The finalists are bands Evening Chorus (from Cardiff) and London-based Common Tongues and Mishaped Pearls plus duos Solarference (Devon/Bristol) and Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker (London/Worcestershire).
Five exciting emerging music acts will go head-to-head in the final of a nationwide music competition organised by Bristol’s revived Folk Festival.
Nearly 100 entries were received for the festival’s Isambard Folk Award and now the judging panel has short-listed just five acts for the final on Friday, March 30 - one of whom will win a high profile platform at the Bristol Folk Festival this spring - and much more.
Last year, organisers staged the inaugural contest to celebrate the first Bristol Folk Festival in 32 years with Welsh band Under the Driftwood Tree (right) emerging as winners.
Sponsored by two of Somerset’s leading music operations –the cult recording studio Songs from the Shed and Folk Radio UK - the 2012 Isambard Folk Award is a nod to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the famous British engineer who designed the city’s Clifton Suspension Bridge and SS Great Britain.
Entrants had to submit footage of themselves performing one song/tune on a social networking site.
Open to UK-based performers of any age, it will give the winner a chance to appear on the same bill as acts of the calibre of Show of Hands, Cara Dillon and Afro Celt Sound System, this year’s headliners.
Says festival co-organiser Jan Ayers: “Last year set a real standard with scores of diverse, high quality entries from all round the country. But this year has topped that with even more entries and a great cross section of bands and solo artists from across the traditional folk, experimental and contemporary spectrum.”
Now the shortlisted acts will get the chance to perform 15 minute sets before judges in Hall 2 of the Colston Hall on Friday, March 30, 7.30pm. Tickets for the final are free and can be reserved by calling the Colston Hall box office on 0117 922 3686. Tickets must be collected between 6-7pm on the night.
One act will be awarded the coveted prize –the chance to appear on Colston Hall’s main stage during this year’s Bristol Folk Festival (May 5-7) as well as Somerfest – a one-day folk music and arts festival to be held at the stunning Halsway Manor on the edge of Somerset’s Quantock Hills (Saturday, April 7). A bonus prize will give the winner the opportunity of sessions on Songs from the Shed and Folk Radio UK.
Jan Ayers will be joined on the judging panel by former WOMAD artistic director Thomas Brooman, Jon Earl of Songs from the Shed and Alex Gallacher of Folk Radio UK.
THE FINALISTS
The finalists are bands Evening Chorus (from Cardiff) and London-based Common Tongues and Mishaped Pearls plus duos Solarference (Devon/Bristol) and Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker (London/Worcestershire).
Published on 22 March 2012 by Ben Robinson
