Taking place at the Ivy Leaf Club from 8:00 to 11:00, this year the event features Dogan Mehmet & Matt Quinn followed by The New Rope String Band.
Tickets with be available from 1st October 2008 and are £8.50. The box office number is 01733 204055, if you would rather write the address is Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival Tickets, 4 Delph Street, Whittlesey, Peterborough, PE7 1QQ. Cheques to be made payable to Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival and please include a stamped addressed envelope.
“One Mighty Collaboration”
Dogan Mehmet; Finalist in this year BBC Radio2 young folk musician of the year Dogan is a Multi-instrumentalist and singer he plays Fiddle, Guitars, Tenor Guitar, Bazouki and Melodeon, Anatolian and Spanish percussions. With his first successful UK folk festival tour under his belt and appearances with many great musicians and bands such as mercury prize nominated Eliza Carthy, Steafan Hannigan (Band of Hope/ Bjork/ Shenade) and The Park Bench Social Club (new school Bluegrass/folk sensation) as well as TV appearances with the likes of (only Iranian comedian) Omid Djallili.
Matt Quinn; Matt has featured with many Ceilidh bands down south and made his festival debut at Whitby last year, when he played in the Dan Quinn all-stars band. He plays Fiddle, Mandolin, Melodeon, Mandolin-Banjo, Guitars and also sings. Matt can also be seen in a Duo called “the mighty Quinns” with his Father, Singer and English Melodeonist Dan Quinn. Matt has a new Ceilidh band project in the pipe line with some of the UK’s top young English folk talent. Involving the like’s of Will Pound and the Askew Sisters.
Old school friends Matt and Doe together perform Traditional English songs and tunes with traditional Turkish music from northern Cyprus.
Their musical careers began at primary schools in Brighton they have been playing music together in various guises since then, most recently with the Brighton Youth Orchestra. Both gentlemen have just embarked on the renowned 4yr Newcastle university Folk Music degree.
Matt has been brought up steeped in English traditional music. Although Dogan was born in England and has adopted the English tradition both through music and dance, his family’s first language is Turkish and it is from them that he has learnt many traditional Turkish songs and tunes which he has introduced to the duo’s repertoire.
For further details or bookings, contact them by e-mail at Hayriye.mehmet@ntlworld.com
“Rhythmic, Energetic, Talented and unique
a great acoustic outfit"
*
“Young but with true respect for their heritage”
*
“With Humour and stage presences to, a guaranteed good night”
Brilliant musicianship counts for very little if you're playing with total wallies.
The Old Rope String Band (what is left of them: Pete Challoner and Tim Dalling) have joined forces with two amazing musicians (Jock Tyldesley and Vera van Heeringen) and as a four piece they are taking off from where the Old Ropes sadly stopped.
They play a big assortment of things and all sorts of hoedown pan-celtic old-timey up-beat down-home music. All this is combined with bizarre physical nonsense and clowning about. And singing. And dancing.
Audiences say, “What the hell was that?”
And then struggle to describe what happens,
“It’s folk music”, - “It’s cabaret”,
“They plough the lonely furrow of cutting-edge music hall”.
Then they are forced to drag their friends along to the next gig to witness the strange spectacle for themselves.
But everyone actually enjoys it……… a lot.
The sheer visualosity and laughableness of the New Rope String Band, plus the amount of interesting things will bring pleasure to absolutely almost everyone.
Boundless energy, exuberant spectacles and beautiful music executed with kindness. What could possibly go wrong?
'The New Rope String Band has hit the ground running and
every member of the audience has no choice but to go with them on a truly side
splitting journey of songs, tunes, clowning, dancing and mayhem. They are value
for money in every possible way.'
Rachel Roberts, show Report for Arts Service
'Words cannot
even begin to do them justice. It’s something that has to be experienced, not
read about. The photos accompanying this review will do little to convey the
sheer Alice In Wonderland craziness of the live show. Put bluntly, if you
weren’t at the Memorial Hall tonight, you missed THE greatest show yet put on as
part of the Moorsholme Live! season. If The New Rope String
Band are playing near you in the future, go and see them. You will not be
disappointed. The only complaint is that the evening couldn’t go on long enough.
Utterly fantastic.'
Richard Beadnall, show review for Moorsholme Live
'That was the best hour of my life'
Daniel (A discerning Lincolnshire lad)
