The Estuary Songwriting Project in Tribute to Jack Forbes

September 1, 2016 by Ray Morgan

8 established and emerging musicians, songwriters and composers have been asked to produce original songs and compositions inspired by and celebrating 25 years of the Leigh Folk Festival during a week-long residency at Chalkwell Hall. The completed material will be performed at three separate events, debuting on the pier at The Estuary Festival 2016, at legendary folk arts centre Cecil Sharp House in London in 2017, and at the Leigh Folk Festival 2017. The material produced will deal with a handful of themes around the Thames Estuary including its landscape, natural history, social history, legends and folklore.

The artists are:

HAZEL ASKEW, M.G BOULTER, LUCY FARRELL, PIERS HASLAM, ROSHI NASEHI, NICK PYNN, ALASDAIR ROBERTS and KATE WATERFIELD.

Each artist hails from a different musical background with their own style of songwriting and instrumental playing. These differences will make for a unique and exciting collaboration between these skilled and talented artists.

Dates:

1st Oct at Royal Pavillion, 7.30pm, Southend Pier, Western Esplanade, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1EE Tickets are £10

22nd March 2017 at Cecil Sharp House, 8pm, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London, NW1 7AY / Tickets are £12.50

23rd June 2017 at St Clement’s Church, 8pm, The Rectory, 80 Leigh Hill, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 1AR Tickets are £10

The Leigh Folk Festival’s artistic director; Paul Collier, says “we wish to mark this special anniversary by commissioning a group of folk artists to reflect musically upon the festival’s rich heritage and its location in Leigh-on-Sea at the mouth of the Thames. The commissioned music will be unique to Leigh-on-Sea, providing a fitting legacy for a festival that started small and has grown to where it is today – an annual event attracting up to 20,000 people over the course of a weekend.”

Further information and how to book tickets can be found at estuarysongproject.tumblr.com

This project has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. To contact artistic director Paul Collier or project manager Jo Overfield, email p.collier.152@btinternet.com / joverfield@gmail.com

Performer profiles:

M.G BOULTER is a talented songwriter, musician and singer from Leigh-on-Sea, who has been gaining a national reputation over the last few years. A player of many stringed instruments, Matt has played alongside artists such as Conor Oberst, Neil McSweeney, Lucy Farrell, Duke and the King, Emily Portman and remains a long standing member of the Simone Felice Group. Matt also continues to tour and record with his band, The Lucky Strikes. “Gorgeous, in a word” – Uncut

LUCY FARRELL explores traditional and contemporary folk using her crystal clear singing style to craft stories with spellbinding skill. A member of the Furrow Collective, she has been nominated for a number of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Lucy is a versatile musician on fiddle, viola and musical saw and is often in demand as a session player. The song ‘To the Boy’, recorded with duo partner Jonny Kearney, featured in Ian Fitzgibbon’s 2011 film ‘Death of a Superhero’.

ALASDAIR ROBERTS is a stalwart supporter of the Leigh Folk Festival over many years. He’s worked with Drag City Records (Joanna Newsom, Bonnie Prince Billy) since 1997 releasing several albums. An extraordinary composer and single-handed re-inventor of the Scots ballad tradition, a Wire cover star and has been hailed as “a genius” in fRoots for his treatment of traditional songs. Alasdair has collaborated with many different artists, musicians and creatives, he is also a member of The Furrow Collective. “Effortlessly imbues ancient folk song with renewed relevance” – MOJO

ROSHI NASEHI is a Welsh born singer-composer of Iranian parentage with a strong track record in live performance, collaboration, recordings and workshops. Roshi featuring Pars Radio is a music project created around beautiful individual interpretations of Iranian folk and original songs. Roshi has been described as a “sonic explorer”, ripping up the rulebook and blending electronic sounds with traditional.

NICK PYNN is based in Brighton but a former resident to Southend, he’s an electro-acoustic stringed multi-instrumentalist songwriter, composer and performer. Nick has performed with Stewart Lee, Arthur Brown, Steve Harley, Mick Heron, Omid Djalili and many others. He also plays with Stomp’s ‘Lost and Found Orchestra’. Nick co-won the ‘Best Music Event’ Brighton Latest award last year with Kate Daisy Grant for their show in the Brighton Fringe. “The octopus of sound” – Stewart Lee

KATE WATERFIELD is a singer and composer, playing viola, violin and concertina. She has been composing and performing music for over 15 years, initially finding success writing music and songs for theatre. Kate has released two solo albums as well as folk concept album, ‘Lofoten Calling’ with her trio, The Kittiwakes. Her music has been featured on BBC6’s Cerys Matthews Show. Kate has collaborated and worked with many others such as Kev Hopper, Crafting for Foes and supported the likes of Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick. “Impressive” – fRoots

PIERS HASLAM is an 18-year old London based guitarist/singer who has been attending folk festivals since he was small. His songs reflect a love of traditional folk as well as modern popular music. Another Leigh Folk Festival regular, his big influences include Martin Carthy, Alasdair Roberts, Nick Harper and many others. In addition to guitar, Piers plays mandolin, piano and melodeon. Piers also performs under the name ‘Long Pike Hollow’.

HAZEL ASKEW is a singer, musician and composer from London who spent her childhood at folk festivals, dancing and playing for Morris, Appalachian and Rapper dance teams. Hazel sings and plays melodeon with her sister, Emily, as The Askew Sisters, who have now released three critically acclaimed albums and with whom she won ‘Best Female Singer’ at the Spiral Earth Awards 2011. She has composed for film, theatre and dance writing music for stage productions by companies such as The Hampstead Players. “Songs that move you” – Folk Words

To keep up to date with the goings-on of this incredibly exciting project, follow the activity on social media:

estuarysongwritingproject.tumblr.com

Twitter @estuarysong

Instagram @leighfolkfestival

Facebook.com/leighfolkfestival