Eliza Carthy, Lucy Farrell, Jackie Oates & Kate Young 3/12/2015

Having seen both Eliza Carthy and Jackie Oates playing their own gigs some time back it seemed a good bet to see this combined gig of four folkies. I was expecting they would play various instruments, an accordion, a couple of guitars maybe, and of course I was expecting to see Eliza Carthy on fiddle but I was delighted when the band turned out to be four fiddles. Very cool and a brilliant sound not only because of their individual expertise but the way they played together. All four were singers as well so the gig was a musical treat from start to finish. The majority of songs were group songs but each artist had one or two solo outings. The one that really hit home was a Kate Young solo song about migration. Both beautiful and moving. Lucy Farrell's voice was very sweet and Eliza Carthy's fiddle playing as ever right on the money. Whilst I am differentiating between them the main feature was the four fiddles and often four voices blended together. I'd repeat this gig in a flash.

Mabon 18/11/2015

A second visit in one week to the friendly Borough Theatre in Abergavenny was to see Mabon a welsh celticky, world-musicky band. They were good value as they were a pretty seamless unit and featured Jamie Smith who was an accomplished accordianist and Oliver Wilson-Dickson,a distinctive fiddle player as the two upfront musical leaders. The set ranged from Welsh -influenced tunes to a particularly fine mazurka to a reel or two. It was interesting to see a band where the influences were wide and disparate but where they had carved out their own identity. I think the songs were mainly written by Jamie Smith. Adam Rhodes played bouzouki and other stringed instruments, Iolo Whelan was on drums and Matt Downer played electric and upright bass.