Many thanks to Bright Young Folk for publishing this review of the ‘TuneChaser‘ EP. They are busy “Keeping a beady eye on the traditional folk music scene of the British Isles”. Check out their website for a host of reviews, interviews and other interesting stuff.
Thanks to Les Gillon for this review of our spot up at Wadsworth, 18/10/19
Last night to Wadsworth Community Centre in Old Town to see Gilmore and Roberts, which was a really enjoyable gig, but for me the highlight of the event was a blistering support set from Becky Taylor and Steve Lacey. I’ve been lucky enough to play with Becky in the past, so I know what a phenomenal musician she is. She was out of action until recently due to a medical problem affecting her hand, but I can report that she is now truly back on form. After struggling with a set of pipes that had developed a problem of their own, she plucked another set from the substitute’s bench and breathed life and fire into them. The duo line up with Steve Lacey works brilliantly – don’t miss out on seeing them if you get the opportunity.
https://beckytaylor.info
Also a shout out to BGR Events who put on these acoustic music shows at Wadsworth Community Centre. They’re a great example of a not-for-profit organisation that creates and promotes these events purely for the love of the music . They put on artists of the highest calibre throughout the year, so do check out their programme and get on their mailing list if you’re not already on it. https://bgrevents.weebly.com/about.html
Les Gillon is a musician, writer and academic based at UCLan. He’s worked as a guitarist, bassist, vocalist, composer and songwriter since the 1970s and has taught performance and composition to young musicians for over twenty years. He records and performs regularly in a variety of ensembles, playing types of music that range from experimental improvisation to traditional British folk music. This site features his current projects Fez, Fire Tower 4 and Ghost School.
Together with Professor Ewa Mazierska and Music Industry Consultant Tony Rigg he is a Co-Director of the Music Research @UCLan, which has published a series of edited collections on the future of the music industry and been involved in organising conferences featuring international panels of academics and industry professionals.
In addition to his research in the field of music, he also writes on aesthetics and the visual arts. His recent monograph The Uses of Reason in the Evaluation of Artworks: Commentaries on the Turner Prize (Palgrave, 2015) uses the Turner Prize as a case study, in order to explore fundamental questions about the nature, purpose and value of art. He is also active in practice-based music research that explores composition and improvisation techniques, the use of non-western music traditions and interdisciplinary collaborations with dance, moving image and spoken word practitioner.
Find out more about what Les gets up to at his website: https://lesgillon.org
 REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk |
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Omnibus Northumbrian Pipers’ Society NPSCD01 |
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| This CD sets out to show the breadth of Northumbrian pipe music being played today, with some world renowned players and some less famous. It includes traditional and modern pieces, solos and ensemble playing, French and Irish music, as well as many Northumbrian favourites. Sixteen pipers and various other musicians play over 40 tunes in 19 tracks: well over an hour of music on the Northumbrian smallpipes. Each set of pipes is slightly different, and sometimes this can be clearly heard. The arrangements differ too: pipes and fiddle, pipes and harp, pipes and hurdy-gurdy, pipes and harmonica and of course guitar and keyboard. Familiar names include Kathryn Tickell, Andy May, Chris Ormston, Anthony Robb and Becky Taylor, with Stewart Hardy on fiddle. All the other pipers here are of a very high standard, although some tracks are quite unpolished.With Northumbrian music you expect certain things: hornpipes, rants, slow airs and variations. The Omnibus has all of these in full measure: 3/2 and 4/4 hornpipes by Hill or attributed to Hill or nothing to do with Hill, rants by Pigg or Tickell or neither, plus a whole slew of slow airs, jigs, slip-jigs and marches. There are traditional variations on classics such as Holey Ha’penny and My Dearie Sits Ower Late Up. There are modern virtuoso variations on Grey Bull Hornpipe and Wark Football Team by the inimitable Kathryn Tickell. It’s the unexpected which makes this collection special: a set of French bransles, an air transposed from the Irish pipes, a Swedish waltz and several stunning new slow airs by Northumbrian pipers. Listen to the sweeping beauty of Catcherside, the stately grandeur of Memories Of Wallington, or the heartfelt sadness of Whisky Is Not Enough. If you ever wondered what Northumbrian smallpipes could sound like, here’s your answer.
www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk Alex Monaghan |
Last Autumn I was asked to write an article for the Northumbrian Pipers Society quarterly newsletter. An edited version was published in the Autumn edition, but here is the full version…
Waking up on the morning after my birthday this year I realized with some horror that I had now been playing the pipes for 30 years (you would have thought I would have the hang of it by now really wouldn’t you?!..)
Starting back in 1983 with Dave McQuade’s loan sets to schools and moving on to a particularly decrepit Hedworth set which I played for many years, my early NSP playing was unorthodox to say the least, and heavily influenced by the Irish musicians in the area and my passion for Uilleann piping for which I am perhaps better known. The defining moment in my NSP playing career was when, after many years I finally acquired a beautiful boxwood 17key set from Colin Ross in 2008 – it did take a little persuasion it must be said, as he was concerned that the Bb keys may not have been strictly necessary, with me assuring him that them they were, and subsequently playing many Gminor sets just to make sure I got the good use of them! Anyway, on playing this set it was impossible not to fall in love again with the sound of NSP and I returned to regular playing with renewed enthusiasm.
Over the years my piping career has taken me to some interesting places, most recently in Russia where I was invited to play (Uilleann) pipes as a guest with the legendary Boris Grebenshikov and his (mainly rock based) band Aquarium. After several visits I introduced the smallpipes as my F set very conveniently played in the keys of F and C that my Uilleann sets (being a concert pitched or ‘B’ set) couldn’t, and they were subsequently used on several tracks even making a brief appearance on the (very heavy) album ‘Архангельск’.
Playing NSP in Russia with a (very large) rock band came with its own particular set of challenges, the first of which was getting them there. Travelling through Russian border control with a pipe case containing both Uilleann and NSP is interesting to say the least. The very first word I learnt in Russian was ‘волынка’ pronounced ‘Volinka” and meaning literally ‘bagpipe’ and it is essential information for smoothing the difficult conversation between me (no Russian) and the rather bemused looking immigration staff (little English) when they pointed to my case with a stern ‘open’..
This review appeared on the FolkWorld webiste, Issue 36 published July 2008 Folkworld CD Reviews
‘Taylor Made’ Review by Celia Pendlebury for the Bagpipe Society magazine ‘chanter’ spring 2003
Extract from a scanned archive. The full magazine is available at the excellent bagpipe society website at http://www.bagpipesociety.org.uk/articles/2003/chanter/spring/becky-taylor/
Becky Taylor Ireland Bridge (own label 880992 14004 1)
Already a noted exponent of uilleann and Northumbrian smallpipes and whistle, Becky’s expertise now also encompasses piano, duet concertina and fiddle, all the while sharpening her arranging skills. Becky’s musicianship emerges fresh every time on this, her second CD, aided by Dave Wood (guitar) and others. Sparky, much alive and of constant interest.
fROOTS June 2008 No. 300