MALARCHIST

Glastonbury!

2010-07-02T15:28:00.000+01:00

Had a great Glastonbury playing with RSVP. Here's a crowd shot from the Avalon Cafe gig on Thursday night. They're having the time of their lives!
No-one went crazy and we only lost our bassist for a day.

Wild Garlic

2010-05-24T18:39:00.000+01:00

An old hedgerow favourite, this. Find in shady woodland. Smells strongly of garlic and onions.

Pirate Utopias

2010-05-04T18:29:00.000+01:00

This is an excellent article on piracy (the historic version, rather than the Somalis with AK47s version), which illuminates the inspiration for the roaming outcast sailing raiders, and finds their political motivation in the radical movements of the 1600s.

http://www.eco-action.org/dod/no8/pirate.html

Kennet and Avon Boating Community Under Threat!

2010-05-03T22:50:00.001+01:00

Kennet and Avon Boating Community Under Threat!

Just a reminder to you all. The boating community is under threat from a handful of bigots wielding undue power. Time to fight back!

http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/

Dark Eyes - The Truth

2010-05-01T08:34:00.000+01:00

Incredibly, I've only just discovered this source material for the classic "Russian trad" number "Dark Eyes". The lyrics aren't traditional, the tune is German, and the two weren't even composed together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Eyes_(song)

Season's Greetings!

2009-12-22T21:38:00.000Z

Now I know this looks set-up. It was - see the breadcrumbs. It is however a real robin. Robins are very easily tamed, and this one from Bathampton has had more than its share of breadcrumbs.

Shantel - another thieving musician.

2009-11-26T17:25:00.000Z

Shantel, the German dj turned "Balkan Beats" star, seems to be shaping up to be a Goran Bregovic for the noughties and beyond - as if we needed another one.

Bregovic, for those of you with short memories, stands convicted of stealing other artists' copyrighted material, claiming it as traditional or asserting his own authorship in the face of the facts, and riding roughshod over the rights of the original composer. Artists as notable as Saban Bajramovic, Esma Redzepova and Llilijana Petrovic (Butler) have all accused him of theft and plagiarism.

Now Shantel on his new Planet Paprika album stands guilty of the same crime, claiming he wrote the lot, when clearly much of it is traditional. I've been playing "Sura kai mastoura" for over ten years, so to learn it, I must have had access to a time machine.

What a cretin!

New Kennet and Avon Boating Community Website

2009-09-30T21:56:00.000+01:00

There's a potentially interesting new local boatie site for Kennet and Avon users. Organise people! Resist BW's idiotic attempts to clear out liveaboards!

http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/

IMG00656.jpg

2009-09-30T12:16:00.000+01:00

I often see this BW patrol officer about, poking his nose through people's windows and generally being creepy.

As I've said before no decent human being would take on such a job, it being the kind of petty-minded bureaucratic weaselly occupation suited to those who'd let a totalitarian regime dictate their way of life, all the way to the gas chambers.

I wonder if this is Martin Skinner, enforcement officer ?

martin.skinner@britishwaterways.co.uk

I must remember to write and find out.

New Boat!

2009-08-03T15:28:00.000+01:00

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And we're off!

2009-07-31T18:17:00.000+01:00

New boat, new life etc.
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Tambourine

2009-07-03T20:45:00.000+01:00

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Portrait of Django survives.

2009-07-03T20:31:00.000+01:00

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This tune has been here before.

2009-07-03T19:47:00.000+01:00

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Burnt accordion.

2009-07-03T19:46:00.000+01:00

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No need to light the stove.

2009-07-03T19:45:00.000+01:00

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Burnt out amp

2009-07-02T09:18:00.000+01:00

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Destroyed by fire.

2009-07-02T09:17:00.000+01:00

I've only just found the time to post this photo. Three weeks ago, our narrow boat was set alight by person or persons unknown. We were asleep inside at the time, and escaped through the back sliding hatch. I'm considering this to be a hate crime, directed at travellers in general.

We lost pretty much everything we owned, but have found great support from our friends, and indeed strangers too. Many thanks to you all. We will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

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Review of the Malarchy Band in the Bath Chronicle

2009-06-10T12:38:00.000+01:00

"Bristol-based five-piece band Malarchy is well known on the international stage for its individual style of celebratory Eastern European music that mixes Jewish Klezmer with Romany gypsy and Balkan folk music played on violin, guitar, bass, accordion and percussion in virtuoso style.

