Dart Music Festival merchandise is here!!

It's here at last! We're very excited - all our lovely new merchandise has just arrived. It hasn't even been unpacked yet but I have it on good authority that it's going to be fabulous - there will be photos here as soon as possible so you can have a sneaky peek at all the great items on offer this year.

As well as the very collectable Dart Music Festival tee shirts with stunning new colours and designs, we have some great new hoodies, new style caps, and of course in the VERY unlikely event of inclement weather (yeah, right...) we've though of everything with our handy sized DMF umbrellas and warm, stylish rain jackets.

You'll find all these goodies on sale during the Festival from the Merchandise Tent in Royal Avenue Gardens, just near the stage and the Information Hut. A friendly word of warning - popular designs, sizes and colours do tend to sell out quickly so do make sure you grab your goodies while you can - we'd hate you to be disappointed...

Only ten days to go now, and counting - EEEK..! Let's hope all the wind and rain will have moved on by then and that the sun will shine on the righteous... We look forward to welcoming you at the end of next week and hope you'll have fun.

Grainne Duffy

Please see below an article on Grainne Duffy, who we will be delighted to welcome to the Festival in May.

Dart Music Festival Programmes are now out and selling fast!

They really are here now! Sorry about the delay but we think they are worth the wait... 

Don't miss out on a single thing - get yours today.

The 2012 programme is now available by:

* Downloading from our website at £3.00 per download

* By post on application from our website at £4.50 to cover postage costs

* In person at £3.00 from these Dartmouth outlets:

Dartmouth Tourist Office - The Flavel  - 

Royal Castle Hotel - No 11 - Pillars Newsagents

(Sorry, the postal option is not available from these outlets.)

In case you're wondering why we have to charge for our programmes instead of putting the whole schedule on our website, we're not being mean - really we're not. 

It's just that we are self funded and programme sales go a long way to ensuring that we have enough funds to put the Festival on every year and, more importantly, pay the performers! A lot of people don't realise that the artists don't play for free. The truth is that the piper must very much be paid - and the jazz band, and the classical guitarists, and the blues singer, and the violinist, and the folk band, and the choral group, and the drummers, and and and...Need I say more? 

Added to that, it really does help make it easier to plan your day - for a small fee you can always have a souvenir programme in your pocket and not miss out on anything, hopefully, although we'd be the first to admit that with so much going on it's often quite difficult to fit everything in. So I hope that clears up that little matter for you and that you'll understand why we really do have to charge - thanks!

We appreciate your support for the Festival by purchasing a programme - couldn't do it without you. Thank you.

The pirates of Baroque...

Thanks to Cap'n Piers and his jolly crew for this information on Red Priest - please read on...

  RED PRIEST

We are hoping for sun and a fair wind as we sail the high seas to make our first visit to the Dart Festival on 12 May to perform one of our favourite programmes 'Pirates of the Baroque' – a truly swashbuckling affair which will, we hope, show the great masters of the era in a colourful new light.   For me the visit will be a fleeting one as I’ll have to set sail again straight after the concert to try and reach Newcastle before breakfast – where I’ll be adjudicating in the BBC Young Musician of the Year finals.   Such is the life of the touring musician...

We have just returned from performing in Italy, in the opera house of a picturesque town near Venice, and before arriving in Dartmouth our schedule includes visits to Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham and Chatsworth in the Peak District, but we are sure that nothing will beat the wonderful atmosphere and welcome that will await us (plus a Devon Cream Tea or two!) when we land in Dartmouth on the 12th!

We be lookin' fore t' seein' you soon

Cap'n Piers and his hearty shipmates,  Julia, Angela and David

http://redpriest.bandzoogle.com/fr_home.cfm 

Louise Jordan

Thank you Louise for your very interesting contribution to our blog - sounds great and we're all looking forward to seeing you! Please note that full details of times and dates of Louise's performances are in the new programme which has just come out and is available to download from our website, or by post, or in person from Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre, No 11 shop in Victoria Road,  The Royal Castle Hotel on the Quay, and Pillars Newsagents in Lower Street. Now, please read on...

LOUISE JORDAN

This summer is set to be very busy indeed so I am looking forward to taking a break in May for the Dartmouth Festival, definitely a personal highlight of my festival season this year. I really enjoy visiting the South West coast - the last time I was in town was to rest and recuperate after my winter tour last December 2011 so it’s just about time I paid Dartmouth another visit.

