubs to look forward to, namely, Ely, Barnet (both of which are new to us) and Cambridge (which is something we always look forward to).

Recharging batteries - a wet week in Devon

2008-12-29T11:19:00.002Z

Rob and family in Tenby and me and the family down in Devon, both drenched and pebble-dashed by the rain. However, rainy days meant a greater than otherwise focus on looking at new material.

Rob, who is not from a folk background, has just discovered Nic Jones and is absolutely blown away with his consummate skill and musicianship. He is very keen for us to attempt a version of 'Billy Don't You Weep For Me' - so, I've been working it through having worked out the basic chords.

Other material has been French Canadian. I have been paying particular attention to the work of Le Vent du Nord. If you haven't come across them, I strongly recommend their work. Occasionally they choose some odd material - but I don't know the folk scene they operate in - but they are superb musicians playing wonderful material.

12th August 2008, Broadstairs, Kent and home

2008-09-01T20:30:00.003+01:00

A virtual day at leisure - what a luxury! The chance to soak up the atmosphere, do the bookshops properly, have capuccino in Morelli's and Fish and Chips later on. Our only commitment was the Tartar Frigate for a two hour Tam Lin gig, so we had a restful festival day just doing a bit of rehearsal and messing around with a bit of new stuff at Fiona and Rhona's.

The tartar Frigate gig went well - not quite as heaving as for Ian Cutler but still a very busy, sweaty night. The big drawback was that after the gig it was a two hour trip back to St. Albans and early into work the next morning. Thankfully, we were buzzing after the gig, Rob's son Ben helped us with the gear and we were on the road by 11.00pm and home just after 1.00am Wednesday.

Both of us were then looking at holidays coming up and we talked a lot about what we were going to do to get the new material moving forward. More of which later...

August 11th 2008 Broadstairs, Kent

2008-09-01T20:14:00.002+01:00

Monday morning and a different sort of work day ahead of us. Furnished and filled with a couple of fried eggs on toast, we began Day 2 of our Broadstairs baptism. After a bit of a stroll round, a rummage in a couple of local book shops, it was back to the house, pick up our stuff and then down to the Charles Dickens pub for a one-hour session. As with the Sunrunner in Hitchin, Alan and Sue looked after us p.a. wise again, and as at the Sunrunner and the main marquee the night before, friends from Baldock and Letchworth came along to support. On arrival, Rob and I were a bit worried that the lively and busy environment of the pub might not be the best setting for our quieter oriented music. However, over time, a folk crowd entered the pub - some of them as a result of our gig being announced in the marquee the night before - and by the time we started, there was a really nice atmosphere conducive to mid-day music playing. We got a good reception and we played well, especially given the very tight space we had to operate in. Nearby Morris rhythms weren't exactly in synch. but hey that's festival life for you - as we were coming to learn.

Then Rob and I went off with the rest of Tam Lin to support Alan with his bodhran workshop - which acted as a nice bit of extra rehearsal for the rest of us - and we could sit back and enjoy Alan hard at work.

After that, we had a little time to ourselves before Tam Lin went for a sound check down at the bandstand, where we were doing a 30-minute slot later. Sound check over, we sloped off for a beer and then returned to watch the Morris men and the other acts. Again lots of friends came down. Rob's son Ben and Rob's brother in law Ian came over from Margate to watch and in a nice boost to 'Dad's street cred', Ben witnessed a middle aged couple passing by and pointing Rob out as being 'one of the guys who'd been on the main stage the night before'. It made Rob and Ben's night. It was then a windy and p.a. problematic set but very enjoyable. Fiona and Rhona and family came down to watch which was really nice of them.

Finally, after getting the instruments home, Rob and I wandered the pubs of Broadstairs, had a few pints, watched Ian Cutler and band on at the Tartar Frigate - where Tam Lin was playing the following night, and then stayed to watch the wonderful Morris-men song rounds at one of the town centre pubs. The atmosphere was very different but brilliant in each pub. Then it was a long march home up the hill, and then up the wooden hill to bed.

10th August 2008: Supporting Cara Dillon, Broadstairs Folk Week, Kent

2008-08-31T19:44:00.002+01:00

This is it, this was what we had been looking forward to, and boy did we enjoy it!
Tam Lin have played the Broadstairs Folk Week for many years and Alan and Sue Hewson had invited Rob and I down to join them not only to play as Tam Lin but also to do some na-mara gigs as well. Indeed, Rob was also leading a mandolin workshop as well. So, we set off early on the morning of Sunday 10th August (me fresh back from holidays overseas and frantically hardening those finger ends up again) to join Alan, Sue and Georgina at Broadstairs for our first folk festival. As mentioned previously in this blog, the real na-mara highlight for the few days we could be at Broadstairs, was that we were going to be the first of two support acts for ...Cara Dillon in the main marquee on that Sunday night! To suggest excitement was high would be an understatement to end all understatements.
So, after a two hour drive we reported to the conference organisers, were given a key to our accommodation, where we went straightaway. Fiona’s sister Rhona welcomed us into the house and, it still being reasonably early, we took the chance to do an hour’s rehearsal before setting off to join Tam Lin for our first gig of the day, at a nearby pub. I think we all agreed afterwards that that was a swell as the new Tam Lin has played and the modest but enthusiastic sized crowd really lapped it up.
Then it was straight off to the mandolin workshop that Rob was running. Rob had decided to introduce budding (and as it turned out, some pretty experienced) mandolin players to Asturian music. I went along to just play some of the accompaniment. Rob did really well to engage 20 people of markedly different standards of playing, for a 90 minute session. (I’ve only seen one blog of the Broadstairs festival and to Rob’s credit, it mentions his mandolin workshop directly as one of the events the blogger had really enjoyed.)
Then it was time to grab a nice cup of tea and ready ourselves for the big one. So, we headed back towards the marquee area –we wouldn’t want to be late would we? – and found a nice little cafe to wind down a bit. And then we went over to the marquee to find Cara Dillon and her band doing their sound check. Alan and Sue had kindly taken the bulk of our stuff straight there from the Tam Lin gig.
The marquee had seats for c 550-600 as far as I could estimate and there, at the front of the then empty auditorium was Cara herself just watching her partner Sam Lakeman and the others get the sound right. This was great experience and I enjoyed watching the pre-show show. Clearly, we didn’t want to bother anybody but Cara gave us a nice smile and seemed very approachable.
As is usual in these circumstances, the top of the bill does the sound check first, the warm up acts then do theirs in reverse order. So, we were doing our check last after the other band on the bill – the excellent and phenomenally talented (and extremely nice and supportive) Skyhook.
Time passed and time passed and, of course, when it came to na-mara, there was already 500 people outside queuing up to get in. So, I think we might have had three minutes - but our needs are simple and we were done fine and luxuriously. One mixing desk for the front of house and another for the monitors....wow.
And then, fifteen minutes later, the crowd had come in and filled every seat in the house, Chris Sandler had introduced us, and we were on. Interestingly, the increase in numbers – this was by far the biggest gig na-mara had played – did not translate directly to an increase in nerves and I have to say we both felt pretty relaxed. We kicked off with Three Bonny Ships which we knew well and was a cracking starter. We followed that with Anada Pa Julia – to slow the mood down. We then played Solo Por Tres Meses, which we knew would go down really well with the sort of listening audience that would typically come to see the wonderful Cara Dillion. Then we finished off with Willy Taylor. And that was us – off we came. We felt we had done really well and the sale of CDs and the requests to have those autographed, and the insistence of one lady that we had been ‘fastastic’, were all huge fillips for us.
So, with a benign smile on our faces we proceeded then to watch the rest of the show for the ‘green room’ just to the side of the stage, behind the banks of speakers. Skyhook were hugely talented and did a lengthy and powerful set, and then Cara came on. Her band started with She Moves Through the Fair, the first atmospheric minute or two of which she stays off stage. So, Rob and I had the pleasure of her company before she went on - to give a sublime performance both of that song and many more. Interestingly, since we are now singing it in our Tam Lin (and occasionally na-mara) repertoire, she is now doing The Verdant Braes of Screen. I notice she doesn’t do the sixth verse that we do – I’ll have to research that one.
Then, it was time to go home (Fiona and Rhona’s) for the night. Thankfully Skyhook had organised transport to get themselves home and they very generously helped us shift some of our stuff. By the time we got home, the house was quiet and given Rob and I were completely knackered, it was probably a blessing that we just went straight to bed and switched the lights off. Usually I can’t get off to sleep after playing – but that night, I was straight out.

19th July 2008: International Brigade Re-union and memorial, Jubilee Gardens, London

2008-08-31T19:38:00.000+01:00

As a follow up to the gig that Rob and I played at in London to celebrate the Spanish Republic, we were kindly invited by the organiser Marlene Sidaway, to play some music as people assembled for the Annual Re-union of the International Brigade. This year it was in Jubilee Gardens in London, near the statue commemorating those Britons who gave their lives to fight fascists in Spain in the 1930s.
Clearly, this was a great honour. Marlene had sent us a DVD of the event the year before and whose face should be on the front (and who were following in the footsteps of – none other than Billy Bragg. So, we certainly wanted to do something special and Rob worked hard to gather together some Spanish tunes to ensure that we did an entirely relevant Spanish set. So, we needed to rehearse pretty hard for this and I’m pleased to say that we played well. The place we were playing was right next to the queues for the London Eye and so we not only had the 200 or so people who had come to the memorial service but another couple of hundred people queuing up. The leading war veterans were there, including Jack Jones. The Spanish Ambassador was there and gave a brief speech, and some leading Labour politicians also spoke. Rob and I then returned to lead the communal singing with the soldier’s song The Valley of Jarama and, of course the Internationale.
We then returned to a nearby hotel and had a buffet lunch and, as we do find these days, Rob and I fell into an interesting conversation with an Irishman who had been passing the event and had got completely involved in what, for him, was a story that he knew virtually nothing about. This well read man knew very little about the Spanish Civil War, the role of Britons in that fight or that Irish fighters had fought on both sides of the conflict.
Marlene and the organisers kindly gave Rob and I a commemorative mug to thank us for our involvement. Amazingly, given that we had only met Marlene once before, it turned out that she had lived in my home town of Middlesbrough and knew my half-brother. It is indeed a small world.
Despite threats of showers, it turned nice in the end and was a boiling hot afternoon - and I’m afraid my thinning locks did nothing to save my emerging pate from a good roasting. Just what I needed before going off on holiday!

