Bella Hardy make folk’s aristocracy party like it’s 1599 in country retreat, organises country retreat to create music inspired by the Elizabethan age :: The week-long retreat, dubbed the Elizabethan Session, will be taking place at Hatfield House where Elizabeth I found out she was going to be queen - Bella Hardy is one of the hottest properties in folk music, winning the industry’s top solo award last month. But her next project is eccentric even by the genre’s standards: repairing to a country idyll for a week with seven other musicians to create music inspired by the Elizabethan era. The folk retreat will draw on everything from history, myth and culture to controversies and rumours from the 16th century – with help from a noted historian – to come up with a series of new songs. It all culminates in a performance at a folk festival in the shadow of an oak tree under which Elizabeth I is believed to have been sitting when she was informed she would be queen. “I’m really looking forward to it,” Hardy said. “I love studying ancient stories and folklore and rewriting that, so this project jumped right out at me... ...The week-long retreat, dubbed the Elizabethan Session, was the brainchild of Adam Slough, the director of the Folk by the Oak festival, in collaboration with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). He hopes that between 14 and 20 songs will be written. Folk by the Oak has been running at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire since 2008, and this year artists include Richard Thompson and Beth Orton. The Elizabethan Session musicians will also play their last gig together at the festival in July... ...Other performers include Jim Moray, who burst on to the scene a decade ago at the age of 21 with an album recorded in his student bedroom, as well as accordionist Hannah James and Emily Askew, who plays instruments including the vielle, a medieval fiddle. They will be advised by the historian Ian Mortimer, who wrote The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England. independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/bella-hardy-make-folks-aristocracy-party-like-its-1599-in-country-retreat-9193606.html #HGWeekly :|: #HurdyGurdy #Elizabethan
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 21:09:45 +0000