Martin and Martin with Devonbird

The two Martins were together again for rootsandshoots on Monday 29 April. 

We were very pleased to welcome the talented Devonbird for a live set.

 Listen 2 to recordings of Devonbird's set here. 

Devonbird are made up of Kathryn Bird (Vocals), Robert Weaton (Guitar & Vocals) and Sophie Colkin (Violin).

The songs they performed were as follows:
Hangman's Daughter
Purdy Jane
The Snows
Velvet

From their latest CD Hangman's Daughter we played:
The Brae
Oldways

Recordings played
Koby Israelite..Crayfish Hora (Suite Part 4)..Blues From Elsewhere
Alex Kumar..Rambling On My Mind..Phonic FM recording
Recordings from Padstow May Day Celebrations 2012
Billy Bragg..Verse for The Internationale..Recorded at Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebrations, 2009
Jackie Oates..The Posy Rhyme  /Bi Bi Og Blaka..Lullabies
Steve Mayone & Kristina Stykos The Cousins Project..Rescue Me..Beautiful Blood
June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Hugh Warren..The Lads In Their Hundreds..Quercus
Blanche Rowan & Mike Gulston..Northill May Song / Mwynen Mai .. The Dance Goes On
Marion Ludvig & Steve Ellis..Á Tout Moment..Á Tout Moment
Alexandra Sousa.. Tudo Isto E Fado..Sabor A Fado
Altan.. An Grianan/Horse With A Heart..Celtic Tides
Allen Toussaint.. St. James Infirmary..The Bright Mississippi
Djal.. Ave Cesaria ..Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit
Custodio Castelo..Danca El Tango.. empa Guitarra Portuguesa
Woodwose..Purgatory/Paradise..Dancing Stones
Phil Bird..Twister..Little Vessel For A Long Journey

Phil Bird & Anna Georgiou came to play.

5.4.13: Roots and Shoots with Martin Henning.
Phil Bird & Anna Georgiou collectively called 'Troubadour's Garden' came to play for us on Monday.
They are from Okehampton and apart from playing and singing beautiful songs run songwriting workshops,workshops in the visual arts and also a monthly Acoustic Music club at the Okement Centre in Okehampton.
They played the following songs live on air:
Giants Rise,
The witch of Lychfield Town
Ancient Shores
Salmon
Also I played a track from one of their CDs:
Little Vessel..Phil Bird + Jerry Carhill & Tim Harries.. Little Vessel for a  Long Journey
Cloudbusting .. Kate Bush.. The Whole Story 
Stick Stock .. Emily Portman.. Songlines CD #82 (March 2012) 
Sea Song .. Rachel Unthank & The Winterset.. The Bairns 
Fouet - Valse 3 T. ..Sous Le Pont.. Sous Le Pont 
Mazurka des grand-mères (mazurka créole)..La Machine.. Les Couleurs 
Tarantella Rouge & Noir ..Riccardo Tesi.. Banditaliana 
Barbed Wire Blues..Wilko Johnson.. The Best Of Wilko Johnson Volume 2 
Blue Drag..Allen Toussaint.. The Bright Mississippi
Sueña Como un Niño..Txarango.. Benvinguts al Llarg Viatge 
Guitarrada ..Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado 
Underdog ..Alex Bershadsky.. Junk 
Kamoukie ..Salif Keita.. M'Bemba 
Ndemdeli ..Somo Somo & Mose Fan Fan.. Hello Hello 

Got the Hang of it?

Today on rootsandshoots on Phonic FM we celebrated the Swiss instrument the Hang and an associated instrument, the Halo. 

 Listen to the show here. 

Matthew Calder joined Martin Hodge in the studio to play some music and give us some insights into these intriguing and beautiful instruments. Thanks a lot, Matt!

Left: Sculpture Music (Matthew Calder and John Shaw).

Below: Matt with Hang and Halo in the Phonic FM studio.