2nd July 2008 : The Sunrunner, Hitchin

2008-08-31T19:37:00.000+01:00

Thanks to our good pals Alan and Sue Hewson, na-mara played a two hour set at the Sunrunner pub in Hitchin town centre. On a balmy night, the pub was packed inside and three deep outside. Alan and Sue provided the p.a. and many of our friends form the Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club came along to support us – which was really nice and gave us a wonderful lift. There were also some friends from my workplace who live in Hitchin, some people that I had met at a party a few weeks before who seemed interested in hearing us and had made the journey to Hitchin to do so and our very good friend Robert Taylor travelled up from St Albans.

Two hours worth of stuff is pretty demanding on the old brain cells but, again, allowed us to try out some new material . Rob has been working on a couple of Greek tunes which are real toe-tappers (and a sod to play). So, they had an outing. Thanks to Alan and Sue for an excellent job on the p.a. and, as they say, a good night was had by all. We hoped we might follow the gig up with a slot at the Hitchin Rhythms of the World festival but somehow, it never came to pass.

Late June - gorra lorra work on

2008-08-31T15:31:00.002+01:00

Late June saw Rob and I doing a range of things. I'm working on a number of tunes and songs from the fabulous Canadian band Le Vent du Nord - if you haven't heard them, you are missing a treat. Take a look on the ubiquitous You Tube.

We have also been doing some recording with Tam Lin ahead of their and our trip down to the Broadstairs Folk Week in August. We have put together four more tracks to add to the four we have recorded with Tam Lin before and Alan has put these either side of some earlier recordings done with the now sadly missed Paul Gunningham, to create an album called The Bridge. Some of the output can be heard on the Tam Lin myspace site but will be available to buy by the time we get to Broadstairs.

I hit the CD shops in Paris in a lull on a recent work-based visit. It is increasingly difficult to keep track of all the material I have now assembled and which is my essential research materials - so some wet winter Sunday will need to be given over to sorting it all out and getting greater clarity on what my work priorities on it might be in the future. But for now Le Vent du Nord, and some work on a variety of new song ideas will keep me busy! Watch this space in the Autumn.

Finally, Rob and I are preparing to do some work with the da capo foundation on some music learning materials for toddlers. I have contributed some words to this project before, but now Rob and I are going to play some of the tunes planned for the kids. From what we know so far, this project will be great fun.

11th June 2008: Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club

2008-08-31T15:16:00.002+01:00

A return to our old friends' Alan and Sue Hewson's excellent Baldock and Letchworth Club to support the excellent Vikki Swan and Johnny Dyer who were over from their Essex (?) base.

We started the evening off with some material that was new to Baldock which was very well received. We are making some real friends there now.

Vikki is of Swedish extraction and played a variety of instruments, including the nickelharper. Rob, polylinguist that he is, had some banter with her in Swedish and the audience was treated to some great ballads and some wonderful Scandinavian tunes. This was very opportune really given that I was off to Stockholm for the first time ever, early the next morning. In this regard, as per usual, I managed to find a few minutes in a busy work schedule to try and get into a record shop and check out more of this fabulous music. Sadly, the local information I was given was poor in that, having gone up five escalators in a major Department Store, found only workmen at work, refurbishing the floor and the music department was shut. By which time it was necessary to dash to the main station and get back out to the airport - sweaty and unsatisfied. But, so wonderful was the music we had heard from Vikki and Johnny, that I intend to pursue more bands and artist to hear more.

5th June 2008: Charity gig with a difference

2008-08-31T15:10:00.004+01:00

For the fifth or sixth time, I played a role in the famous Party Near the Park event. This is an annual event raising money for Land Aid - the charity supporting homeless causes in the UK and developmental work in land in Africa. A semi-pro jazz-rock band supports a dozen or so acts drawn from well known figures in the property industry. Rehearsals are extensive - this is more than rock karaoke given that 1300 attend - and the night is fantastic because everyone at the sit down dinner in Old Bishopsgate fish market wants you to do well.

In the past I have been Tom Jones, Love Affair, Liam Gallagher - this time it was Otis Redding 'Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay'. Just a wee bit away from my usual, but fantastic fun being dressed up like a reject from 1970s Miami Vice. As ever, the evening was great fun, made more so given that, for the first time, my wife was able to attend.

A new baby - June 2008

2008-08-31T15:03:00.003+01:00

Rob returned home from a family holiday in Spain with a very big smile on his face - a new addition to the family - the na-mara family! Whilst in Madrid, a city that he knows well and where he has many friends, Rob had been tempted into buying a bandourria - a ten stringed (I think) cousin to the mandolin, that is about five inches deep. It is a very sweet sound and something that we hope to build into our act in the coming weeks and months. The stringing seems very cleverly efficient but will require Rob to think in a different way when playing.

I am the indirect beneficiary of this since, space constraints at home have meant one in - one out chez Roberto. As such, my Irish Bouzouki has come home - giving me the chance to start learning it again. (Add that to the fifty things I would to be spending time on currently.)

17th May 2008 - Party Time

2008-08-31T14:59:00.005+01:00

Up early after the late night trip home from Cambridge and, for me at least, a quick turn around to visit family in the north. After an afternoon catching up with family, it was party time for my sister-in law's birthday. Playing with my brother and his friends it was boozy rock and roll into the wee hours and then mu brother and I ducked off into another room and did an impromptu folk session - great fun. Another late night and another early drive all the way back to St. Albans.

16th May 2008: Cambridge Folk Club

2008-08-31T14:49:00.003+01:00

Once again we had been asked to do a showcase set at the Cambridge Folk Club - always a pleasure and this was no exception. The club is starting to know is and our music better now and so we had a couple of requests we were asked to play. We also took the opportunity to try out some new material. We were extremely happy with what we did and got some excellent feedback from the modest but enthusiastic audience.

The welcome was as friendly as ever, and we began the evening. We were then followed by Samantha Marais who was described in the programme as having a voice that was 'lighter than a Malteser in a flotation tank'. Ethereal indeed and she is clearly going places, destined for an outing at Glastonbury this year! We wish her all the very best.

The evening was concluded by local club favourite Robert Brown. We had seen Robert before at the Cambridge club and looked forward to seeing him again. He has a terrific voice and a great guitar player - so, it is puzzling as to why he isn't better known than he is. He did a terrific set and included some traditional material in his set of self-penned songs and occasional covers. He was playing with a similarly talented guitarist and gave a great set.

26th April 2008 - Viva La Republica event, central London

2008-05-05T17:02:00.003+01:00

What a night!

This was an amazing evening in a whole host of ways. The Yaa Asantewaa Arts and Community Centre in London hosted a splendid evening of poetry, dance, film and music to celebrate the Spanish Republic, 1932-1939. It brought together the extended families of the Basque children, evacuated from Bilbao in 1937, and members of the International Brigade who had fought fascism at that time, and their friends and families.

We arrived early as the organisers were still setting up. We secured a small room out the back, to tune up, etc. However, before the hubbub really began, we had the chance and honour to met with Jack Jones, the former trade union leader, and an International Brigader himself and had been wounded in the Spanish Civil War. Even at 95, there was no doubting this man's conviction and intellect. It was highlight of the evening to speak with him.

The evening began with the choir from the Spanish School in London. Then there was some superb dancing by an Asturian dance troupe based in London - with a bagpipe player of astonishing dexterity - and what a sweet sound the gaitas has. Jim Jump, Herminio Martinez and others gave some excellent readings of poetry and manged well to calm an audience of c300-350. There was a very interesting film shown on the rise of fascism and the fight against fascism in Europe through the 1930s - to help set the Spanish Civil War in its historical context.

Finally we went on to play. We naturally concentrated on a mainly Spanish related set. So, we did some dance tunes and Anada Pa Julia. We sang The Bite, which went down very well. Sadly, Jack Jones had left by this time - sad because he had actually known the man to whom the song is dedicated, George Wheeler.

We sang Ron Angel's Chemical Workers' Song as an expression of the industrial link that the North East of England had had with the International Brigade.

Finally, we finished the evening with Solo Por Tres Meses. I explained that theirs was a unique audience for this song in that, in most places we perform it, it is to people who don't know the story. However, it is this audience's story and a fair number of the children that had been on the boat to Southampton were in the audience. In this sense, it was a song that we hoped would meet their approval. I am pleased to say that it did and we were applauded to the rafters at the end and asked to do an encore. This was particularly pleasing for Rob -for whom this is a very important group of people. Many friends of his parents were there alongside many friends from the world of music.

Thankfully, the new pristine copies of the new CD, with Solo Por Tres Meses had arrived in time, and we sold a lot of copies afterwards - proceeds going to the Basque Children's committee of course.

A third night home in a week; dodging double-decker buses on their last run home on a Saturday night - no wonder I sat and had a quieting bottle of beer once the car was parked up and the kit bought inside.

Attention is now turned to some upcoming Tam Lin gigs and a return to Cambridge for us - before the Broadstairs festival.

More stocks of the CD will be arriving soon and we very much feel we are taking na-mara on to the next level. This is something we are both very excited about.

24th April 2008 - Bishop Stortford, new CD

2008-05-05T16:48:00.003+01:00

Our second of three gigs in a single week! Heady stuff for those of us with day jobs as well.

