Archived Reviews

This Tuesday we had a great night of musical entertainment! The guests were Nandobinyan, a group of really talented musicians who are currently studying for a folk music degree at Newcastle University. Originating from various parts of the country and across the pond, they have come together to form a folk band, named after a Malasyian king who laughed himself to death! Obviously a student with too much time on their hands came up with that!

Christi, a long time friend of the club, over from America, and brilliant fiddle player, took the lead, occasionally sang harmony and did most of the talking! Dave ("I come from London but I'm not a cockney") (as an Essex girl myself I can relate to that, Dave!) played mandolin. The 'other' Dave played guitar. The fourth member of the band is Amy who was great on accordion, taking the lead for some of the tunes. Later in the evening she treated us to some energetic clog dancing, which left some of us bemoaning our lack of fitness. They played jigs and reels, a mixture of English/Northumbrian, Scottish and American traditional tunes with their own, original, modern arrangements. They were intermittently joined on stage by Emily who added vocals to the group. She has a beautiful singing voice with some good stories to tell about her songs. These included 'Sheep Crook, Black Dog', 'The Bold Fisherman', 'The Spotted Cow' and 'The Lover's Ghost', ' The Golden Ball' and others. Not content with that, in the second half she played concertina! They built the evening up to an exciting finale of Scottish tunes. Look out for this band in the future!

The support for the evening was ably provided by Ken Cross and Allan Savage. Ken, for once dressed 'for music, not sport' (Keith's words!) sang both American and English songs of a contemporary nature and received his biggest clap for his party piece 'Wor Nannies Amazor'. Allan opted for traditional Scottish songs, some requested from the audience. Put together this complimented Nandobinyan's style very well. All in all, it was an excellent night out!

Thanks to John and Dave on the sound.

Jane Cross