Matt gave us demonstrations of Halo and Hang playing. Accompanying himself on the Halo only, he sang Keep This Space. 

Matthew Calder and John Shaw (double bass) perform as Sculpture Music.

They have an EP out featuring their own songs: Minor Songs In Major Keys and it is well recommended.
From it we played the title track plus Small World.

See Sculpture Music on Youtube.

Find more information on Sculpture Music's website where you will see details of their gigs. Gigs include the Exeter Respect Festival in June. 

We also heard Hang and drum player Manu Delago and friends with Medina II from his latest album Bigger Than Home. 

Later in the show I played a track by Alizbar & Christian Amin Varkonyi who, respectively, played Celtic Harp and Hang.

Other recordings played:

Orchestre De Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou..Karateka..Orchestre De Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Vol. 3: The Skeletal Essences Of Voodoo Funk
Queen Biz..Wallou..Teranga Senegal!
Airleke..Wanchef..Weapon Of Choice
Los Clinches..Gracias..Fongo
Phillip Henry..Lagan Love / Banish Misfortune..Live In The Living Room
Jackie Oates..Junk..Lullabies
17 Hippies..Deine Tränen
Alizbar & Christian Amin Varkonyi..Melting Snowflakes On Her Hand

In the second half of the show, I spoke on a phone line to Cate Ferris and The Little Unsaid aka John Elliott about their music and their gigs including Exeter Bike Shed Theatre on Friday 12 April.

Follow pic link to see Cate Ferris and The Little Unsaid in Halifax

Website links here:    Cate Ferris    The Little Unsaid

Songs played by The Little Unsaid were There Go All Our Wide-eyed Days and Midnight On An Island, the latter out as a single and to be included on his forthcoming album.

From Cate Ferris we heard Leave A Light On and Condensation.
both from her new EP Get Set GO.

I plugged this event - happening on Saturday 13 April at Exeter Phoenix for Phonic FM:

Appearing are the following artists (songs played on the show listed)...

Alex Kumar..All My Love's In Vain
The Swamp Gods..Monotoid..Space Junk
Jay Tamkin..You've Got The Heart / You've Changed

No April Fools here!

1st April. rootsandshoots with me Martin Henning.
Here I was all alone in the Phoenix and I could think of doing nothing better than to present rootsandshoots.

Tracks played were:
Sibashaya Woza ..KonKoma.. KonKoma
Kaounding Cissoko ..Derek Gripper.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Soloho Mahavelo ..Sambiasy & Samba.. World Routes - [Disc 1]
Bayaty ..Ashkhabad.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Samanta Cocek..Boban Marković.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Hayati Inta Reprise (Hayatak Ana) ..Natacha Atlas.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Ciganka Medley ..Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar.. Bucovina Mixtape Vol. 1
Alisero ..Ferhat Tunç.. Listen to the Banned
Bugu Jazz ..Burhan Ocal & The Trakya All Stars.. Buddha Bar IX
Lambada de Oceanía, África y América (eran un mismo continente) ..Pirana.. Songlines CD #91 (April/May 2013)
Dilis Saari/Shushtari ..Eldar Shoshitashvili.. World Routes - [Disc 1]
Jogi ..Talvin Singh.. Together
Homi Di Fora ..Michel.. World Routes [Disc 1]
Maria La Portuguesa ..Alexandra Sousa.. Sabor A Fado
Mazurka Pour Eliza ..Sous Le Pont.. Sous Le Pont
Liviou Lou ..Wig A Wag.. Sarah Ha Safar
Bal Limousine À Lucas ..Ciac Boum.. Vert
Sing Ivy ..Jim Causley Unknown Album (14/03/2007 10:01:31)
St. James Infirmary ..Allen Toussaint.. The Bright Mississippi 
Darling Cory..Appoloosas..Appoloosas
Shiny House..Swamp Gods..Demo
Dancing In The Rain..Jay Tamkin..Jay Tamkin