NNootteess The Newsletter of Readifolk Issue 12 Reading's folk song Winter 2011/12 and music club McKinnon & Anne Tarrant and Bob & Gill Berry for giving us Welcome two really enjoyable evenings. But on a sadder note, it was because of serious illness that to another Readifolk Johnny Silvo had to cancel his UK Autumn tour, which included an appearance at Readifolk. Reports indicate that his illness newsletter has now become terminal. Our thoughts are with Johnny and his family as we recall the many happy times shared with him. Rumblings from the Roots Looking forward to the new year, we have already booked Welcome to the Winter edition of Notes. With this edition we many excellent guests. You will see from the previews and the welcome in another New Year and we take this opportunity of listing on the back page that we have several newcomers to wishing you all a very happy and successful 2012. the club in the first quarter. Some of them are well­established artists and some are younger performers who we feel are We are delighted with the new format of Notes which Stewart destined for greater things. Do look up their details on their has compiled. As well as several interesting articles and news web sites etc., and you can listen to tracks from all of the items, we include previews of all the forthcoming artists in the artists in a special preview edition of The Readifolk Radio first quarter of the year. It was felt preferable to give previews Show, broadcast on Reading4U, Reading's community radio of artists rather than reviews of past performances, so that you station on www.reading4u.co.uk on Friday 30 December. will be encouraged to come and see the live performances rather than read about what you may have missed. The Readifolk Radio Show goes from strength to strength, with At the end of 2011 we look back with satisfaction Ian Freedman anchoring, and a team of Readifolk presenters. on Our programme is broadcast from 6 ­ 8 pm on Friday evenings. another successful year at Readifolk ­ we have even managed It features music from local, national and international artists, to stay happily in our venue at RISC for another year. There with occasional live studio performances ­ well worth a listen! have been many memorable Guest Nights at the club as well as well­attended Singers and Theme Nights. Of particular note We look forward to seeing you at the club on any Sunday night. was the charity concert held in May when we raised £430 for Una & Colin Young Minds, a recently formed branch of the Samaritans. Readifolk musicians and singers have also performed in support of several other charitable events during the year, including; in May at a concert in aid of Women’s Concerns, which is involved in the integration of black and minority ethnic groups; also in May at the Sonning Common Big Sing in support of the local First Responders medical team; in September at the Reading Town Meal, a community project promoting local food production; and in October a concert in aid of the Peppard Village Hall restoration fund. In the Autumn quarter we were surprised and disappointed to have three of our booked guest artists pull out of their Readifolk performances. Two of the performers let us down at short notice and needless to say they will not be on our Christmas card list this year. Fortunately we had time to find replacements for two of the guest nights and we thank Bill Contact us: Una for bookings and coming events [email protected] Colin for publicity, coming events and the mailing list [email protected] Stewart about the newsletter [email protected] "A lovely singer and a deft guitar player", Wendy Arrowsmith comes to Readifolk on 1 8th March Alison about the website [email protected] Folk Heroes News of Bert Jansch's death in October saddened many of us. Steve Bingham looks into his life and contribution to folk music: BBeerrtt JJaannsscchh Herbert Jansch was born in Glasgow on 3 November in 2006. Bert was also involved in a number of musical 1 943 to a family who traced their roots back to Germany in projects with other musicians and continued his solo career the late 19th century. The family soon moved to Edinburgh to within a few months of his death on 5 October 2011. where Bert was educated and took his first job as a trainee nurseryman. By the age of 16 he started to play at local folk Bert was married three times. Before leaving Scotland he clubs having taught himself to play guitar. His contact with married Linda Campbell. This was a marriage of artists such as Archie Fisher and Jill Doyle (Davey Graham convenience to allow her to travel on Bert’s passport ­ she half­sister) led him to the music of Big Bill Broonzy and was only sixteen at the time. They split up after a couple of Woody Guthrie. months. In October 1968 Bert married the sculptress Heather Sewell. They lived together for a short time, but the Bert spent some time travelling around Europe and North married was not ended until the late ‘seventies. He then Africa. He earned a living by busking and playing the odd married Loren Auerbach and this marriage lasted until Bert’s booking. In 1965 he was repatriated to Britain after a severe death. Bert had a continuing problem with alcohol and in bout of dysentery. He settled in later years preferred to work London and soon came to the with another musician to help notice of the London folk crowd. keep him on the straight and His guitar style, a blend of narrow. Nevertheless he traditional folk, blues and jazz, suffered from several periods of was considered extraordinary at severe illness mostly due to this early date. Bill Leader over indulgence. recorded some tracks on a semi­professional tape deck and Almost from the start of his managed to sell the recording to career Bert was recognised as Transatlantic who released the a guitarist of extreme talent. His album, Bert Jansch, in 1965. official web site Two more albums, It Don’t www.bertjansch.com is full of Bother Me and Jack Orion, testimonials by those he has soon followed. During this influenced. The list includes Neil period Bert started to work with Young, Graham Codon and a variety of other musicians Beth Orton. Bert’s first album including Ann Briggs and John contains the songs Do you Hear Renbourn. Me Now, which Donovan recorded and issued on his very Bert and John Renbourn built up successful Universal Soldier a special rapport with intricate EP, and Needle of Death a song guitar interplay; this can be which seems to have been heard on the album Bert and played by just about every John. Bert and John were guitarist. The Jack Orion album joined by other musicians from contains Bert’s interpretation of the folk/jazz scenes and formed Ann Briggs’ traditional song r k c Blackwaterside i the group Pentangle. The from which l F group's first major concert was Jimmy Page took the n o at the Royal Festival Hall in accompaniment for Led o d Black Mountainside r a 1967, and the first album Zeppelin’s . l l appeared in 1968. Pentangle In fact Bert and Transatlantic a G toured Europe and the USA, wanted to sue Jimmy Page over z u L where they proved to be this, but the case never came to y b extremely successful. They court, as Bert never had the o t o reached the height of their fame money to pursue it, and h with the release of the album Transatlantic doubted the P Basket of Light in 1970. The track Light Flight was adapted financial wisdom of taking on such a big name. for use as the theme music to the BBC TV series Take Three Girls, and Pentangle provided additional incidental music for Bert received a number of awards including a lifetime the series. There were various interpersonal strains within achievement award from BBC Radio 2 in 2001 and the the group and these combined with the pressure of constant members of Pentangle received a similar award in 2007. touring led to the group breaking up in January 1973. Much of Bert’s music has been remastered for CD and MP3 Bert had continued his solo career throughout the life of download. All his solo albums and most of his collaborations Pentangle, and resumed touring and released further with other musicians can be purchased from the usual albums. He also formed the group Conundrum, that toured outlets. All of the classic Pentangle albums are similarly Europe and the States but broke up at the end of the tour. available and there has recently been a box set, The Time Has Come, of mostly previously unreleased recordings. Pentangle reformed in the 1980s and continued to work, off and on, with various personnel changes, until their final tour Bert’s music is set fair to influence generations yet to come. claiming 40 ­ 60% of royalties. In a possible show of sanity, the judge limited payment to 5% of royalties back dated to 2002. An album of songs by Sandy x Denny, with words written in her o final months, but never recorded by her, has been compiled by V Oxfordshire singer­songwriter Thea Gilmore. Thea was given a collection of lyrics, fragments and k poems that Sandy had been l working on, by the guardians of her o estate, which she arranged and developed into songs.