This was our chance to return to fellow namesake's Jon McNamara's club. The Bishop Stortford club is a club with real character and characters, and Jon most certainly fits that bill! After our first visit to the club, Jon had been content to book us for a full slot - some thing we are always keen to do. There is something about getting the chance to settle into a performance and deliver to the best of one's ability. This date had arisen as a result of Jon having to reschedule his Spring programme, and we were happy to oblige for him!

The other really exciting news for the week was that our new 4-track EP CD had arrived from Rightback Records. Craig and the team had done a fantastic production job and the record looked excellent. Sadly, the first batch was missing the last 4 seconds of the last track. Distraught, Craig had rushed in a new order to the factory. However, so keen were some of those attending at Bishop Stortford to get hold of 'Only For Three Months' that they were happy to put up with this glitch!

Everywhere we go now, the audiences are falling in love with Solo Por Tres Meses. The superb tune from Javier Tejedor gives the words real pathos, and the tragedy of the story tells itself. At the end of the evening, we had the kindest of words and compliments from a number of people in the audience. It is hard to convey how important such feedback is - to help one through the hard work of turning raw materials into something that moves and excites audiences.

Still, we have our sternest test of the new song, and our other Spanish material on Saturday when we play at the Viva La Republica day in London

22nd April 2008 - St Neots

2008-05-05T16:39:00.003+01:00

Owing to a late call off by a booked artist, the organisers at St Neots had asked if we would fill in and do a 40 minute showcase slot. This gave us the chance to again share the evening with Paul Cherrington and Pamela Ward, who had supported us wonderfully at Baldock the previous month.

It was lovely to hear them again and, with a bit more time available to them, they did an excellent and extended set bringing a lot more of Pamela's bluesy side to the fore. Excellent guitar work from Paul, as always.

We did an extended set with some new material. This included The Bite and some Asturian dance music, in preparation for our Basque celebration event planned for the end of the week.
It is always gratifying to hear people telling each other on the way out(rather than us) that they had had a splendid evening.

We managed to have a longer chat with organiser Roger than we had managed before, which was very pleasant. We are hopeful of doing more with the St Neots club - we have certainly enjoyed being there and, I am pleased to say, they seem to have enjoyed having us there.

8th April 2008 - St Neots

2008-05-05T13:44:00.002+01:00

A long awaited return to St Neots Folk Club for us. Indeed, as it turned out, this was to be the first of two visits in quick succession.

We concentrated on letting Roger and Patti and the regulars at the club hear how our repetoire had changed since we were last with them. We did Three Bonny Ships, Solo Poor Tres Meses and Anada Pa Julia, and they were all very well received.

The main act was the American singer Debra Cowan, accompanied by the amazing Pete Smith on guitar - now that's what I call Taylor guitars! Hamish Currie was also there, getting a feel for the place ahead of his full spot there a few weeks later.

A very pleasant evening which set up our return visit very nicely.

19th March 2008, Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club

2008-03-24T13:00:00.002Z

Thanks to the continuing support of Alan and Sue Hewson, we made a very pleasant and welcome return to the Mad Nanny! Folk Club at the Orange Tree in Baldock for a full spot. We had a modest but very supportive turnout including a number of our friends from St Albans and nearby. So, it was a nice cosy atmosphere - which the excellent Orange Tree bar helps to generate.

It was nice to again get the chance to play two forty minute slots - we find it really helps in getting us 'into the groove'. So we had chance to introduce some more material into the full set - including Solo Por Tres Meses, the Flower of Magherally and a revamped version of Sr martin D'Auray - which I am pleased to say some of the club's regulars had actually visited in Brittany.

It was also a good chance for us to try and be a bit more expansive in describing the songs. Rob and I concluded some time ago that the music is developing well and it is being well received by the audience but, somehow, we weren't connecting with the audience on a personal basis as much as we could. Now, neither of us would ever be stand up comics and patter-merchants but both of us make presentations and work extensively with people in our day jobs, so we should be able to make the spaces between the songs and tunes as engaging as the music itself. So, we said a good deal more about the songs and tunes this time and felt it made for a much more rounded performance - and the feedback seemed to concur. Alan and Sue were very complimentary afterwards and that means a lot to us.

We were supported by an excellent duo from the St Neots club, Paul Cherrington & Pamela Ward who write some very touching songs and deliver them very elegantly - good singing and lovely guitar support. We hope to see them again at St Neots and they said they would make contact for us with Mike Blair at the Bedford Folk Club - a venue we would like to play.

The excellent Malcolm Hobbs also did a brief set. we both love Malcolm's choice of material and his voice. He is also so supportive and friendly towards us - much appreciated.

As we turn to the Easter break, we will focus on bringing on some more material. We have been asked by Baldock and Letchworth to do a support on June 11th, which should be a good catalyst for bringing some new material that is currently 'simmering under' into the repetoire. We have another 3 or 4 French songs close to bringing forward.

Other than that we are joining Alan and Sue, as a Tam Lin line up at the memorial festival for the late Paul Gunningham - so we will be rehearsing further for that in the coming week. I am pleased to report that tickets for the festival are going well.

2nd March 2008, Readifolk

2008-03-04T19:12:00.002Z

A very nice return to the excellent Readifolk Club in The Gardener's Arms in Reading. Rob and I had very much enjoyed our two visits to Readifolk and were happy to return and do a support slot. This allowed us to again play our new composition, 'Solo Por Tres Meses' and we also introduced The Flower of Magherally into the repetoire for the first time. Some excellent floor singers and a couple of good songs from MC Malcolm provided the rest of the support for the evening with Ceri Rhys Matthews and Christine Cooper providing the main act for the evening. Two really friendly people playing excellent Welsh tunes on both flute, bagpipes and fiddle, with some nice songs as well. It was both a pleasure and an education to be in the audience for the evening.

The trip to Reading allowed us to see our great friends Joe and Mandy again - Joe is only a whisker away from being our official photographer, alongside Rob's partner. Sadly, neither of them can put me any more hair on this balding pate of mine. Ho hum.

Next stop for us is Baldock and Letchworth later this month where we are doing a full spot later this month. The repetoire is continuing to build and strengthen and, with a welcoming club like Alan and Sue Hewson run, it couldn't be better to try some new material out. We will also be taking a contingent of friends from St Albans. So, it should be a good night.

22nd February - Return to Cambridge

2008-02-26T21:04:00.003Z

After a period of rehearsal and holidays, it was good to be back on the road as na-mara. Although we have a support slot coming up in Cambridge in the not too distant future, we took no persuading to accept the invitation to come and join the regular singers night at the Cambridge Folk Club. We are always very well received and looked after there -so the hours trip is always made very worthwhile.

As we have come to expect at Cambridge, there was a full night of highly talented performers (Andrew Noyes from Coupe de Gras, Cruel Folk, the Ooze Brothers, The Free Range Chickens and many more) and I'm pleased to report that we acquitted ourselves well and the first public outing of our new song Solo Por Tres Meses was very warmly and sympathetically received.

Things will start to pick up gig-wise. We are at Reading Folk Club next Sunday - which will be a welcome return to another very friendly club. The full details of future na-mara bookings are on our My Space site at www.myspace.com/namaramusic

But we also remain very active with our great friends in Tam Lin. Barn dances, a forthcoming folk club booking in Birmingham and even a 'ho-down' last weekend are keeping the callouses hard on the fingers and the eye-lids heavy in the morning. All great fun.

In the studio, January 20th

2008-02-26T20:51:00.003Z

Bookings-wise, January is relatively quiet and Rob and I have been concentrating on moving some new material forwards. Our good friend Bob Kidby, who we have known for many years, kindly offered to act as recording technician for the day - rather than be the superb jazz guitarist he is - and record some of our new material. We also asked our friend Tony Garritty to come and help us out on a few tracks with the bodhran. Many thanks to Bob and Tony for al they did to help us; we are over the moon with the output.

The plan is to take the material from what was a very productive and fun day with Bob and Tony and, with some other material recorded last summer in St Albans, put together a small promotional EP which we can send to clubs and give to friends. Our good friends at Rightback Records are going to do the artwork. The material is also being put on our myspace site at www.myspace.com/namaramusic for those who would like an immediate listen.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

2007-12-14T20:28:00.001Z

As Christmas begins to hove in view, Rob and I have been busy on a number of different projects. As some of you may know, Rob and I are now enjoying playing with Alan and Sue Hewson's band Tam Lin ,where we both play social functions and we are beginning to get a repertoire together to play various folk clubs. We played our first folk club gig earlier this week supporting the great Andy Irvine at Baldock and Letchworth.

However, na-mara has also been very busy in its own right. We are just putting our dairy together for 2008 and are looking to build on what we feel has been a very exciting 2007. We are starting to move from support slots to full slots at some clubs which is a mightily heartening sign that our brand of (hopefully) thoughtful music is being appreciated by a number of club organisers. We have some exciting news to give on bookings but..........I want to see it writing or on a poster first before risking all and blurting it out here ( - although I'm peeing myself with excitement about it.)
On the creative side, we've had a very stimulating time. Roberto and I have written a song in honour and memory of Roberto's father who was evacuated from Bilbao in 1937 as the city was surrounded and blockaded by Franco's fascists. The song is called 'Solo Por Tres Meses' ('Only for Three Months') which was what the parents said to their children as they placed them on board the Habana sailing to Southampton. After much prevarication by a British Government keen to apease the burgeoning fascist powers in Europe, pressure from British socialists following the criminal carpet bombing of Guernica by the German Condor Legion led to action finally being taken to rescue the children of Bilbao.

