On Sunday 4th March Bellowhead will be playing at Swindon Steam Museum with a bunch of very talented kids! The first half of the concert will be the world-premiere performance of a special new work composed by Bellowhead member Pete Flood.
The composition, ‘VICI”, inspired by folk hero Alfred Williams, a collector of the folk songs of Wiltshire and ‘hammerman’ in the workshops of Great Western Railways in Swindon. It was commissioned by Super Strings to celebrate the 2012 Olympiad and will be performed by 120 young string players from Wiltshire alongside some of Britain’s top folk musicians, including Methera violinist/violist Miranda Rutter, concertina virtuoso Robert Harbron, harpist Steph West and Bellowhead’s Paul Sartin & Ed Neuhauser.
Verity Sharp, Presenter BBC Radio 3 Late Junction:
“At the heart of our project is the desire to put young people in touch with English folk music. From personal experience I know how learning about our indigenous traditions can unleash musical potential and bring an enriched sense of cultural identity and belonging. For me the introduction to this music came relatively late in life, which is why I am now passionate about finding ways to bring it to people’s attention at the earliest opportunity.”
The second half will be a Bellowhead concert!
Well, the weather’s dire, the news predominantly bad and the politicians seem to get more self-serving year on year. And yet, there are always a whole bunch of people who are devoting their time to making somethings better.
Who knows whether any of these young people may eventually become a ‘big thing’, but that’s hardly the point, is it? At least some of the public’s Olympics money seems to have been well-spent and we can only hope that in subsequent years there is no convenient amnesia from our ever-caring leaders about how artistic endeavour in young people needs to be nurtured by something more substantial than sentiment.
Nicely put!
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