Newbury enjoys 'She Shanties', a naked harpist and the rescue of a lost soul
Hannah Martin & Toby Kuhn + Katie Grace Harris, at ACE Space, Newbury, on Saturday, March 26. Review by Chris Martin
In front of a modest, but enthusiastic audience, the evening opened with Katie Grace Harris, a gifted multi-instrumentalist, now based in Oxfordshire, but drawing her inspiration from the many places she has lived in around the world. On piano, accordion and shruti box, Katie entertained us with songs from the UK that ranged from a farewell to Lulworth Cove to the impact of seeing so many deserted ruined cottages in the Highlands, a result of the clearances. Along the way we were introduced to her new accordion, named Ruby. Katie finished up her set with the two tracks from her free CD: Rio Grande and Hard Times. Rio Grande is Katie’s take on a traditional sea shanty, but tweaked to reflect a female perspective. This version has been termed a ‘she shanty’.
An album from Katie should be available shortly, one that features collaborations with Phil Beer, Lukas Drinkwater and Odette Michell, all of whom have played ACE Space.
Hannah James and Toby Khun delighted with two fine sets. Hannah is considered to be one of the best accordionists on the British folk scene, extending far beyond the traditional and incorporating beautiful vocal stylings with applications of English clog dance. Her vocal trio Lady Maisery has produced three critically acclaimed albums and over the years she has formed many collaborations, now with French-born roving “post-classical”cellist Toby, who is currently based in Slovenia.
With Hannah’s accordion and Toby’s cello combining perfectly, the duo kicked off their set with the beautiful In the Gloaming. The two met up while stranded in a locked-down Slovenia and their next was Jezerka, a song about a ‘singing lake’ that would fill up and all but disappear at different times of the year. The lake would freeze and produce strange sounds when the water dropped below the ice.
Three Ravens, a song of the death of true love, written while Hannah lived in Derbyshire, was followed by two linked tunes January and February then The Ragged Woman, the song of a fairy tale involving a naked harpist and the rescue of a lost soul. The duo wrapped up the first set with two of Toby’s tunes Forest and Vine Dance, the former with Hannah’s lyrics and the latter with her spirited tap dancing.
The second set opened with Canal Song, written by Hannah when she lived in Leicestershire (these two have been around a bit!) and continued with The Giant, a song about the different perspectives of how people see us and we them. Continuing with Dancing Out of Sight and Jealousy, we were then treated to the fine cello introduction to Toby’s Meet With Me and his Under Sea, a tune he composed while living in Croatia where, for him, swimming was great therapy.
The pair wrapped up their set with The Faint and Weary Traveller, Hannah and Toby’s ode to people who can find their ideal place in the world. For an encore they gave us a rousing finale Tuulikki’s Tune, most appropriately a tribute to a fine Estonian accordion player.
Toby’s plucked cello playing and Hannah’s sensitive accordion playing was, particularly on the quieter numbers, truly mesmerising.