Malarchy are Nell Farrally (violin), Cris Pierssene (guitar), Russ Oroonie (Percussion), Jo Levine (accordion) and Jane Harwood (bass).

Formed in 2000, Malarchy have become known as one of the South West's top European roots acts.

This band just gets better every time I hear them and anyone who enjoy roots, world music or jazz will find that their music is full of surprises and plenty of passion.

The emphasis without doubt seems to be on having a good time with tight musicianship and a polished sound that has real energy and is a delight to hear.

You may occasionally catch some members playing in local sessions and with other bands but when they get together as Malarchy the musicianship is so tight and you would never guess that they have lives beyond the band. They are appearing at Bath Folk Club on Friday week."

Rosie Upton

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Inu at Komedia

2009-06-03T21:28:00.002+01:00

My beautiful Rob Aylward guitar onstage at Komedia, Bath. Lovely room, with a dreadful sound. A venue built for purely acoustic gigs!
Inu had a good time, considering we could not hear a note of it. The Lakeman band played their epic folk pop rock superbly to great acclaim.

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Gig list - Summer 2009

2009-05-29T09:29:00.001+01:00

29 May - Inu - Green Park, Bath 6pm

3 June - Inu - Komedia, Bath 8pm

7 June - RSVP - Walcot Royal Show, Bath

13 June - RSVP - Creatives, Bridgend, Wales

14 June - RSVP - Lynton & Lynmouth Festival, Devon

20 June - RSVP - Aashana

21 June - Malarchy - Migrations Festival, St Georges, Bristol

24-28 June - Malarchy & RSVP - Glastonbury

29 June - RSVP - Beaminster Festival

5 July - Malarchy Band - Frome Festival

11 July - RSVP - Workhouse Festival, Llanfylin

12 July - RSVP - Weston Super Mare

15-17 July - RSVP - Larmertree Festival

18-19 July - RSVP - Tolpuddle Festival

28-30 August - Malarchy & RSVP - Aeon Festival

5 September - RSVP - Narberth Noson Allan

22 September - RSVP - Colston Hall

1 November - Malarchy - Raglan Arms, WSM

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THE INTERRUPTOR: VST devices download page

2009-05-24T10:22:00.001+01:00

Check these dub plugins out. Superb stuff, I love them!

http://www.interruptor.ch/vst_overview.shtml

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Inu at Chippenham Folk Festival

2009-05-23T19:01:00.000+01:00

Slightly blurry, or should that be bleary, photo of Louise and Bethany of INU on stage at Chippenham Folk Festival. I'm depping on guitar with them at the moment.
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Our name in lights!

2009-04-29T13:45:00.000+01:00

Ok, just on a banner in Bradford on Avon then.
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Leaks!

2009-04-09T19:41:00.000+01:00

Good to know these extremely leaky gates were fixed yesterday.

Now they're just very leaky.

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Bradford on Avon Boatyard - Under Threat?

2009-04-09T08:10:00.000+01:00

Rumour has it that the wharf at B on A is likely to close. I hear that the current manager is being stung for expensive repairs to the dry dock walls. This would be damage incurred prior to him taking over the lease, and without any doubt the responsibility of BW.

As a result the drydock is now closed for the foreseeable future, depriving us locally of a diy facility. None of the other docks locally will allow users to work on their own boats, due to unspecified "health and safety issues", and this pushes up the price of boaty blacking considerably.
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BW Licence Evasion Figures

2009-04-04T08:52:00.000+01:00

I note from a recent copy of Waterways World magazine (February 2009), that BW's figure of 10.4% of boats on their waterways being unlicensed includes unidentified boats in addition. So in fact, I have been proved right. The 10.4% figure was misleading. There is a world of difference between unlicensed and unidentified.

Apparently the figure has now dropped to 6.8%, though I have yet to find how many boats this represents, or how much money, after paying patrol officers, has actually been gained. Not very much, I suspect is the answer.

Don't misunderstand me, though, I do believe it's totally reasonable for all boaters to pay for the upkeep of the canals, I just object to the intimidatory methods used by patrol officers, with the encouragement of British Waterways.

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Treacherous towpath

2009-04-01T17:48:00.000+01:00

Oh dear ! The towpath has collapsed. Better put up some orange tape, and hope the problem goes away, BW.
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Oval Racer

2009-04-01T16:28:00.000+01:00

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BW Patrol Officer - No job for an honest man say boaters.

2009-04-01T16:27:00.000+01:00

You've got to wonder what draws certain people to certain jobs.