My unofficial roadie, a military historian, tells me that Bayards Cove (where one of my performances takes place) has a number of well angled embrasures with a good field of fire. He also informs me that Browns Hotel, where I will also be playing, stocks locally sourced fish and meat. I have heard Dartmouth Castle is also really rather splendid. So I’ll be advertising for a new roadie for the weekend I suppose, as mine will no doubt be AWOL.

The job description requires the ability to know what I am thinking at any given time (no-one has managed it yet), organisational skills second to none and a total disinterest in drinking beer at a folk festival. An inbuilt compass would also be an advantage (I taught my fair share of subjects during my short-lived career as a teacher, although geography was not one). Anyone?!

It would be good to see you at one of my performances during the festival. With so many fantastic acts to see you will surely have some difficult choices to make. If you are able to come along to either of my festival performances, please do come and say hello and have a chat.

See you on the 12^th May.

Louise

www.louisejordan.co.uk

They're here! Well, almost...

Good news!

Dart Music Festival  programmes are now available to download from the website, and although the physical copies are not quite ready yet they will be available from local outlets and by post from the website later next week.

For further details watch this space.....

Matt D'Netto

 MATT D'NETTO

I am Matt D’Netto, a Midlands-based solo classical guitarist with a repertoire ranging from baroque through to classical, romantic and contemporary music. I have performed at festivals and recitals across the country including venues like the Adrian Boult Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall and I am delighted to be performing at St. Saviour’s Church at this year’s Dart Music Festival. 

I have recently been studying under the guidance of some of the UK’s finest guitarists at the Birmingham Conservatoire and have participated in master classes from musicians like William Kanengiser (founding member of the LA guitar Quartet and Benjamin Verdery and am extremely excited to put the experience gained into practice in my first performance of 2012 at Dartmouth.

I’ve also just spent the winter months in a recording studio in Leeds working on my debut solo album entitled ‘Artista Callejero’ (meaning ‘street performer’ – a reference to my time spent busking in sunny Stratford-upon-Avon during the summer months) to be released in early May. After spending so much time recording and scrutinising my playing in small studio rooms and recording booths I can’t wait to get back to performing live, especially at a venue like St. Saviour’s Church with such great acoustics.  

I have been asked by the organisers to put together a programme of music from Spain, the home of the modern classical guitar, so I’ve managed to work out a programme of almost an hour of quintessential guitar music including the Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tarrega, Canarios by Gaspar Sanz, Granada by Isaac Albeniz, El Testament d’Amelia by Miguel Llobet, a pair of etudes by Fernando Sor and Spanish Dance No.5 by Enrique Granados, plus many more…

Really looking forward to the festival, can’t wait! Right, time for me to return to the practice room now and get on with rehearsing! 

Matt D’Netto

For more info visit my website: www.mattdnetto.com

You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/mattdnetto) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/mattdnetto).

News from Tattie Jam...

Thank you to Seylan for all the latest news on Tattie Jam - we look forward to welcoming you to Dartmouth next month.

 TATTIE JAM

Tattie Jam is gearing up now for a 6 week tour and the Dartmouth festival is one of our first stops. It's sure to be a highlight, and another will be playing at a wine festival in Germany.

We've only been in Dartmouth once before - last November when we were on our way home from an Australian tour. We'd been dreading leaving the amazing landscape and mild springtime weather of Australia for a grey English winter but Dartmouth was a lovely surprise - the weather was mild, the town gorgeous and we had a lovely walk along to Blackstone Point in the sunshine.

Our gig was at the Windjammer - great hospitality and yummy cider and beer - and there was a very enthusiastic table of folk sitting near the front. They turned out to be most of the festival committee and hence our invite back!

We do Scottish songs and instrumental sets, both traditional and self-penned, with material ranging from very funky danceable tunes to acapella harmonies with pretty much everything in between. Our arrangements are carefully crafted but we don't take ourselves too seriously - the Scotsman newspaper described our music as 'cheekily Scottish, it doesn't care what the neighbours think' - that's probably a pretty good description!

The line-up is a bit unusual - harmony vocals, cello, 5-string electric cello (I've just bought a 6-string but it probably won't arrive on time!), guitar, didgeridoo, drum box and various shaky things including llama toenails. Didgeridoo - in Scottish traditional music?! But it reminds us a bit of the bagpipe drone with added percussion!