For those wanting more information on this tragic story, we refer them to Adrian Bell’s book “Only for Three Months”. We have taken the tune from the (fabulous) northern Spanish band Tejedor - many thanks to Xavier Tejedor for his permission to use the tune ! We have sent a copy of the song to the Basque Children's Committee - a charitable organisation and social network - which helps keep the original refugees and their descendants together and with which Roberto keeps in close contact. It is a moving tale and a moving song, and we have been asked to play for the Basque Children, at their forthcoming fiesta in London in April next year. There was also a fleeting chance that the song might be picked up by a Spanish film director who is making a documentary on the whole moving story for Channel 6 in Spain. In the end, the song was too late and rather different from the more classically oriented sound score for the film -but, I'm pleased to say we received many kind words from him about the song. Many thanks are owing to our great friend Andy Garretty for giving up an entire Sunday afternoon to work with us on making a good copy of the song.

In due course we will probably place the song on our new MySpace site (www.myspace.com/namaramusic) However, there is still a little work to do on it yet.

Thanks to Ross Scrivener

2007-10-28T11:01:00.001Z

Just a brief note to thank Ross Scrivener of the Barton Le Clay Folk Club for sending us through some of the excellent video material taken from their all day charity folk event held in Barton in late June this year. Ross and his friends at Barton had obviously lavished a great deal of care and attention on making a nice video product from the day, and it is something that Rob and I are very grateful to receive. Ross has also been very happy to let us put this material onto our MySpace site - and I have now given it to Craig at Rightback Records for putting on the site. Again, many thanks Ross - and all best wishes to Barton.

Redbourn Folk Club, 11th October

2007-10-28T10:47:00.000Z

Our final current booking of this short 'season' was to support Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher, at the Redbourn Folk Club.

Redbourn is a very friendly club run by Jan Strapp who plays hammer dulcimer beautifully. We had been along to the club in our early, more nervous days, and had been very encouraged and pleased to be invited back to do this support role. Thankfully, having had a couple of good outings recently, and concentrating on a relatively fixed set for a while, we felt much more confident and strong this time around, and I think, did a very good set. The evidence for this is that Jan has intimated getting us back for a full spot at the club in 2008, which is really gratifying and indicates to us the progress we are making - so, thanks to Jan for that.

We also had the chance to meet Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher. I confess I didn't know their music before but will listen out for them from now on. Excellent songs, modern and traditional, voice (and what a voice Dave has!) and squeeze boxes of various sorts - including an electric concertina that can do anything and a harmonium. Bill exhibits a very dry humour and gruff exterior when on stage but is, as is obvious to all really, a very friendly bloke indeed, as is Dave.

We were accompanied by our friend Robert who was able to give us a bit of a critical review, which is what we like to have. And, of course, the benefit of Redbourn for us is that it is 10 minutes and home.

Baldock and Letchworth, 3rd October 2007

2007-10-28T10:36:00.000Z

This was the first of two support slots in quick succession. Here, with our good friends at the Baldock and Letchworth Club (which given our links to Alan and Sue Hewson of Tam Lin and Millrace) feels increasingly like a home club for us, we were supporting the Seattle-based pairing of Pint and Dale. Rob's oldest son came along to give us moral support, and help carry the increasing number of instruments we seem to be playing these days.

The format at B&L is that the support act starts the evening - which is nice because it means you can relax and really enjoy the main act and maybe even have drink after performing.

Pint and Dale play a great array of mainly nautically themed music. Pint is a great guitarist, sporting a Thompson-esque beret, Dale plays an array of instruments, including the Hurdy Gurdy. In their earlier days, they used to do French music, clearly something close to our heart - but it seems that has dropped out of their repertoire. But they did a great session and were very friendly people to meet.

Planning and playing, late September, early October 2007

2007-10-28T10:25:00.001Z

We have a couple of important support gigs to do, so not surprisingly Rob and I are rehearsing a lot at the moment. The set went very well in Cambridge and, for the moment, we are going to stick to that and then, when back from holidays and business commitments in late October, then move on to the next stage in development. We are also doing quite a bit with Tam Lin - so, we are certainly very busy.

We also took the chance to meet up with Craig from our record company Rightback Records, and plan the next phase of work we might do with them. This was the first time I had met Craig, but Rob knows him very well. We had an excellent meeting in a great pub near London Bridge station and Craig introduced us to the work that he had been doing for us on MySpace. I have now followed up on this and, with the held of a friends teenage daughter, I have been introduced to the universe that is MySpace - oh, my God! What a fantastic resource. In 30 minutes, Becky helped me understand how one builds material on the site. About 4 hours later, I surfaced after pursuing some fantastic Asturian and Galician bands I had never heard of. I even sent an e-mail to Evelyne Girardon to try and make a first contact with a true heroine of mine. This is an amazing technology for exploring music. Get on there, check us out; check our 'friends' links out. Between us, over the coming months, Rightback and ourselves aim to build a much richer site, with videos etc. Old dog - new tricks, pah!

Laxfield Festival of Tolerance, 22nd September 2007

2007-10-28T09:54:00.000Z

Not long after the exhilaration of playing at Cambridge, we had an early morning, up and at 'em trip back eastwards to Suffolk - the furthest east we've played - to the small and very beautiful village of Laxfield.

Some 450 years ago, a Protestant preacher was martyred in Laxfield and, as the name suggests, this event is there to promote religious and philosophical tolerance - which seems the right thing for us to be supporting. Naturally, it also has a Tudor flavour.

Na-mara had been recommended to the organisers to play the festival by an old friend of ours, Bob Kidby of the excellent London-based jazz combo Clarence and the Regents. We had done some charity work with them in London in recent years and we know the band well. So, we set off to have lunch with Bob and the rest of the band, after meeting up with our great friend Tony Garrity, Suffolk's shyest bodhran player. We were to play a couple of 40 minute slots in the afternoon in the acoustic tent, as the crowds were milling through and around, to be followed by a thirty minute slot on the main stage in the big tent before Clarence and the Regents began.

The event, skilfully put together by Simon Gallo - an events organiser based in Laxfield and doing probably a thankless task, gratis -was an excellent day out. The weather was great. Our afternoon sessions were, in a way, live rehearsal. People passed by, listened for a few numbers, took the kids for an ice-cream, wandered on; that sort of thing. Very nice; no pressure - adn it showed, we did a nice couple of sets. We interspersed with a professional band of Tudor musicians, the delightful Passo mezzo - playing weird and wonderful Tudor instruments, in Tudor costume, to very great effect! My coat might have looked as though it had been around from Tudor times, but I can confirm it was modern really.

We then left Laxfield after the afternoon session for a bit of a rest before the evening performance - we are getting on a bit now you know.

When we returned to set up for the main stage, we found that the organisers had put an itinerary together of local young adults rock bands - to get the evening really going. So, picture two folkies of a certain age, watching with some alarm at the prospect of following some excellent young rock bands pounding away to a mosh pit full of their friends yelling and shouting. "Hmm, I bet this lot like a sea shanty or two" was not a thought that came to mind. Thankfully, when it came our turn to go on, there was a ten minute break while the roadies set up the equipment for Clarence and the Regents. In that time, the youngsters drifted off to the darker corners of the village to do what youngsters have done at village fairs for centuries (if folk songs are to be believed!), and a new audience filtered into the main tent. However, Rob and I decided that this was still not the place for slow and tearful ballads; rather, we should rip it up a bit with some fast Asturian tunes and some of our faster songs...and it worked well. We even had bits of the audience out dancing and jigging around. It all went down very well. Simon and Bob were really happy with the set and we got some excellent feedback from Tony - who, in the end, we couldn't persuade to come and join us.

So, we went and had a complementary burger - we live the high life you know - and watched the superb Sally from Clarence and Regents get the crowd going and then we turned for the long journey home. What a great day - we made a lot of new friends, saw some old friends and had a wonderful day out - I can't think of a better reason to do this stuff, can you?

All aboard for the 2007-2008 season, A showcase session at Cambridge FOlk Club

2007-09-15T16:35:00.000+01:00

Rob and I have been back from holidays for a few weeks and getting back up to speed again. The early rehearsals revealed the benefits of a restful holiday and we had some lovely sessions. Occasionally, like pre-season friendlies for football teams, we also had a couple of clumsy sessions. But, we had our first outing since returning last night - a showcase session at Cambridge Folk Club. The feedback on our contribution to a typically varied and telanted Cambridge evening, was very good indeed. Ably looked after by Doc Roscoe, who is such a good sound technician, we were sandwiched in between George Breakfast, a very talented singer-songwriter obviously very well known and liked by the club members, and Grandpa George's Jumping Fleas, a very entertaining four-piece ukelele band.

We decided that we would focus on French songs and Asturian tunes, and they went down really well. This meant that we could introduce some new material St Martin D'Auray - from the singing of Marc Robine - When I Took My Horse to Water - from the singing of Gabriel Yacoub. We also played our new song, The Bite, about the British volunteers in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Later comments from audience members picked all of these out as highlights which is immensely gratifying. Again, the Cambridge Folk Club maintained its reputation in our eyes for quality music and a great welcome.

Post gig curry was then sought but our searches proved that, when searching a good Tarka Dall at close on midnight, if a restaurant is open, go there. Both of us thought we knew where a curry house was on the way home but then couldn't find it. A kindly waiter at a Baldock curry house couldn't persuade his chef to rustle something up - so, it was a slice of toast and marmite, then bed. Despite having a bladder like a camel, carrying two pints of Newcastle Brown all the way home made for a stressful last few miles.

The Cambridge evening and response has really encouraged both of us that we are going in the right direction - and we have had a verbal offer of a support slot in 2008 - and this has really energised us. Both of us have been working different new projects forward today.

17th July 2007 St Neots Folk Club

2007-07-19T23:29:00.000+01:00

As Rob noted on the way home, the na-mara 'spring tour' had come to a close (I don't think the tour T-shirts can take any more venues, and the roadies are getting a bit tired. The Pan Technicon needs to go in for a service anyway.) So, we are taking a well earned rest for a few weeks - which will give us both chance to recharge batteries (and work up some new stuff).

