BELLOWHEAD
Burlesque

WESTPARK 87132


Westpark
UK Regno Unito

 

Here it is. 'Burlesque' out via Westpark Music. Not so much a Big Band as a small independent country, Bellowhead is an 11 piece busy pushing the boundaries of English roots music into regions where few have previously dared to tread. Bellowhead's debut gig took place at the first Oxford festival in April 2004, brought together by the acclaimed folk duo John Spiers & Jon Boden. They dreamt up the band while stuck in traffic somewhere on the M25. John & Jon phoned Paul Sartin, Benji Kirkpatrick and Giles Lewin who all agreed to form the core of the new band while the duo were still on said motorway. The idea was to have an English traditional folk band at the heart of the collective, also capable of switching between a big band sound, funk styles, and a string section. The first gig was an instant success despite the fact that Bellowhead had only managed to spend one afternoon, in a scout hut, rehearsing. Later that same summer, Bellowhead managed to inspire such enthusiasm, on a balmy night at Sidmouth Festival, that an invigorated crowd broke the dance floor. Interest in the band developed beyond the immediate fringes of the folk scene immediately after the independent release of the 'E.P.onymous', a 5 track demo which was initially produced to send to promoters and sell a few at gigs. The response to the EP was so great that the band were persuaded to release it officially and it promptly got a 5 star review in MOJO magazine: "Though only a five-track EP, the first offering of the Boden & Spiers big band is just too good to be allowed to skulk in the shadows. The likes of Paul Sartin (fiddle) and Benji Kirkpatrick (guitar/bouzouki) join a full blooded horn section to nudge the already formidable Boden & Spiers energy quota to overload and they re-work tracks.. into a thrilling frenzy. 2005 saw the band play at the prestigious Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and then sweep up Best Live Act at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, where they gave a stunning performance at the televised ceremony. A plethora of festival appearances have since followed suggesting that Bellowhead are on their way to becoming one of the most popular bands on the live music circuit. The audience are left in no doubt as to the range and sheer virtuosity of this band and at prestigious events around the country - including Summer Sundae, Beautiful Days and Cambridge folk festival - they have rapidly aquired new admirers across generations and genres. 'Burlesque', is Bellowhead's much anticipated full length album. The album includes 13 songs and tunes inspired by a dazzling array of material from the Napoleonic Wars ('Rigs of the Time'), the American minstrel movement ('Jordan'), sea-shanties from Brazil ('Across the Line') and the spirit of the East Anglian step dance tradition 'Sloe Gin'. The lead singer, Jon Boden, struts and emotes much like a grandson of Mick Jagger and the ensemble playing of all of the musicians is superb. It is not simply the technical ability of the individual players that impressess but also the sheer musicality of the arrangements. By 2006, the band had long since transcended the idea of simply being a folk band with some brass players. They have honed a unique style, which sets them apart. Deeply rooted in the English folk dance tradition, they also merge a joyous, uplifting cacophony of sound with a slightly sinister, distorted collision of music hall, Lotte Lenya, Robert Wyatt and pure theatre. Their debut album, 'Burlesque' was produced by Ben Mandleson and Rob Keyloch.

English music, global vision

I’ll stick my head above the parapet for Burlesque: this is the most important album of English traditional music since Fairport Convention’s Liege & Lief. It’s even more significant. Fairport, with electric instruments and attitude, revitalised the repertoire. Nonetheless there’s an austere aspect to that groundbreaking record, a sense that, really, the song should not be performed so much as presented. Bellowhead disagree entirely and marshal their formidable resources to explore the musical, lyrical and theatrical potential of the songs and tunes. The group are described as a folk big band. Actually, they’re a huge band. Between them the 11 musicians play more than 20 instruments, and six of them sing. The horn section includes a sousaphone, the reeds a bass clarinet. There’s a frying pan amidst the percussion, a cello in the strings and, at the core, are the melodeons of John Spiers, Jon Boden’s fiddle (one of four) and his vibrant, not to say vibrating, vocals.

The arrangements and performances are stunning. ‘Death and the Lady’ encompasses both bebop and minimalism. ‘The Outlandish Knight’ expresses sonically the strange power of the words. ‘Courting too Slow’ is a triumph of melancholy, and the tunes such as ‘Frog’s Legs and Dragon’s Teeth’ are like a fine pint – delicious and satisfying.

A few days after Bellowhead appeared on the main stage, a friend who witnessed them take WOMAD by storm buttonholed me: they had the rich textures of a Cuban band, she insisted, the rhythmic dexterity of a Brazilian outfit and the melodic exuberance of an African combo. She was incredulous because this was, after all, English folk music. And English music can’t be world music, can it? Bellowhead have finally blasted that tired old prejudice into oblivion.

Julian May / Songlines # 40

 

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