Let me say from the outset that there’s
nothing for music critics on this night, because to criticise and complain is to
completely miss the point. Open mics
should not form part of that overly serious take on music, they should be
celebratory and fun, rather than competitive and fame obsessed.
However, the music critic was with us
on this night, hiding in a bitter corner, watching the proceedings - assessing,
obsessing, judging and evaluating from his own experiences in the music
business .. that everything is shit.
I beg to differ, and believe there was much in the way of great music and performance on
this eclectic night, which was also in support of the Holmfirth Art Week. In fact, there were so many good people wanting to
play, I had to limit everyone to two songs or ten minutes max.
Julian Socha (pictured left) kicked off the night with some incredible guitar picking that was so energetic it came
to an abrupt end five minutes in with a broken string – well, to be fair, it was being tested to the max.
Imagine That, Lucy Roberts and Lawrence Guntert represented the next generation
of musicians playing covers and their own original material.
Tim Taylor gave us looped acoustics,
Petra read her poetry and Dave Cowan brought us comedy. The legend that is Steve Chapman Smith played
hard rocking guitar with gritty vocals, and I was so pleased he’d ventured over
from Wakefield to play for us. Also from
Wakefield we had the upbeat and political poems of Jimmy Andrex, whilst the
return of the vinyl turntable pumped out Neil Young, Gram Parsons, Sonic Youth and many others.
Steve Augarde played some smooth jazz
guitar and vocals. Steve is also a
published author of children’s books and according to his website has also
provided the music for Bump the Elephant.
By the way Steve is running an open mic as part Marsden Jazz Festival
on Friday 11th October at the Liberal Club.
And the place fell into silence, possibly
the most silence there has ever been in Cellar 88, when Satteli (pictured right) filled
the room with haunting yodeling and alpine songs. These chanting melodies, ambient by
their very nature, reverberated through the Holme valleys in a manner akin to how they might work back in Switzerlad and this much appreciated.
Of course, none of the music was good enough for the
critic, who on leaving the night told me that there was nothing for him here and
I wanted to say – open your heart and let it go, the elitism, the always knowing
best, just let it go. No-one here is
chasing the same thing as you have been chasing all your life.
He looked at me and shrugged, then
walked away because critics only ever see the frame game, the endless placing of music into categories and desires.
However, for the none critics among you there
is a great chance to find out more about Swiss Folk Music and yodeling at a
workshop run by the marvelous Satteli on Saturday 16 November at Banana
Music in Holmfirth (see below).
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