St Neots was a very nice place to end up at. We liked playing at St Neots very much indeed. Patti and Roger who ran the evening were extremely welcoming. The venue has I think been restored from a more dubious glory earlier in the year - I think the pub in which the club operates had been closed down earlier in the year following a drugs bust, but had reopened and been cleaned up and, indeed, is in for further refurbishment later this year.

We had a night of 20 minute slots for around half a dozen acts. This gave everyone time to showcase what they could do and, without any doubt, there is a lot of talent going to that particular club. Ross, from Barton Le Clay, with friends Malcolm and Derek did some excellent sea-shanties and one of Ross' songs really got everyone going. Great to see three of the new friends we are making in Herts and Beds performing together. We have seen them all perform solo before, but this was great to see them as a unit.

Being on the M1 the club gets occasional visitors who are travelling with work and (sorry didn't get his name - but it wasn't Brian - a "traveller in plastics, not rubber") there was a very fine and funny mandolin player doing just that. We kicked off the second half and I think did 20 minutes of good stuff - the audience were very appreciative at least.

The evening was finished off by a very fine musical duo called Pillowfish, (cittern and violin/viola) who had driven down from York to perform that evening. We would like to wish them every fortune in getting gigs.

Rob tells me that we are to be invited back to do a further slot at the club later in the year and, as our most northerly outpost to date, we would be very pleased to do so.

So, Rob and I have a number of slots already pencilled in for the Autumn and when we are back form holidays and the like we will sit down and work out what else we would like to try and do in 2007. We are certainly building up a new repertoire with the French and Spanish material and 2008 might be time to go back into the studio and record some of it.

12th July 2007, Bishops Stortford Folk Club

2007-07-19T23:22:00.000+01:00

WE have been contiuing to entertain with Tam Lin at various events around Hertfordshire, but on the 12th we made our first trip to Bishops Stortford Folk Club. Friends of friends we had met at our Welwyn gig earlier in the year had suggested that we get in touch with my namesake, the redoutable Jon McNamara, over at Bishops Stortford, about coming and doing a spot.

After a very entertaining exchange of e-mails, I got to meet the very entertaining Mr McNamara at last. The club is in the vestry of one of the towns churches, and a very nice venue it was -with a very nice bar too. The club offered a mix of music hall songs from Jon, some really excellent penny whistle playing, singers young and old, and some poetry. A very pleasant evening with people who enjoy good music and have a wicke sense of humour.

In flight entertainment there and back was my newly acquired Tejedor album, one directed by Phil Cunningham who plays on the album. Believe me, seek this band out - they are excellent

29th June 2007 - Cambridge Folk Club

2007-07-19T23:00:00.001+01:00

A really busy weekend of music. Rob and I have been doing a lot of work with Tam Lin recently, entertaining at barn dnaces and the like. So, Thursday was a rehearsal and Saturday was a ceilidh. But on the Friday, we were given a huge honour, namely, to finish the evening at the Cambridge Folk Club.

I think as I have said elsewhere in this blog, Cambridge is a really excellent club. Extremely welcoming, with great floor acts and all done with a lovely sense of humour. Again, we were assisted right royally by the legendary Doc Houston who organised the p.a. very well for us and, being cheeky and seeing her in the club, I put in a request for Karen Johnson to sing Scribbled in Chalk by Karine Polwart - which she did, plus a Clive Gregson song as well. Karen is a great singer and it was a thril to hear her perform again. However, there were also some wonderful guitarists playing that night as well. So, to be asked to finish the night off was a buzz and a half.

I think we acquitted ourselves very well. It took us a couple of numbers to get into our stride and then we were rocking by the end. We continue to weave new material into the repetoire - including the Danza Prima from Tejedor - but, by and large, we stayed with material that we have been playing a lot recently because we wanted Cambridge to hear us doing what we do well.

We next play Cambridge on the 14th September when we are one of the featured bands there. It will be a great pleasure to return. However, next time, I will take a bottle opener with me. We don't dirnk when we play, but whoever isn't driving does when we're finished. Playing last rather puts the kibosh on that - so, in those circumstances, when I am passenger I usually take a couple of bottles of Innes and Gunn (if you haven't tried it, you must..except leave some for me..) with me. So, there I am, settling back into Rob's car for the return journey, slavvering like one of Pavlov's dogs at the thought of a nice drop - only to find that I'd left the bottle opener at home. Needless to say, necessity was the mother of invention and eventually, after ten minutes wrestling, the top flew off and the prize was mine! Somehow, the second was much easier to open, and (dear reader) the journey home simply flew by.

23rd June 2007: Barton Le Clay

2007-07-19T21:02:00.000+01:00

We had our very good friends over from Reading this weekend. The two wives and two daughters took themselves off to Hyde Park to see Crowded House whilst the two husbands and sons joined Rob and went to Barton Le Clay - which is where the real action was!

Ross was raising money for a new village hall in Barton and had asked a lot of his friends along to do a session.

Joe and Alex, our friends from Reading agreed to come along - Joe is rapidly becoming our official photographer and he was taking arty shots throughout the 30 minute slot. The two boys seemed rather bemused by the whole proceedings but, with both of them being budding guitarists were very content to watch closely. We gave The Bite another run out.

It was good to see a lot of familiar faces supporting Ross. John Breeze did his usual excellent sessions - but then it was time for us to get the boys home. As we have remarked in previous blog entries, we don't have a great deal of luck on the motorways after gigs. This was the grandaddy of them all. We left Barton around 8.45pm and were veritably flying along the M1 until we ran into road works which, later turned into them closing the M1. So we had 'to make our own entertainment' for two hours as, with everyone else, we crept towards the remaining exit. We talked about every subject under the sun - in particular the Spanish Civil War, we told jokes and, thankfully(?), the two boys had plenty of playground jokes to contribute. But the biggest laugh was watching Rob turn puce as he began to regret the couple of pints of Guinness he'd had just before leaving. Eventually we made it through the jam and, with a pained expression, Rob dutifully ended up watering a St Albans rugby pitch - I don't think either of us will be doing any more diving over the try line in that vicinity. We got home to find wives and daughters already back from London after being mightily p***ed on by the rain - but, certainly for my wife at least, any hardship is worth it for Crowded House.

Wandering Windward 17th June 2007

2007-07-19T20:48:00.000+01:00

Played John Breeze's Wandering Winward club tonight. Great to see it back at the Rose and Crown - even better when the smoking ban comes in!

John kindly gave us a 40 minute set and we took the chance to try out our new song called 'The Bite' for the first time. Rob's partner Jane has helped us think about the arrangement for the song and her expert critical ear has given us some great guidance as to how to build the atmosphere in a song. It creates complexity but it adds a huge amount of impact. Instead of me belting it out from start to finish, we now start with a couple of 'verses' played solo by Rob on classical guitar. As a former classical guitar professional, this gives Rob a great chance to shine and it really sets the atmosphere. I then sing the first two verses unaccompanied, and we come together on the chorus. It really seemed to grab the audience's attention and the song was well received.

As always John did a very lively set and there were a number of very good spots done. Again with it being St Albans, we were given great support by our friends. They turned out in numbers on a Sunday night to support us. I might come from Middlesbrough - I might even support Middlesbrough, but it is clear my home is now in St Albans! Thank you to all our friends for tonight's and your continuing support!

At the event, we were recruited by Ross from the Barton Le Clay club to play for him at a fund raising event the following Saturday. Very pleased to help Ross - one of life's "good guys"!

Some new musical directions, June 2007

2007-06-16T09:51:00.000+01:00

Given Rob's background, with his parents having been evacuated from the Bilbao area in 1937 as the city was increasingly under threat from Rebel troops, he is very interested in the Spanish Civil War and the evacuation of the Basque children.

With a new tune that Rob has composed, I have written a song called 'The Bite' dedicated to a man called George Wheeler who fought with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. The song takes its name from the small piece of wood that some soldiers used to place in their mouths before going into battle, as something they could bite on to help contorl the terror when fighting. The Guardian did a series of excellent interviews with Spanish Civil War veterans in 2001 and, amongst many amazing tales, the interview with Mr Wheeler is particuarly remarkable.

On a recent business trip to Madrid, I took the opportunity to go shopping for some Galician and Asturian music. I had seen the name of a few bands in folkie magasines and thought I would treat myself. I have been bowled over by how good the material of bands like Tejedor is. (Go and research this material - you will not be disappointed.)

Consequently, and in the desire to write something to, in some way, honour the memory of Rob's parents' experiences, I have taken one of the really beatiful tunes I found on one of the albums I brought back, to use as a base for a song called 'Solo Por Tres Meses' - (Only for three months) which is what the parents told their children when persuading them to leave Bilbao for Southampton. I am using a DADGAD tuning to play the accompaniment and, once I have wrestled a couple of remaining lyrics to the ground, I would hope to introduce it to the repetoire.

So, with some dances and a couple of songs, we are adding a Spanish as well as a French flavour to the mix. I'll report on responses later - but if Danza Prima is any guide - they are going to like it.

13th May 2007 St Albans Folk Club, Rose and Crown

2007-06-16T09:44:00.000+01:00

Like a football team playing on home ground, we were buoyed up by playing in our home town, having a little bit of local press coverage and being cheered along by a healthy crop of our mates. Just as well, because we were both absolutely shattered after the fun and the late night up in Piddling the night before. But we put together a couple of good 40 minute sets and club organiser Alison MacDonald and her friends did some excellent tunes and songs to round off a great weekend for us.

Simply through tiredness, we made a couple of small mistakes which we noticed more than anyone else - but everyone was very complimentary at the end - and we made a lot of new friends in the town.

We return to the Rose and Crown on Sunday 17th of June to play at its other folk club - the Wandering Windward club.

Investing in the Future

2007-06-16T09:18:00.000+01:00

Well, we've both gone and done it! Rob and I have both invested in more instruments. Non musicians are often puzzled why someone might want two guitars or two mandolins - but musicians know why - the different textures to the sound, etc. (I have a lawyer friend who has guitars as his pension fund - he has over 80 and a very understanding wife!)

