This may or may not be acoustic - no doubt this will become clear in the fullness of time.....for those that need proof I'm not making it up, check
here"There's something special to look forward to at the end of the summer
this year with the launch of the very first Isle of Wight Folk and
Blues
Festival in beautiful Ventnor on the south coast of the island. With
the
revival of the IOW Rock Festival and the success of the atmospheric
Bestival, the island is fast becoming a mecca for music lovers of all
ages and tastes, and Ventnor itself is home to a burgeoning local music
scene as well as the fast-growing IOW International Jazz Festival which
fills the beautiful well-preserved Victorian spa resort with music
every
April.
Spurred on by the success of the Jazz Festival, its organisers, Phil
Snellen and Geri Ward, have joined forces with island-based promoters
Vaguely Sunny to create a new annual event focusing on the best in
contemporary and traditional folk and blues music which will take place
for the first time over the weekend of 21st-23rd September 2007.
Headliners Fairport Convention first played on the island back in 1968
at the very first Rock Festival and after 40 years of genre-defining
musical adventure and nearly as many personnel changes they will be
playing Ventnor Winter Gardens on Sunday 23rd April. Emerging from the
60's underground, Fairport were originally dubbed the "British
Jefferson
Airplane", and they evolved a highly original folkrock sound that saw
them appearing on Top Of The Pops and getting enthusiastic radio
support
from esteemed DJ John Peel. During their long career, the band have
made
some seminal records, including "Liege and Lief", their 1969 classic
album which was launched with a sell-out concert at the Royal Albert
Hall and which was recently voted 'Best Folk Album Ever' by Radio 2
listeners. In its time, Fairport has included in its ranks such
luminaries as singer sandy Denny and guitarist Richard Thompson and
their musicianship has gained them a worldwide following.
Certainly one of the more unusual acts booked for the new festival is
the Scottish band Salsa Celtica which, as the name suggests, blends the
rhythms of Latin American music with the authentic sounds of
traditional
Celtic folk instrumentation. It is musical hybrid that has proved
extremely popular, seeing the band rising from their origins on the
Scottish club scene to their current status as stars on the
international festival circuit. They have recently been nominated for
three awards in the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including "Best Live
Band" and "Best Traditional Track" for the beautiful Grey Gallito which
features folk superstar Eliza Carthy.
You may have heard that there's a very vibrant young folk scene of
emerging artists that are taking the musical traditions into the 21st
century with a new approach to song structure and instrumentation. This
so called 'nu folk' is embodied by another act booked for the inaugural
festival, the young London-born singer and musician, Lisa Knapp.
Lisa Knapp is fast emerging as a highly distinctive artist from one of
the most creative and active underground music scenes of recent times.
She merges a radiant style of traditional folk and self-penned song,
with fiddle, hammer dulcimer, strings, banjo and sonic delights from
the
technological age.
Lisa was born and grew up in South London's Tooting area. She was
brought up in a musical family where sing-alongs around the piano were
common, the old Bush record player was put to good use and the school
provided her with violin lessons. Lisa's musical development led her
through drum and bass, teenage raves, acid house and an electric guitar
bought to learn Jimi Hendrix songs.
Then, in her teens, she came across folk music when she heard a
friend's
record collection. She listened to the extraordinary voices, the vivid
stories and the superb musicianship of Annie Briggs, Shirley Collins,
Martin Carthy and Pentangle and she was hooked. "At the time I was
completely out of step with my friends and was one of the few young
people there. Yet there was a special, all inclusive vibe within the
club that felt right to me."
Then, just as everything was falling into place, serious health
problems
put music on the back burner for a number of years. During this time
she
met her now partner, Irish fiddler, Gerry Diver and had a child.
Encouraged by Gerry, she gradually returned to music and recorded her
version of the traditional song 'Blacksmith' for his debut album.
Influential rock producer Youth (The Verve/U2/Paul McCartney) heard the
track playing in a studio on London's Tin Pan Alley, Denmark Street and
offered to work with Lisa, producing a highly acclaimed remix of the
track which fuses the traditional fiddle sounds of folk with the vast
array of sonic possibilities offered by contemporary sample-based beats
and rhythms.
Vaguely Sunny's Vic King caught Lisa's act at the recent Celtic
connections Festival in Glasgow and was very impressed by what he
heard.
"She has a great voice in the tradition of the great English
traditional
folk singer Shirley Collins," says Vic. "As English as a walk through
an
apple orchard, listening out for the cuckoo in early summer, but with a
very modern edge to her music, helped by the use of tape loops."
With a new album out soon, Lisa Knapp is one of the rising stars of the
UK folk scene and we are very excited to be bringing such an exciting
new talent to the island for what promises to be a weekend of gorgeous
music at the very end of the summer. Tickets will be available soon
from
the Festival Office at 6, Pier Street and further details of all the
great bands booked for the festival are available at the official
website
http://www.iwfolkblues.co.uk or call 01983 856206."