Ruaridh acclimatising in Dartmouth

Ruaridh is doing a 'make your own didge and learn to play it' workshop on the Sunday- that's always really popular at festivals so best to book early. And we'll also be playing at the Old Market Square - hope to see some of you there!

Have a look at our website:  

www.tattiejam.com or facebook site: www.facebook.com/tattiejam 

- you'll find examples of our music and other nonsense.

Thank you Seylan - can't wait!

Dart Music Festival welcomes 'The New Choir on the Block'

Latest news on 'The Lost Sound' from Director Sandra Smith: 

 THE LOST SOUND

"We are The Lost Sound - a small a cappella mixed voice chorus, directed by Sandra Smith, who are gearing up for this wonderful festival.  We're 'The new choir on the block' as we started performing just two summers ago and have clocked up some great concerts and local festivals.  We're made up of people from all walks of life who share a passion for singing, and in that sense we are a community choir. Some of us have only been singing for a couple of years and don't read music and others have more experience. 

We also like to explore how to improve. Singing education is part of our foundation (probably helped by the fact that the 'boss' is a singing teacher and doesn't let us get away with anything!)   Whatever our level, we've joined this choir to learn how to be better singers. Hopefully you'll be able to tell!!!

We've been busy rehearsing new material and we're launching the programme at this year's festival - so you'll be the first to hear it. Even friends and family haven't heard it yet!  Emails are flying round the chorus getting everything sorted; getting the men in the right coloured shirts has been interesting! The riser blocks have been made, the committee have had to discuss endless details over a pint - or two - after rehearsals...any excuse eh, guys?

Our songs cover  a range of styles and show our taste for great tunes with arrangements of modern Indie artists like Imogen Heap, pop divas like Adele as well as hauntingly beautiful traditional Irish folk songs, energetic Eastern European folk and uplifting gospel. Some arrangements are our own, others are from some of the best contemporary composers around. Just turn up to learn more!"

Sandra Smith is also running a singing workshop on Saturday 12^th May 11am - 12noon. Come join her and create some wonderful harmony with your singing - it's open to all singers new and experienced - it's a great way to start your festival day and get you in the mood for the concert!

For more info see www.singingandbreathing.co.uk

Welcome to Monty Halls

 A WARM DARTMOUTH WELCOME TO MONTY HALLS AND FAMILY...

Dart Music Festival committee would like to give a warm welcome to Dartmouth to Monty Halls, partner Tamsyn, baby daughter Isla and of course not forgetting Reuben. We hope they will be very happy in Dartmouth and will enjoy their first experience of the Music Festival.

Vice Chairman Alan called in to Monty's new shop in Market Street yesterday and was very impressed - if you'd like to learn more about Monty's new venture please visit his blog:

http://montyhalls.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/we-or-rather-they-did-it.html?spref=fb

Been to Dart Music Festival... Done that.. Got the souvenir tee shirt...

...Or at least, we hope you will get it when you are here...! We have a great range of merchandise in the pipeline for this year - here's what Melanie, our merchandise co-ordinator, has to say: 

"The merchandise team - Kim, Melanie and friends - are quietly excited by new styles and designs for this year’s Festival.

We have new Hoodies, handy sized DMF Umbrellas and Sooper Dooper Rain Jackets - so that'll make sure it's a good sunny one! 

As if that wasn't enough, we also have tee shirts with a luvverly new Funky Piano design on a smooth and charming colour range. Watch out for the 'burnt orange' - just what the fashionistas are gagging for this year..!

What with the Seriously Stylish Caps with exotic trim, and the new DMF artwork - oh it's all going to be gorgeous!

Make sure you're the first to grab your goodies before they sell out - see you at the Merchandise Tent."

The merchandise is being printed as I write so if you want a sneaky peek at what's in store look out for the photos on this blog - they should be here within the next week or so.

By George - what a Spicy Sunday

Our thanks to Ruth Coe for hosting a delicious curry lunch at The George Inn, Blackawton last Sunday.   Guest Chef Phil Braakenburg spent days lovingly preparing a host of hot and spicy (and in some cases 'blow your head off'!) pickles, chutneys and side dishes to accompany his lovely lamb kebabs, awesome aubergine curry and luscious lamb curry.