Rob and I went down to Hobgoblin Music in central London to check out a new Fylde Mandola - to replace my rather less sturdy Ashbury Bouzouki he has been playing recently - which has the potential to play the odd Sproing Flat in the middle of a sensitive tune (more of which later).

After discovering a dangerous hairline crack on getting it home in the first Mandola he bought, Hobgoblin were happy to replace it, and Rob has been playing the new one with a Cheshire Cat grin, ever since. A nice bit of kit, matey!

As part of our desire to maintain a higher tempo when playing, we have also been looking at Drop D and DADGAD tunings for me, as a guitar accompaniment. Given that we didn't want to be tuning and retuning instruments, I started to think about getting a new guitar to keep in DADGAD or Drop D tuning for gigs. A lot of internet searches later and, one recent Saturday, I headed up to the really excellent Coda Music shop in Stevenage to look at some guitars. I had spotted a second hand Lowden there at a decent (if more than I set out to pay) price. Whilst there, I played a few other guitars but had already fallen for the Lowden. Then, because the other second hand Lowden that Coda had advertised on their web site was actually in their Luton branch, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse on one of the new Lowdens in the Stevenage shop - and, I confess, I then went on to bust my already bust budget. (I too have a very understanding and patient wife!) What a guitar - I just love it. It rings like a bell. I am now trying to learn a lot more about DADGAD and Drop D tuning, and if the day-job wasn't so pressing, I'd be making more progress. But, I'm getting there.

So, we are truly suited and booted now and, furthermore, on getting the Ashbury bouzouki back, I took it to the Music Box in St. Albans for a once over by the team there - and it is now sounding pretty good. I will attempt to restart my learning process on it, which stopped when I had it on loan to Rob, so that I can better support (?) Rob and Tam Lin when required. It looks like Rob's son's view that Rob 'plays too many instruments' is going to strengthen - I'm not sure we are going to have space to put all this stuff in some of the clubs we play in. (The loft room is looking a bit crowded now too!)

The Saddest of News

2007-06-16T09:13:00.000+01:00

The reason why Rob and I have been helping Tam Lin is that their guitarist and vocalist, Paul Gunningham, had been involved in an extremely serious car accident earlier in the year. It is with great sadness that we heard that, after what appeared to be a hard fought recovery in hopsital from dreadful injuries, Paul has passed away.

Rob and I only had the pleasure of meeting Paul once and had both been struck by his friendliness towards us.

Our condolences go to his family, but also to our friends in Tam Lin who are, naturally, devastated by the news of the loss of their frined and fellow bandmember.

12th and 19th May 2007, Wedding Bells

2007-06-16T08:45:00.000+01:00

Not our wedding bells but those of others.

Our friends from the Letchworth and Baldock Folk Club, Alan and Sue, core members of the band Tam Lin, have approached Rob and I to help out with a few of their ceilidh and social gigs. and following a rehearsal with them and their other fiddler Georgina up in Bedfordshire, we had our first outing in the charmingly named Piddling in Cambridgeshire on 12th May.

Quite a learning curve! As a band - because in the end, neither Sue nor Georgina could play - we were bolstered and led by two other professional musicians, invited from Sheffield and Colchester(Dave Shepherd - of Blowzabella!). Having the opportunity to play dance music guided by the safe hands of these other, highly experienced, folk musicians and having the chance to learn from them, was a great experience for us.

Similarly, the experience of being at a wedding that one is not personally involved in (and being sober) was also very interesting - to watch the British at play - and a very good time was had by all! Alan and I had the chance to do a few songs when the revellers needed to get their breath back.

A week later, we were playing at another wedding at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire. This time it was a definite Tam Lin and Na-Mara line up. A beautiful house, a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding - very nice to play through a set of lively tunes on a bright sunny day, while guests had pre-dinner drinks. Rob and I were able to play our new tune - including the Spanish Tune 'Danza Prima' - a real cracker. Less easy to do songs, and a bust string on my Taylor, left me strumming on my 'reserve' Baby Taylor looking rather like George Formby. But again, a great experience for us. We intend to do more of this with Tam Lin.

16th April 2007, Herga Folk Club

2007-04-22T20:15:00.000+01:00

16th April saw us make our way to a singers night at the Herga Folk Club. High quality unaccompanied singing, especially from the well known Johnny Collins. Clearly, competing with background noise from the adjacent Pinner Social Club can be tough for some of the quieter singers. We got chance to do a couple of numbers before club favourite Graham - sorry don't believe we were given a surname - ended the evening with half a dozen unaccompanied songs.

We also got hold of the recent copy of the local folk music review magasine Unicorn , and found in it a very fair review of our CD The Kingshill Valley, by Mike Blair of the Bedford Folk Club. In essence, Mike was kind about our ability to play but wanted us to cut loose a bit more. This is a truth that we had reached independently ourselves a little while back and have been introducing a lot of more upbeat material since starting to play the clubs. Mike also rightly suggests that we should have Rob playing his guitar more - after all he is an extremely accomplished classical guitarist. This too we have been doing, using it on tracks like 'When I took my horse to water' and 'You came to me in sunshine'. We would like to thank Mike for his comments and we have resolved to make our way to Bedford Folk Club so that he can see the results for himself. We hope he approves.

Rob and I are next up as headliners at St Albans Folk Club on the 13th May. , so we are rehearsing hard for that. We are also bringing forward the next batch of songs - one self penned by Rob and I about the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, and a few more French songs.

Letchworth and Baldock, 4th April 2007

2007-04-15T20:55:00.000+01:00

It was nice to have been asked back to Letchworth and Baldock so quickly after our last visit. We were supporting Isambarde - good friends of Show of Hands, and a very impressive (and nice to meet ) threesome indeed. Rob's son Dan (remember the name - Dan will make his name in music in the future, of that I have no doubt) accompanied us and observed proceedings with gereat interest.

We did the warm up 25 minutes and, amongst other things, reprised Black Muddy River off the CD. I think we benefitted quite a bit from all the rehearsal for the appearance at Readifolk because, I can confess my concentration has been somewhat shattered because, earlier that day I had had a rather traumatic hour with my dentist wrestling with an ultimately unsuccessful tooth extraction for an hour earlier in the day. With that and a day's work on top, I was absolutely shattered, but the set went pretty well and, I'm pleased to report that the organisers moved quickly to ask us to return again and have since offered us a full booking in 2008.

For those who don't know it, this is a very nice club with a lovely atmosphere. The pub is very nice, the publican is very supportive indeed which, by virtue of leaving my bag there, I had the pleasure of seeing again after driving all the way back to Baldock the following night to pick it up.

We met a couple of people from the Herga Folk Club, which was great because that is our next port of call. We have heard a lot about Herga, and we are very excited about going there.

Reading Folk Club, 1st April 2007

2007-04-15T20:38:00.000+01:00

Well, it wasn't an April Fools trick: the good people of Readifolk were expecting us on 1st April, and we had a very enjoyable night indeed.

Given that we have some great friends in Reading, my wife and son travelled with us to the 'gig', as did our great friend and part time photographer and sound recordist (as well as a very neat guitarist in his own right!) Andy Garretty. Joe and Mandy laid on an excellent late Sunday afternoon roast dinner, and Rob and I had chance to do an hour's rehearsal before setting off to Readifolk - which certainly got us off the washing up.

We had been working very hard in the weeks before and putting in a lot of rehearsal to get the full set organised. This was pretty much our full repetoire to date that we were putting on show.

As with our previous visit there, the organisers at Reading were extremely welcoming and put us at our ease immediately. Friends and family arrived soon after, and with a good turnout from the Reading regulars, we pretty much had a full house. We had even been identified as the Editor's Choice in that week's Reading Chronicle - quite a shock for Joe and mandy to find Rob and I looming out of their local newspaper as they were checking out the cinema pages in the week before! All down to the excellent marketing of the team at Readifolk.

We had brushed up quite a bit of existing material from the CD and added a few new songs and tunes - including some Spanish material Rob has been working on. And I am pleased to say it all went very well indeed. It turned out that it was a very quiet night for floor singers and, as such, we played a couple of very long sets indeed. We should confess that when the night's MC then said I think we can ask Na-Mara for one more, the tank was empty - we had played our 'encores' in the second set, including Mick Hanly's version of The Verdant Braes of Screen. So, Rob sat out and I did a rendition of Tir Na Nog's Daisy Lady which I hadn't played for some time. Thankfully, Una, one of the organisers knew it and liked it very much - so, it ended up being a very nice way to end the evening.

So we had chance to call back on Joe and Mandy after the show for a cup of tea before setting off back to St Albans. We have had some great feedback from the night, sold a few CDs and, thanks to the new found friends at Reading, our confidence is now as high as it has ever been. Thank you Readifolk - we wish you all the very best. We certainly hope to be back.

Welwyn Garden City Music Club, 25th March 2007

2007-04-01T13:20:00.000+01:00

Given that 1st April at the Reading Folk Club is our first full booking, we could not have hoped for a better 'dress rehearsal' than this. In the quiet suburbs of Welwyn Garden City, on Sunday afternoons, making use of a Quaker Friends Meeting House, there is a music club. The town of Welwyn seems unusually well provided with classical musicians of the highest order, and most weeks they have a classical recital. However, through connections that Rob has, an invitation had been made to us and to a Parisian Swing band to do the honours. We had originally planned to do around 45 minutes worth of material, but just before the day arrived we heard that the other band had lost a member through illness, and were asked to do an hour's worth. Given our preparations for Reading, we had more than hour's material we could do, and were happy to rise to the challenge.

But, probably what surprised us most was the scale of the audience. There must have been at least 75 people in the 'meeting room', which was a square shaped, high-domed, and (for the benefit of ageing Quakers) acoustically improved. We had a fair few friends come over from St Albans to support us, but by far and away the vast bulk of the attendees were local. They ranged from the very old to the very young, with musical tastes to match.

