Category: Music

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, thus being the second day of Christmas. Although it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in the UK and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously […]

Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance. In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female musicians who had not previously performed together: vocalists and shaped them into the first lineup of the group that […]

Kate Rusby is an folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the “Barnsley Nightingale”, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is one of the best known contemporary English folk singers. In 2001 The Guardian described her as “a superstar of the British acoustic scene.” In 2007 the […]

The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, are a folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the most important groupings in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of […]

A Carnival Band concert is a kaleidoscope of instrumental and vocal colour, crossing continents, travelling through time, and bending the rules. Between them the band’s musicians have a track record in folk, contemporary, classical, baroque, medieval and Arabic music. Moving effortlessly from one to another they add a sprinkling of rock, world music and theatricality […]

It was at this time last year that the St. C’s Christmas Tree Festival was in full swing, and for me the highlight was the appearance of Yan Tan Tether, singing Christmas songs and carols. Yan Tan Tether are a close harmony trio consisting of Rosie Knighton, Tess Leslie and Lynne O’Malley. They have been […]

Natasha Khan, known professionally as Bat for Lashes, is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She was born to an English mother, Josie, and Pakistani Pashtun father, professional squash player Rehmat Khan. After her father left the family when Khan was 11, she taught herself to play the piano, which became “a channel to express […]

Kirsty MacColl was one of David’s ealry favourites along with Leonard Cohen (eclectic or what!) She was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl and dancer Jean Newlove. Her father was born in England of Scottish parents. She and her brother, Hamish MacColl, grew up with their mother in Croydon, where Kirsty attended Park Hill […]

The Bad Shepherds were an English folk band, formed by the comedian Adrian Edmondson in 2008. They played folk punk songs with traditional folk instruments. The band primarily consisted of Edmondson (vocals, mandolins, mandola) and Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, cittern, whistles, vocals). After “accidentally” buying a mandolin, Edmondson taught himself to play a few chords […]