Certainly, the role of BW Patrol Officer is one designed for the mean of heart, and petty of spirit. The clean-hearted and honest charactered man need not apply.

Their job is to travel the length of the canal network taking down the registration numbers of every boat, and ensuring that none of them remain in the same place for more than two weeks, by handing out what are termed "Section 8 notices" - threatening letters in other words, the tone of which is intended to intimidate the reader with the threatened removal of his or her home.

I am reminded of how often tyrannies are built on the bigotry of jobsworth bureaucrats.

Of recent years British Waterways (BW) have had pressure put on them by a small but noisy minority of (mostly) occasional and holiday boaters, primarily through the medium of internet forums.

This group have formed an opinion, contrived by BW in some measure, and their opinion is that too many people are not licensing their boats, and that these same people, in the company of other boaters with licenses, are overstaying on time-limited moorings and other desirable spots around the system.

I suggest that BW have helped to form this opinion in some measure through their manipulation, and indeed, fabrication of licensing statistics. The figure of 10% of all boats being unlicensed is continually bandied about, but a stroll around some of the supposed trouble spots suggests that this is just not the case at all.

BW's motive in seeking to covertly make mischief is, I suggest, to remove attention from their general incompetence in maintaining the historic network, and also from the catastrophic losses incurred by their property empire in recent months. BW's property development arm are supposed to be helping make the canals self-funding.

Here we come to the central question of waterways funding. Is it appropriate that boaters should bear the majority of the costs of a resource enjoyed by a much larger population group? Shouldn't BW, alongside their encouragement to non-boaters to enjoy the canals as "linear parks" (ugh)be trying to get some money from them, or more appropriately from the national defence or health budgets? The sums of money to be gained from getting unlicensed boats licensed is a drop in the canal compared to the sums actually required to keep what should soon be listed as a world heritage site running. In fact one wonders how the returns from getting boats licensed compares to the costs of enforcement. Can it possibly be worthwhile?

The question remains, therefore; what kind of man becomes a patrol officer?

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Coal Boats

2009-03-26T11:42:00.000Z

Since this blog is about my life as a travelling musician, I thought this photo of the coal and diesel boat Scavenger and butty might be interesting. It's a great sight when the pair pull up alongside one to trade.

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Tablatastic!

2009-03-23T00:49:00.000Z

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RSVP play the Thali Cafe, Easton this Sunday March 22nd.

2009-03-19T21:58:00.001Z

http://www.onestopthali.co.uk/
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RSVP at the Cube

2009-03-19T21:44:00.002Z

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Malarchist has shared a video with you on YouTube: This is excellent! RSVP at the Cube The extraordinary RSVP in concert
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New studio space !

2009-03-15T14:34:00.000Z

This unusual pan style boat is going to be converted into the new Malarchist Studio. It's tiny, but still much bigger than the original studio in a wardrobe we've been using up until now!
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Solar Power!

2009-03-15T14:23:00.000Z

These four Unisolar panels provide 248w of renewable energy, by which the Malarchist Sounds mobile studio is powered.
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Baglama

2009-03-13T12:09:00.000Z

Instrument of the day is a nice little Baglama, on which to play Rembetiko, naturally.
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RSVP Slideshow.

2009-03-13T11:49:00.001Z

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsvpmusic/show/with/3332827051/

Bath Folk Club

2009-03-12T20:28:00.000Z

Just to say that we're really excited to be taking the new electric line-up of The Malarchy Band to Bath Folk Club tomorrow night. Valves, electrics, fx, a drumkit - what will they make of it I wonder ?

Funny really. The obsession with "acoustic" is a very English phenomenon, bound up with notions of authenticity, and no doubt the true dirt under the fingernails of the honest folk.

Ironic then, that just about everywhere from Mongolia to Bucharest, musicians have leapt at the opportunity to make loud and original electric noises within their traditional frameworks.

RSVP at the Colston Hall

2009-02-25T09:36:00.000Z

L-R Lyn (management), Dildar (Vocals), Pugz (Drums), Jeevan (Percussion), Dom (E-Viola, Trombone)
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RSVP backstage at the Colston Hall

2009-02-24T19:09:00.000Z

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DeArmond magnets - retro chic.

2009-02-23T20:40:00.001Z

DeArmond Model 500 magnetic mandolin pickup. Marvellous !
Warm ! Loud !

Titi Winterstein - Bossa Dorado

2009-02-23T16:23:00.000Z

Bath Folk Club - Malarchy Band

2009-02-22T07:23:00.004Z

I thought it worth celebrating the rather wonderful Bath Folk Club, where The Malarchy Band
have their next gig.