The organisers were unbelievably friendly and accommodating. Rob's acquaintance was very encouraging; he and a local teacher were actively setting up when we arrived, laying out the stage area. The teacher, who very kindly invited us back, with others, to his place for a drink afterwards, was also kind enough to record the session for us. But special thanks go out to Mary - (I'm sorry Mary, I didn't catch your first name). Mary was there when we first arrived. She was a very sprightly 80 year old who had been brought up in Ireland. Ours was her kind of music and she had been looking forward to seeing us, after hearing our CD. She knew her folk music well and, when younger had known and often went to see the great Ewan MacColl and A L Lloyd. But, more than all of this, she presented Rob and I with two songs that she had personally translated from Gaelic. Her modesty in doing so was very touching and, when we get past the Reading, Letchworth and Herga Folk Club commitments, I am very keen to try the songs out and, if nothing at all comes from it, try and make a recording of the songs for Mary - who looked after us so wonderfully all afternoon and evening.

In some ways, given the emphasis that we put on musicality, this was a very natural audience for us. They seemed very much to enjoy the results of the time that Rob has lavished on getting the arrangements for the songs just so. We had rehearsed hard the week before and we were ready. Conscious of the varied audience we played across the full spectrum of our repetoire. Modern material like You Came To Me in Sunshine, was juxtaposed with traditional songs like 'When I was a Fair Maid'. We did all three of the French songs in our current repetoire (although there are at least half a dozen bubbling under). In the (mistaken belief) that Welwyn shared one thing with Middlesbrough, namely ICI, I also did a rendition of The Chemical Worker's Song, popular in the Boro clubs of my youth - a Ron Angel song I think. Sadly, ICI in Welwyn has now closed. How could I have missed that, especially when my former next door neightbour used to work there!

When we finished, everyone broke for tea and biscuits (well you're not going to get a pint there are you!) and I am pleased to say the feedback was excellent. We sold a few CDs and lots of people wanted to engage with us on different topics - the Benjamin Britten variations on French Folk tunes, the Christy Moore song, Viva La Quinta Brigada. All very animated.

The everyone returned to listen to the Parisian Swing band, who were really excellent. If this was them with a 'man down', they must be astonishing fully fledged. With a double bass, guitar and fiddle, doing Django Rheinhart and Stephane Grappelli material, they were a wow for 30 minutes. At the soiree afterwards, it was clear that they knew the local folk scene well and, I think, promised to put a word in for us at the Bishop Stortford Folk Club.

So, our attention turns to Reading. Rob is overseas with work all week, so it 'Home Alone' rehearsal for me. Not a bad idea though - it might knock a few of these lyrics into my thick bonce.

Cambridge Folk Club 16th March 2007

2007-03-17T11:59:00.000Z

There are talented clubs and talented clubs - this is a club full of talent. Rob and I made the long journey to do just two numbers but it was worth it. First, we got to see a lot of new performers who we hadn't come across before - too many to mention but the stand out for me was a cover version of a Karine Polwart song by an exceptionally good female singer - and second, the organisers were kind enough to offer us the opportunity to return and do a 25 minute slot to finish the night off on June 29th -which is a chance we will jump at.

Such was the demand to play, that there were regular slots of 10 minutes from 8.00 - 10.30pm, with a raffle for Red Nose Day in bewteen (which Rob went and won!). Then the evening was finished off by the very talented band Tu, finishing the night off. Tu comprise Carolyn Causton (ex Shave the Monkey) and Shani Eliraz - a very talented multi-instrumentalist. It was nice to do a CD swap with Shani.

We did an old favourite of ours, 'The Maid of Culmore', and we followed this with the French sea-shanty 'Three Bonny Ships' which seemed to go down well and goes tto support the notion that our French project is really winning friends. We got some really excellent feedback afterwards, which made the unusually incident free journey back to St Albans that much more bearable. 'In flight entertainment' was the excellent French Canadian band Genticorum.

Back to fairly hard rehearsals now for our seesion in Wewun Garden City next Sunday and then for our first full booking at Reading Folk Club the Sunday afterwards. We are very excited about both opportunities.

Letchworth and Baldock Folk Club 21st February 2007

2007-03-15T20:32:00.000Z

Rob and I sent Alan, who runs the Letchworth and Baldock club a copy of our CD some time ago and, very kindly, they asked us to come and do a 25 minute warm up slot to support the main act -the club's resident band Tam Lin, and what a pleasure it turned out to be. This is a really nice club. The venue, The Orange Tree in Baldock is a nice friendly pub, laid out with trestle tables and candles and a (very) small performance area.

By their own admission, it was a quiet night, but it was easy to see how great it must be when they have got a Vin Garbutt or a Martin Carthy in there and the club is buzzing.

As the second on the bill, we were straight on and did the first 25 minutes or so. It was nice to get a decent length of time to gert into the swing of things and, again, as we build our repetoire, we tried a couple of new numbers. We did a song from Triona ni Dhmonaill's repetoire - 'When I was a fair maid', and a song that Rob has composed. taking an 18th Century poem about the fate of a sailor who fought at Trafalgar and who was rapidly forgotten by the nation he fought for (sounds rather familiar really). The song is very beautiful and is called 'Who is it knocks?' Thankfully the audience was sympathetic to a few rough edges on these new tunes.

Tam Lin, percussion, guitar and two fiddles were the main act and played really well, doing a wide and varied mix of material and the third act, Malcolm Hobbs, did a great little set playing an absolutely beautiful Brooks, guitar shpaed Irish bouzouki. I would dearly love to see a longer session by him.

(Anyway, they must have liked us because they have asked us back for two more visits in 2007 and a main spot in '08. Very nice indeed, thank you)

It seems traditional that late night rides home throw a few motorway surprises, and this was no exception. Still, the long ride home gave me chance to reminisce on a few folk songs we used to sing at the Anchor Folk Club in Middlesbrough, back in the 1970s, especially a song about the Titanic sinking, that I haven't heard since and haven't been able to find amongst the many that have been written. I will keep searching.

All eyes now are on the next gigs. We have a slot at Cambridge in mid March, then a session at a more classical meeting in Welwyn the week after, followed by our first main spot at Readifolk in Reading on April 1st. I trust they weren't joking when they booked us for that date!

Barton-Le Clay 31st January 2007

2007-03-15T20:20:00.000Z

It took us a long while to honour the promise we made at the Redbourn club but we finally made it up to Barton-Le Clay in Bedfordshire, and very glad we did! Organiser Ross had suggested we go and join him at one of the regular singarounds at the Barton club. Very kindly, since we had travelled the furthest distance, he let us do a few extra numbers. We took the chance to try out some new material, which was good practice for us and generally it seemed to be enjoyed.

The atmosphere was very welcoming and friendly; the music was highly varied with a wide range of styles of music. The guy who runs the blues club in Barton Le Clay at the same venue (sorry didn't catch his name) was there and played some excellent blues material. Others played an array of interesting insturments - including a base recorder. WE even had an accordian version of Imagine.

The late night trip home allowed me to play Rob my new La Chavenee album, which was just as well since motorway works, with which we are plagued, were determined to send us north from Bedforshire in order to then go southwards home. I also got the benefit of Rob's knowledge on the composer Thomas Dowland. I am always keen to hear new and preferably calming music and Dowland is one of Rob's absolute favourites (especially if Sting isn't singing). I am a convert and it regularly now soothes the furroughed brow of this London commuter.

Oxford Folk Club 19th January 2007

2007-03-15T20:14:00.000Z

For me, this was a welcome return to Oxford, where I lived and worked for most of the 1980s. That said, even though I had passed it a thousand times, it was the first time I had ever been in the Port Mahon pub - and I had clearly missed out on a very friendly watering hole.

This was a fun night with a range of local singers - from Ireland and County Durham, some great unaccompanied singers and some excellent blues and traditional playing. Generally a quiet night for the club, but they were kind enough to let us finish off the evening. This is a club we would very much like to return to. The organisers were very welcoming, and guests were very complimentary about the new French material.

A Beautiful Thing

2007-01-06T12:06:00.000Z

For various reasons I have been in Paris three times in the last three months of 2006. Naturally, given my current interests I hit the record shops of Paris and splashed much cash on building up my collection of French traditional folk music. If I say so myself, I have a pretty solid collection now and the smoke is clearing as to who I like and who I don't.

However, I also took the chance to call in, on all three visits, on my good friend Susan, her husband Petros and their two beautiful children. I worked with Susan many moons ago and she is now lecturing in Paris. They were very hospitable to me throughout my visits and naturally we talked about what was happening musically. TAlthough not 'folkies', they were very interested in the French experiment and have given me lots of help and ideas.

Last week I received through the post from Susan a beautiful anthology of French songs - Volume 1 of a 4 volume series by a French Composer, published in the 1930s. In my thank you letter to Susan, I expressed to her what a beautiful object the book was but also what a beautiful thought it was from a friend, whilst passing a music bookshop in Rue de Rome, to take time out to go and look for a very special book. I was quite overwhelmed. What a joy it is to have good friends!

3rd January - Tai Chi Convention, St Albans

2007-01-06T11:59:00.000Z

Tai Chi Club - Our most stretching gig yet (gerrit?)

We played for a group of Tai Chi teachers who had come together from around the world for a conference in St Albans. A very nice and welcoming group of people - very keen to party after being involved in serious study for the previous week. Along with a local choir master talking on the history of plain song, we were there to give the overseas visitors an introduction to some of the music of the Bitish Isles and France. We did 25 minutes worth and it was very well received. Perhaps a little out of practice given the summer festiviites, I seemed to get through Maid of Culmore with rubber fingers and the occasional jazz chord, but we were really motoring by the end. We did our new version of Three Bonny Ships, with Rob on Mandola, and it worked well. Our Dutch friend Joop, who was convenor for the conference, played percussion with us and 'the jive was jumpin'.