Phil was ably and amicably aided and abetted by 'Sous-Chef' Shahar from The Spice Bazaar, Kitchen Porter Rob Lyon and Chief Naan-Baker Pam Braakenburg to provide a brilliant meal in a great location. The sun shone on the George's fab new terrace, the view was amazing, the plates were licked clean, and a good time was had by all.

Our thanks to Phil who kindly donated the proceeds and to Ruth who matched his donation to give £260 to the Dart Music Festival - it is very much appreciated.

Thanks also to Shahar, Rob, Pam and the staff at the George Inn for making it such a relaxing and fun day.

News from The Becca Langsford Band

The Becca Langsford Band featuring Thomas Ford

We've just received this very interesting information on The Becca Langsford Band

 from Vince Lee - guitarist/vocalist in the band. Please read on...

My name is Vince Lee, I am guitarist/vocalist with The Becca Langsford Band. I've played The Dart Music Festival several times before with my own band, Vince Lee & The Big Combo. This year I'll be appearing alongside Becca for two shows - and for the evening show the line-up will include Becca's brother, Thomas Ford on harmonica.

Becca's album 'Big Surprise' was released nearly a year ago now. The disc has since been awarded 'Best Blues Album of 2011' by Ashwyn Smith from Digital Blues Radio in a recent interview with Blues in Britain magazine... Tim Aves radio show 'The Blues is Back' for Saint FM. made 'Big Surprise' his number one album of 2011 & Grahame Rhodes from Blues in The Northwest also put Becca's album in his top 10 blues albums of the year.

The band's current line-up features: Myself, Vince Lee from The Big Combo & The Wildcards on guitar, I am joined by Wildcards bandmate Martin Vowles who has swapped his usual guitar duties for double bass and the band's latest addition Chris Wilkinson on drums, another musician better known for his skills as a guitarist with The Bonneville Barons, Lynette Morgan & The Zazou Cowboys. 

There is a strong retro vibe to the band's sound which compliments Becca's vintage vocal style perfectly. The songs cover many early blues classics from the likes of Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Dinah Washington, Ethel Waters & Ruth Brown. 

The band will be making their first European appearance this Summer at Pori Jazz Festival

in Finland. For more information please visit www.beccalangsford.com

Vince Lee

www.vinceleebigcombo.co.uk

Thanks very much Vince  - we're very much looking forward to enjoying the band's performances and also welcoming back Thomas Ford after his amazing last minute concert in the Guildhall last year.

Full details of dates, times and venues will be in the official programme, which is being printed right now and should be available very soon. 

Help!! We need Volunteers - we need YOU...!

 In the words of the immortal Lennon and McCartney: 

Help! We need somebody... 

Help!! Not just anybody...  

Help!!! You know we need someone...  

He-e-elp!!!!

OK, we may have mentioned this before but we really do need extra help during the Festival as there simply aren't enough of us to go round. There are a thousand and one little (and occasionally large) things for us to do from the start of the Festival and sadly we can't be in two places at once - we're only human...

We'll need help with collecting, performers' car parking, 'runners' to  flit between venues, putting out and clearing away chairs, helping at venues, clearing up rubbish and much much more. 

If you are interested in joining our happy band of volunteers please contact Alan (Vice Chairman) on 07920 053580 and he'll put you in touch with the right Committee member, or if you can't get hold of him just speak to any Committee member I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms.

 

I know it's been said before but we really do appreciate our lovely volunteers so if you'd like to be involved (and help save our sanity!) please let us know.

To those of you already on our volunteer team, a

very big  thank you

for all you do - we really couldn't do it without you! We look forward to working with you - and hopefully some new recruits - this year.

P.S. Do you think I may have been a bit too subtle in getting this message across...?

It's those lovely tuneful Welshmen again...

NEATH MALE CHOIR

A few words from the Choir - so looking forward to hearing those 'heavenly voices' again... 

 

"The choir is delighted to be appearing for the third time at the Dart Music Festival having first made the trip in 2009. We always have a wonderful time in this beautiful part of the world and, most of all, we enjoy performing to new and appreciative audiences.

We have a very busy year ahead culminating at the Royal Albert Hall in October when we shall be joining forces with 14 choirs from around the country for the London Welsh Festival of Male Choirs, quite an experience. We hope that you enjoy our contributions today and thank the Festival Committee for allowing us to participate once again"

It's our pleasure..!

website: http://www.neathmalechoir.co.uk