Jon Boden on Folk Clubs and Pub Sessions
writes:
Having just completed my annual Spring Madness (4 tours in 3 months) I'm back at home taking it fairly easy. One of the things that is filling my time a bit is organising a new folk club at my local.
We've got the excellent
coming along at the end of the month and there are flyers to be distributed, posters to be stuck up, emails to be circulated etc etc.
I've been a fan of Pete's for many years, not only as a singer/instrumentalist/songwriter/ flat-footer extraordinaire, but also as someone who, as a part of 'Ryburn 3 Step',
is very committed to community music making, running regular sessions, singers clubs, folk dance workshops, Mummers plays etc. in and around the Ryburn valley.
Pete's long been critical of my generation for not taking up the organising baton from the 60s generation (until fairly recently there were no folk clubs run by anyone under 50ish and there are still precious few folk festival directors under that age).
It's a fair criticism, and one that is gradually being addressed (the in London, the for example).
But in defence of us "second-generation 2nd folk revivalists" (or 90s generation for short) that criticism assumes that folk clubs are the prime force in the folk movement, where as in fact the 90s generation have mostly been more interested in pub sessions than in folk clubs.
I experienced my first session aged 16 (in a pub in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare during the - a mind blowing experience) but didn't go to a proper folk club till I was about 23.
In a sense pub sessions are much closer to the original aims of the second revival than the folk club model - genuine folk music arguably shouldn't need too much organisation, just a day of the week and a cooperative landlord.
Perhaps because of this session-heavy background we're having a go at running something of a hybrid between a folk club and a pub session.
The concert will be in the public bar with people paying in advance for the fairly limited number of seats available and a hat being passed around for those who are standing.
We're also instituting a "house songs" and "house tunes" element so that people can learn a few songs and tunes and be sure of having a chance to play/sing them at every event.
Rather than peppering the gig with floor spots, the gig will finish fairly early to be proceeded by a singing session. It's an experiment, and it may not work. But my feeling is that the 90s generation will start organising, but only once we've worked out our own models for events.
You can hear an interview with Jon Boden as well as tracks from his brand new solo album Songs From The Floodplain on the Mike Harding Show this Wednesday at 1900
Comment number 1.
At 13th May 2009, VirtualPhil wrote:Hat's off to you for trying, John. I wish you luck. If you find a model that really works please bottle it so we can all have some.
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Comment number 2.
At 14th May 2009, kitandcutter wrote:We hear you Jon! Having been inspired by the Magpie's Nest and 60s footage of The Watersons, singing to packed out audiences, we have also started a local traditional music club in Deptford, South East London. And we are in our mid-twenties! www.myspace.com/kitandcutter
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