5th December 2006 - King Harry pub, St. Albans

2007-01-06T11:50:00.000Z

Played at the King Harry yesterday. Nice crowd involved in the sing along - a lot of local folk fans we hadn't met before which was great. Nice atmosphere too. Sadly, most 'turns' had to compete with the music from the bar next door. Even something as simple as a curtain would have made the difference. Still, probably the best range of bottled beers in a pub that I have seen for a long time - and the staff seemed very kind to everybody involved in the folk music side, so its definitely a place we will go back to.

We tried out another couple of our French Songs - The Bloody Inn ( a chilling a broadly true tale of mass murder in 18th century France) and Three Bonny Ships - a French Sea Shanty, and both went down very well. This is all very encouraging for us.

Rob told me that we have got an invite to play at the Cambrigde Folk Club which we are both very excited about.

Da Capo, 2nd December 2006

2006-12-03T11:31:00.000Z

After playing at the Da Capo school earlier in the year, we were asked back to play for their end of year concert. The children and adults who attend the school, which provides an exciting and innovative approach to music education - look them up - have a concert to show what they are about and what they can achieve.

The invitation allowed us to try out a lot of the music we have been working on recently - a lot of the new French songs we have been developing, plus some reworking some of material from our CD. WE also had a nice quiet room to rehearse in for a couple of hours which was a real luxury (instead of worrying about the neighbours!)

The first half of the concert was a little difficult as a lot of the children were tired and excitable from the day's work and concert, and took a little time to settle. Trying to play without amplification into that environment, meant we were somewhat drowned out. But, it was good practice for us and we enjoyed what we were doing.

When we had a break, some of the teachers from the school, superb musicians each and every one, put on a concert of Russian and Greek music. Klezma is such a wonderfiul music form - from the exhilirating to the heart rending.

As the audience thinned out, we were left with a group of adults and children who were more keen and able to listen and so, for our second set, we were much more able to be heard and, by all accounts, everyone enjoyed what we did. We even sold a few CDs, which is nice.

The organisers looked after us wonderfully well, feeding us up during our break - so thanks to Michell, Jane, Paco and the team for a wonderful welcome and soem excellent food!

We now turning our attentions to the Knig Harry in St. Albans on the 5th December - so, this was an excellent workout for us.

Na Mara at Goring Unplugged, 24th November 2006

2006-12-03T11:18:00.000Z

Risking life and limb to travel the M25 on an early Friday evening, we set off en route to deepest darkest Oxfordshire to play at Goring Unplugged. We had been told about the club by an old friend who lives in this most beautiful little town. And, like many journeys into unknown parts, there was indeed a treasure at the end of it. This is a really great little club. It meets once a month and, if you live anywhere remotely near it, you should try and find out more about it and go along.

There is lots of pressure for playing spots in this club and the standard of the musicianship is extremely high. We were honoured to be asked to end the evening - either that or the organisers just thought that it might take us until 10.30pm to actually get there.

This is an exciting and modern club. Our material was ptretty much the only traditional material through the evening and was well appreciated by a sizeable audience (even though they usually get twice that number.) The music spanned everything from the superb classical arrqangements of traditional tunes by the very gifted Carla Maria Zapatelli, the Texan Swing music played the learned professor Andy Baum, to some truly blistering blues played by The Smack Boys - if you see their name anywhere, you should go.

The truly great thing about the club is that they are also very accommodating to young acoustic musicians from the twon. A small group of very talented youngsters played a boisterous set and were roundly applauded for doing so.

The organisers were extremely welcoming, the venue - the Village Hall - exrtremely cosy, especially for a cold and wet November evening. We stuck to our recent set of a little French, a little English and a little Irish.

The only downside of the evening was, after all that fun, was setting off back around the M25. Still, Rob likes to do the driving which means that I can have a gottle of geer. (neither of us drink before playing - we must be the only folk musicians for whom playing gigs is a slimming aid.

Na-mara at Redbourne Folk Club - Thursday 19th October 2006

2006-10-21T18:47:00.000+01:00

Thursday night saw us out on the road again. This time it was just up the road from St. Albans to the Cricketers Arms in Redbourne for a singers night. Again, this was a wonderfully welcoming club and when they say singers night, they really mean it. Virtually everybody that showed up for the evening brought an instrument or two and 'did a turn'. It is amazing how much talent there is around. Redbourne is a small place and there was a lot of local talent on show. We had everything from the hammer dulcimer, to sprightly elderly ladies, to poetry reading - with hats.

Rob and I did pretty much the same set as in Reading and were pleased to be invited back onto the stage to finish the evening. Usually I don't drink until I've finished playing - the first folkie to go on a diet through not drinking - so, when we were asked back on, I had had a drop of the black stuff, but it didn't seem to impair anything. We added Willy Taylor to the set to finish with a bit of a bang.

Thanks to Robert Taylor and his son Ryan for coming along and supporting us.

Thankfully it was only a short journey home to find that bowl of Cruchy Nut cornflakes and bed.

Na-mara at Readifolk - some pictures

2006-10-21T18:37:00.000+01:00

Thought you might to see the 'lads in action'. Here are some photos taken from a recent performance at Reading Folk Club.

15th October 2006

2006-10-17T20:30:00.000+01:00

We played Reading Folk Club at the Clifton Arms in Caversham on 15th October. What a nice little club – extremely welcoming and friendly. I am pleased to say that we went down very well and they have invited us back for a full spot on 1st April next year – Hmm, interesting date – I’m pretty sure they weren’t kidding!

Topping the bill was the excellent Ed Rennie who did a great set on various melodions, and his Fylde cittern and guitar. The floor spots were highly varied and generally very good to listen to. Throughout the audience was highly appreciative.

We did four fairly quiet numbers to introduce ourselves. We warmed up with Maid of Culmore which we followed with one of burgeoning number of French songs – When I Took my Horse to Water – which received a “tres bien”. Rob was inspired on Persian Ricardo and we finished off with You Came to Me in Sunshine, written by my mate Fraser Hardman.

Joe, Mandy and young Alex, our longstanding friends from Reading came along even though they are not big fans of the genre. But Joe is the video-meister – much to his family’s dismay – and he kindly undertook to do some filming of the night. We will get this loaded up as soon as we are able and you can see us in action.

So, it was certainly a late night by the time we got home – M4/M25 and a bowl of Crunchy nut Cornflakes as a late supper reward. But we both felt pleased that we had done a good, if all too brief, session – tempered by the kind invite for us to return. It felt a good return for the hard work we are putting in at the moment. Rob is digging away at finding new tunes, we’re both enthused about the French project, and with my new birthday gift (see above) I am re-discovering a whole raft of long forgotten stuff. Very exciting. Redbourne on Thursday 19th – will report again then.

Late September 2006

2006-10-17T20:28:00.000+01:00

My wife has just bought me one of those turntables for converting vinyl and tapes into mp3 players – a stroke of (curly headed) genius. It is fantastic. All that stuff from the late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs roamed the land and I had hair and time to study, can now be preserved and played on the move on my new ‘nutter-bastard’ iPod. 80Gb or what! It is a labour of love to load them one-by-one in real time, but I can assure you it is well worth it. It is reminding me of so much material that I had just plain forgotten.

St Albans Folk Club

2006-09-10T11:31:00.000+01:00

Played St Albans Folk Club tonight and were very well received. We’d spoken with organiser Alison MacFarlane a couple of weeks earlier and she’d invited us down to support the local Bedfordshire duo Life and Times. Alison played a nice mix of whistle and melodeon tunes. Life and Times, who we hadn’t met before, did a set of their contemporary songs of Bedfordshire life written in the traditional vein. They are embarked on a terrific project and we wish them well.

Given the relatively low key nature of the night, we took the opportunity to try out some new material we’ve been developing since the CD was launched. Although we started with Maid of Culmore off the album – just to get Rob’s fingers a-jiggling, we quickly moved on to a dance tune that Rob has been working on called Persian Ricardo (why does the title lend itself to a Scouse pronunciation?).

We followed up with a song we’ve taken and translated from the work of the 1970s French band Malicorne, which we are calling ‘When I Took my Horse to Water’. The reception we got encourages us both to continue with our current researches into the French traditional scene.

Then, breaking from the traditional mood of the evening, we did a song written by Paul’s mate, Fraser Hardman, when he and Paul were together at university in Scotland – in the late Jurassic period when dinosaurs roamed the land. The song is called ‘You came to me in Sunshine’ and the small but appreciative audience really loved it and talked to us a lot about it, after the performance. Indeed, a couple of tourists filmed the whole performance so, somewhere in Latin America, we could be famous by now!

Finally, we finished off with another addition to our repertoire. Taken from the Irish a cappella singing trio, The Voice Squad, we did a rendition of the ballad Willy Taylor. Rob was really motoring by now and we took it at a hell of a lick, and people responded to it very well. Paul even remembered all the words.

But, the really fun part of the evening was talking with Life and Times and the audience afterwards and getting the feedback. We have had a lot of nice things said about the CD but we haven’t, to date, done a huge amount together live. The nice things said to us make us very positive about visiting the various clubs in the local area.

Home Recording with Andy

2006-09-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

We spent Sunday afternoon with our mate Andy Garretty who has been building up a little studio in his house in St Albans. An excellent guitar player in his own right, Andy agreed to record three tracks for the website. It’s nice to hear a decent recording of work in progress so that one can think about how to improve it in the studio proper.

The three tracks we recorded are new since the CD and are called ‘When I Took My Horse to Water’, ‘You Came to Me in Sunshine’ and ‘Willy Taylor’.

Once Andy has finished editing them, we’ll be adding them to the site for everyone to hear. He made an excellent recording of our efforts and was very forgiving when Rob knackered his window by breaking the handle in half – honest accident, none of Rob’s alcoholic concoctions to blame.