Feast your eyes on the first announcements for Off-Grid’s Barn Stage line up for 2016.
Huge thanks to Demelza Riddell for curating a programme full of outstanding reggae, blues, folk and world music from the South West and across the UK and beyond. Keep an eye on this page for more line-up announcements in the coming weeks!
Without further ado…
Andy Letcher (Telling the Bees)
Darkly crafted folk music.
Andy Letcher writes the songs, fronts the band (Telling the Bees) and provides rhythm on mandolin and stomp. He also plays pipes and is a leading figure in the English bagpiping revival. He cut his teeth in bands like Celtarabia, Paescod and Space Goats and has been seen in many an acoustic jam around festival fires. Drawn by the trance elements of traditional music, he plays in Wod, a trio for Breton dance. He blogs under the pseudonym The Bosky Man and is an unashamed devotee of progressive music.
http://www.tellingthebees.co.uk/bios
And for more stories from Andy’s life as an author and psychedelic historian, visit:
http://andy-letcher.blogspot.co.uk
Carolyn Hillyer and Nigel Shaw
“Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer are renowned musicians & artists who live and work on a thousand year old farm in the heart of Dartmoor, a mist-veiled landscape of wild hills and moors in the southwest of England. The inspiration for all their work is drawn from the raw beauty, hidden spirit and ancient memory of this deep ancestral land.”
Their creative output includes more than thirty music albums, paintings, traditional flute and drum making, published writings, workshops, art installations and festival events. They have also built a large neolithic-style roundhouse at their farm, created from granite, oak and rye grass thatch, and used as a ceremonial ancestor house.
Their recorded albums and live performances form a magical tapestry of ancient instruments, unusual songs and music both wild and tender, using wooden and clay flutes, traditional whistles, recorders, smallpipes, bowed dulcimer, piano, overtone flutes (fujara and koncovka) and many types of hand drums and percussion.
www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk
Check out their Facebook page
Cavemouth
“Cavemouth are a Westcounty / White-Stripesy / filthy-swamp-bluesy / meat disco four-piece (having recently recruited Mr. Duncan ‘The Hook’ Hook, on Saxophone). Based on the wilds of Exmoor, the band live off a strict diet of road-kill and make music to keep the neighbours away and the ‘foxes’ in.”
www.cavemouth.co.uk
Check out their Facebook page
Dakar Audio Club
“Dakar Audio Club are an Afrofusion band playing an uplifting West African Mashup of Soukous , Reggae , Desert Blues and Highlife. Genre transcending a mix of traditional Malian Blues ,Soukouss , Highlife and Reggae but also modern sounds.. in a nutshell they are inspired by the sounds you would hear on a crackly transistor radio walking the streets of Dakar , Lagos or Banjul”
Check out their Facebook page
Dora Darling
“Dora Darling has been steeped in song and stories ever since she was a little girl, she dwells in a magical world somewhere between the wildest woods and the depths of the wide blue sea. Her beautiful voice has a depth and resonance that carries the audience to another world. A self taught musician, Dora sings and plays guitar, she also plays the fiddle and Irish whistles, both of which she learned while living in Ireland twenty years ago. Dora writes and composes all her music; her songs are influenced and informed by her love for the Earth and her magic, and English, Irish and many other traditional folk music of the world.”
Check out her Facebook page
Five Finger Discount
“This Westcountry three-piece combine their many varied influences, including hip-hop, ska, drum ‘n’ bass and reggae, to create their own harmonious blend of lyrical Hip-Pop. Their energetic live performances are gaining rave reviews and a rapidly growing reputation.”
www.fivefingerdiscount.co.uk
Check out their Facebook page
Fly Yeti Fly
“Fly Yeti Fly live in the south-west of England. They love its rivers, its valleys and its cider. Inspired by classic folk and country music, our music blends vocal harmonies with intricate guitar arrangements and tells tales of love, loss and living off the land!”
Check out their Facebook page
www.flyyetifly.com
Glorious Chorus
‘Acclaimed SW performance choir Glorious Chorus closes the festival with their unique a-capella sound. Expect a moving finale from award-winning songwriter/director Helen Yeomans and her dazzling tribe of singers.’
Hazaar!
“A raucous orkestra of klezmer mayhem, this gypsy circus of madness will take you across the balkans on a night of merry dance. Hazaar play unique arrangements fusing elements of funk, dub, rock and jazz into their krazy circus style performances.”
www.hazaar.co.uk
Check out their Facebook page
Insomniac Jack
“Insomniac Jack creates hand written original songs, with, it seems, a foot in every generation of musical influence from rock `n` roll to folk blues & contemporary pop/rock.”
Check out their Facebook page
The Invisible Opera Company of Tibet
or possibly
“Psychedelic jazz rock fusion deep space with a twist of gnome. Satellite band of mothership Gong. This UK dispensation been in existence since 1993, various incarnations.”
Unique.
https://invisibleoperacompanyoftibet.bandcamp.com
Jabbrock
“Live dub reggae band with self-penned songs that blend melodic, soulful harmonies with elevating grooves and solid bass lines. Based in South West, UK”
Check out their Facebook page
