LIVE REVIEW
ONE NIGHT IN GATESHEAD:
50TH Anniversary Concert to celebrate 50 Years of Family Singing at Birtley Folk Club
The Sage Gateshead, March 2nd 2012
One Night in Gateshead I
by Neil Hedgeland
n her role as Artistic Director of Folkworks Kathryn Tickell has instigated several stimulating projects. As well as the Northumbrian Voices show which was first performed at the Sage and featured recently at Celtic Connections, she came up with the idea of regular concerts under the title ‘One Night in Gateshead’ celebrating the tradition bearers of North East England. This ongoing series of intimate performances in the Sage’s smaller Hall Two has culminated in a sell-out concert in the Main Hall - big in size, sound and impact!
Advertised as a 50th Anniversary concert for Birtley Folk Club it also celebrated the Elliotts of Birtley, the mining family closely associated with it. As Kathryn pointed out in her introduction the themes of the evening were to be family, places and connections- the ‘cast’ was an extraordinary family affair. As well as the current members of the Elliotts. there were the latest incarnation of the Doonan Family, the Wilson Family and two generations of Unthanks- father and daughters - all joined by friends.
The show started with 84 year old Doreen Elliott Henderson. daughter of Jack Elliott, the legendary patriarch of the family, explaining briefly the history of Birtley Folk Club and her family’s involvement before introducing the other families. Later she would be joined by her husband Brian and her nephew and a family friend to provide the Elliotts’ contribution to a programme which in less than 2 1/2 hours scanned the vast gamut of traditional music and song from North East England.With the Elliotts’ mining background it was not surprising that there was a prominent theme of mining and miners to their song content- stand-outs from Doreen and Brian’s sets being the local ‘Blackleg Miner’ and the American call to arms of ‘Whose Side Are You On’, with a crack at Ed Miliband. In contrast they also performed the Tyneside favourite ‘Waters of Tyne’.
After Doreen’s short speech the music had begun with a massive ensemble rendering of Jack’s ‘Rap Her to Bank’, a sure sign as to how the evening was going to proceed. As Doreen had said, the two loudest families were the Wilsons and the Doonans! The Wilsons’ unaccompanied voices in harmony (5 on the night) made a thunderous sound. Although they come from Teeside and are renowned for their sea songs, they notably underscored the mining theme of the evening. As well as fellow Teesider Graeme Miles’s ‘Sea Coal’, they delivered stunning renditions of the traditional ‘Byker Hill’ and Alex Glasgow’s ode to the c;osure of the pits, ‘Close the Coalhouse Door’. They also demonstrated their versatility with their arrangement of the Sacred Harp style ‘When I Die’.
The Mighty Doonans as they like to be called nowadays were a revelation with the addition of younger family members and friends and the presence of three saxophones brought a funky element to their folk/rock sound. The brothers, Mick (vocals, sax, pipes, flute, whistle) and Kevin (fiddle) have now been joined by Frances (sax, flute and dance) and Rosie (sax).Rosie has a successful solo career also and sang one of her own songs. The family members were joined by old friends Stu Luckley and Phil Murray with their young ‘uns, Ben and Jamie respectively and ex-Jack the Lad Ian Fairbairn. Their first song ‘Step it Out’ exemplified their funky rhythmic sound perfectly complemented by Frances’s dancing. They continued to impress with contrasting treatments of ‘Banks of the Nile’ and Ed Pickford’s ‘Ee Aye Ah Cud Hew’.
The Unthanks were announced as the youngest of the families performing. Rachel and Becky along with Rachel’s husband, Adrian and fiddler Niopha Keegan, proved their firm commitment to their roots in the face of their huge crossover success outside the region and the folk scene.
Indeed Rachel did express how much they owed to the Elliotts and Birtley Folk Club.Outstanding was their interpretation of The Testimony of Patience Kershaw concerning the Employment of Children in Mines Report of 1842. They also performed a song from one of their favourite writers, Graeme Miles,’A Great Northern River’ which features in a film project on shipbuilding with which they have been involved.
Father George joined his daughters for his own New Year composition, ‘Tar Barrel in Dale’ and also performed his song ‘Miner This Miner That’ written on the occasion of the funeral of Peter Elliott,son of Jack and brother of Doreen. As had been pointed out elsewhere in the proceedings, George has had close links with Birtley Folk Club; he was actually singing at one of the venues that the club has been based in at the moment the ceiling caved in!
The three Unthank female singers featured in one of the emotional highlights of the evening when, after Jack Elliott’s recorded voice was heard with the N.U.M. Lodge banner displayed depicting Jack along with Jock Purdon, they sang ‘Guard Your Man Well’.
So much happened that night it is difficult to do justice to everybody’s contributions. The evening finished tumultuously. After the Doonans’ raucous version of the Kinks’ ‘Dead End Street’, everybody returned to the stage for a full-blown rendition of ‘A Miner’s Life’ which climaxed with Frances Doonan being joined by Rachel and Becky for a display of step-dancing in front of the assembled throng. After the thunderous applause had died down, Doreen who had hosted a unique celebration of local folk music and in particular her own family, gave thanks to everybody and was presented with flowers by Rosie and Becky, two of the youngest performers of the evening - in a way this was a sign of the passing of the family tradition in North East England to a new and equally vibrant generation.
The Living Tradition - Page 66
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