Folk / Jazz Evening sails on

  Folk / Jazz evening goes all nautical

After all the rain we have seen recently it was perhaps appropriate to start last night's folk/jazz evening on a nautical note. The evening started off with a group of the resident Folk/singers leading a great shanty session. They had each taken up the challenge to learn and lead a shanty and it was a fun singalong start to the evening. Brian, Linda, John and Trevor,  were also joined by Sally, a newcomer to the evening, who delighted everyone with her rendition of The water is wide. ( She has clearly seen the lake near our house!)

After the shanties the performers gave us plenty more music,  including songs from Charles and also Ian whose set had an  Australian theme in honour of Anzac day.

During the evening we also discussed the future direction of the folk/jazz evenings. Having been instrumental, along with Val, in setting up the evenings last year, Charles and Anna have decided to  cease their involvement and move on to other things. Hopefully we may see them back as guests sometime in the future. The club has been a great success so far with new musical talent being uncovered each month and new collaborations of musicians all the time.  At this point it seemed the right time to look at how the evenings will develop over the coming year.

Everyone there contributed to the discussion and points agreed were:

• compering of the evening will rotate each month with each compere free to organise the musicians during the evening as he/she wishes ( comperes will volunteer and do not have to be musicians)
• any performer who arrives before 8 o'clock wishing to sing or play will be fitted in, even if that means shorter spots for regulars, although they will still be encouraged to contact the compere beforehand if at all possible.
• a donation of 2 euros per person will be requested to build a fund to cover costs of any room hire necessary ( Brian has offered to be responsible for collecting and looking after this fund)
• some summer venues have been offered and John agreed to confirm arrangements - more details later. There was also discussion about winter venues, including the possibility of using a bar or continuing at Riols but further information is needed (ideas still welcome)
• Sue will continue to publicise and review the evenings by posting to Tag.

The next folk/jazz evening is 30th May at le Riols  (this will be the last evening before the summer "al frescoe" season). The compere will be Ian.

27th June compere John - venue to be confirmed
25th July compere Trevor - venue to be confirmed

If you want to perform at any of  these evenings contact any of the comperes at   folkjazz82@outlook.com


Sue Carter