Bath Folk Club really is a folk club unlike any other, lacking as it does both the stuffy puritanism of the revivalist generation and the pretentious triviality of the singer/songwriter scene, atmospheres which I have found deeply discouraging.

Bath Folk Club has found an ideal venue in Widcombe Social Club, a comfortable but unreconstructed social club in the old mould, in which events can stretch out as they see fit.

Initially the idea of Bath folk stalwarts Marick and Louise Baxter, they've gathered a committee about them to help with management, and a pretty compelling program has resulted. The focus has primarily been upon music from the British Isles, although I'm sure there's been some American trad as well.

I have to say that programming the Malarchy Band seems like a bold move. Firstly because we don't play local traditional music. No Irish tunes then. Secondly I expect this to be the first drumkit and electric guitar and bass the club will have had visited upon them. Perhaps, though, in what we may term the post-Womad age, the audience will be able to resist the temptation to revive the spirit of the man who heckled Dylan at the Manchester Free Trade Hall with a cry of "Judas !".

Have a look at their website below.

http://www.bathfolkclub.org.uk/

And of course the Malarchy Band sites at:
http://www.malarchy.co.uk

and

http://www.myspace.com/malarchyband

RSVP at the Colston Hall

2009-02-21T21:28:00.000Z

RSVP are playing the Colston Hall in Bristol on February 24th 2009 in association with the University of the West of England, and Bristol City Council. There'll be some end of year student performances from UWE's creative music technology course followed by a small collaborative piece and the RSVP.

One wonders if Bristol's flagship venue will have improved the truly awful acoustics in their reverberant bar. Not a great advert for the city's musical standards.

Illegal ?

2009-02-21T15:52:00.000Z

I'm told it's now illegal to take a photo of a UK policeman. Whoops.
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Thunderbolt Review

2009-02-21T11:25:00.000Z

An interesting pub, with a small but good selection of local real ales, and the now omnipresent Doombar, the Thunderbolt presents itself as a terrifyingly yellow apparition on the Bath Road just past Temple Meads in Bristol.

Billing itself as a community arts pub, the program features a substantial line-up which wouldn't look out of place in many small arts centres.

Internally it's all pretty basic, but effort has been made in creating ambience with fairy lights, candles and drapery. The owner, Dave, has a fairly haphazard approach to drinks orders though, and gets it wrong twice. We give up trying to get the right pints, feeling miffed that there appears to be no band rider. It's such a small gesture of support and hospitality that when it doesn't happen I'm left feeling slightly mystified.

There's a small stage lit with led cans, and an oversize pa. The band dressing room appears to be the old gents toilet, complete with urinal tastefully obscured by swathes of fabric. Classy.

A good crowd has turned out to see RSVP, and appear to have a wild time over the course of our two sets,although I cannot actually see them, because of the stage lighting. I am later assured they went crazy.

On stage sound levels are deafening of course. I am stuck in the corner with drums and dhol to compete with. The guitar sound seems loud and clear everywhere except where I'm stood, so I shuffle about trying to find the best spot. I think we've found the groove though, as all the instruments seem to disappear in the mix and a new rhythm and melody emerges, similar to playing to a click and being so on it, that it vanishes. Success then ! Dom and I are getting pretty experimental, and tunes are reworked almost without end. I think it could go further out, but Judge has his eye on the crowd and drags us all back in. A few new and unrehearsed numbers make their appearance in a Bhangra medley and the Desi boys go crazy.

Finally, after what seems like an age, it's all over, and I'm packed and out the door trying to make it onto the last bus home. Roll on the Colston Hall.

Malarchist Lizard

2009-02-21T09:22:00.001Z

This image was created for the inside cover of the Malarchy Band album, "1000 years from home".

Rob Aylward Maccaferri Replica

2009-02-20T08:52:00.002Z

The grande bouche of my beautiful Aylward guitar. This is a 14 fret to the body model - extra large, extra loud. Also fitted is this wonderful Stimer magnetic pickup which I just love the sound of. I picked this up at Oldies Guitars in Paris last July.

RSVP

2009-02-20T08:49:00.002Z

Top Bhangra band RSVP play the Thunderbolt tonight. I'm on mandolin and guitar. RSVP gigs featuring the full band are usually riotously entertaining affairs, with a dance workshop thrown in for nothing. Judge Singh is the man with the moves - some of them look dangerous to me!