|
ED RENNIE |
|
News Hi all! This is the page
where you find out all the latest goss. +++++++++++++ Turn of the Year A review Well 2006 has been a
very busy year, which is nice, but a bit tiring at times! Click on these to find out... Brunel
+++++++++++++++++++++
Happy Birthday, Isambard Kingdom Brunel I've worked closely with Folk South West in this celebrations for the 200th Birthday of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. With the benefit of a Heritage Lottery Fund Award FSW put together an impressive programme of events to highlight the effect Brunel's work had in the lives of ordinary folk in the South West. In the early part of the year, we worked in schools with 7 to 11 year olds, both with a scripted performance (out came the tail coat again!) and then we ran song writing workshops. Fantastically rewarding and fun, this was my first experience of schools work. I teamed up with Jackie Oates and Colin Thompson, which was a real treat. The children were brilliant and I certainly look forward to doing more work in schools in the coming year. During the summer months, we ran Community Days thoughout the South West were punters could drop in and learn Harmony Singing, Song Writing, Collecting Oral Histroy and Playing in the Band. The Band workshops were my responsability and as I never knew which instruments were going to turn up, it was quite a challenge! In the Autumn we toured a musical play, The Ballad of Mrs Brunel, written especially by Philippa Toulson. It told the story of Brunel's domestic life, so was a great insight into this often neglected aspect of the great man. It was another first for me. I've never trod the boards before as an actor (some who saw the play might say I still haven't!) but I enjoyed myself and was excessive.
++++++++++++
This year has seen a possibly unacceptable public spectacle. Ed dancing. Why? Well, one of the workshops I run is "Playing for Dance" for all melody instruments. This involves the musicians playing to try and make me dance. No mean feat, I can tell you. I ran the workshops for a couple of Morris teams in the West Country and have plans to do more in the coming year. At Simouth Folk Week 2006 I ran both Melodeon and Youth Band workshops. Both were stupidly busy ( I had 40 for one of the melodeon days, just imagine the noise!) The Youth Band workshop series, for 11 to 16 year olds, was one of the highlights of the festival for me. At one point we had 9 fiddles, 9 flutes, 5 guitars, a Bb Clarinet and a 'cello. Everyone worked really hard and rose to every challenge I set. We even got an encore at the Workshop Showcase in the Blackmore Gardens Marquee on the Friday afternoon, which gave me the biggest buzz of the whole festival. Even more so than playing an last minute gig on the Ham Marquee stage, which was frankly just scarey...
++++++++++++
Following the series
of Melodeon workshops I ran at Sidmouth Folk Week in 2005, some musicians locally asked if
I was going to continue to teach in the Devon that Winter. Through John Culf's Harberton
Folk website, I asked the local folk community of there would be any interest in running a
sreies of workshops around the county. The response was staggering. So between May and
July 2006 I ran a pilot series of workshops in three regions in Devon to see what would
happen. They went went very well indeed. Then things started to hot up...
++++++++++++++++
Whilst all that has been going on, I've been all over the country like a rash, singing and playing for dances at Folk Clubs and Festivals. In fact, I played this much: 24 folk clubs 10 Ceilidhs with The Bismarcks 10 Ceilidhs with The Dartmoor Pixie Band 9 Festivals in every guise imaginable! Jackie Oates This year,
additionally to my solo work, I have been working with Jackie Oates both as an
accompanist on some of her solo gigs and also as a Duo, which is more of a "two solo
artists appearing together" sort of thing. You know what I mean. It's been fantastic
to be able to do musically stuff that simply isn't possible as a solo performer. We played
10 folk clubs and three festivals and had a hoot. The Bismarcks Well, all good things
come to an end and so with The Bismarcks. At the beginning of the year we announced to the
world (well, our little bit of it) that after 10 years of playing together, 2006 would be
our final year. We've had some fantastic times, played at all the major dances and
festivals in England and a very memorable trip to Leipziger Tanshausfest. I am proud to
have had the chance to play with such excellent musicians as Nina and Gareth. I'm sure
there will be more than one "unofficial reunion" if we all happen to be together
at music sessions in the coming years. The Dartmoor Pixie Band As a blow-in, I am
in-ordinately honoured that I am a member of The Dartmoor Pixie Band. "Don't be such
a sap" they would probably say if they read this. But I am, so there. My bass playing
has necessarily improved, especially in the "playing to something you've never heard
before" department. Though I've been an official Pixie for 3 years or more, they
still suddenly trot out a set of tunes from their seemingly endless repertoire which
leaves me floundering. What fun that is, in front of an audience.
++++++++++++++++++
I am a lucky chap,
being asked to be a guest on a couple of great albums which were released this year.
Firstly Jackie Oates invited me to play on her first solo album. I played guitar, cittern,
melodoen, mouthorgan and spoons as well as co-arranging the strings on Cruel Ships
Carpenter. The album, which was recorded by Phil Beer in his studio in Exeter, is
doing really well and is in the Mojo Top Ten folk albums of 2006. Then I was asked by
Barry Lister to play on his first solo album "Ghosts and Greasepaint". It seem
unbeleivable that someone of Barry's stature in world of English traditional song hasn't
made a solo album decades ago. I played guitar and bass on the haunting Sir Richard's Song
and melodeon on the saucy The Trim Rigged Doxy. Great fun. The album, released on Wild
Goose, has already received some great reviews. And justly so. Finally, The Dartmoor
Pixie Band recorded "The Pixies Strike Again", their first album in nearly 20
years and certianly their first on CD. It's a mixture of live performance at the Great
Western Ceilidh in Exeter and studio recordings. Well, when I say studio, we set up the
Victory Hall in South Zeal and had a proper drash. All the recording was by Phil Beer and
he has really captured what makes Saturday night dances in Devon irresistible. Brilliant.
++++++++++++++
There are also a number of plans in the pipeline for new projects. Some I can tell, some wait and see. The ones I can tell you about are: Housewives Choice When you make a list
of who you would like to have in you dream ceilidh band and then have the cheek to ring
them up and ask them, you never really expect it to happen. But it did. Trevor Bennett -
Brass Already we are booked
at major festivals and dance clubs, with more to be confirmed. I love it.
++++++++++++++++++ Devon Squeezebox Foundation 2007 will see us starting workshops for the Piano Accordion, on similar lines to those already in place for the melodeon. Additionally we hope to be at a number of events in Devon, eg Chagford Show, The Mid-Devon Show and possibly the County Show. While the folk scene is a fertile ground for people who might wish to learn the squeezebox, it's a bit like preaching to the converted, so we are hoping to get out and be seen by a wider audience. World domination is what we have in mind... www.devonsqueezeboxfoundation.co.uk +++++++++++++++++++
Christmas Hampered with Ed Rennie Ever since my first
Tiptearers play and Wassail tour around Guildford with the Pilgrim Morris Men on 12th
Night, and subsequent membership of Farnborough Mummers and the traditional Crookham
Mummers, I have been in love with the songs and ritual associated with Christmas and the
turn of the year festivities. |