It was wonderful to receive such great support from family, friends and local folk enthusiasts at the launch of our new CD, Navajos & Pirates, at a Folk May Day concert at The Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans last night.
In a packed evening of music, the evening was kicked off by the irrepressible Sue Farthing, very ably accompanied by Clive Carey. Sue certainly got the evening off to a swing with a collection of May-time songs, accompanied with flower garlands.
We then performed the first of two thirty-minute sets, mixing songs and tunes from our new album, Navajos & Pirates, with Only For Three Months - our song about the evacuation of Basque children from Bilbao in May 1937 – and our new ‘murder ballad’, The Black Widows. Sue’s songs and energy had put the audience in fine voice, and it was great to hear then taking up the choruses in our own set.
After a break for beer and raffle tickets, the audience was treated to an excellent set by Bob Wakeling (on guitar and banjo) and Ellie Hill (on violin). Amongst other things, we had songs from the pen of Leon Rosselson, we had some excellent traditional songs (including personal favourite ‘Sovay’) and a song from the Australian tradition, The Shearer’s Dream, which I hadn’t heard before.
We then returned to the stage to do a final thirty-minute set. Again, we mixed songs from the new album with material we hope might form the basis of the next album. Compagnons de la Marjolaine and Time Wears Awa’ both got the audience singing along. Naturally, we finished with Navajos & Pirates, the title track from the new album, and we were delighted to be given the opportunity of performing an encore which we used to tell the uplifting tale of how some of the Basque children were eventually reunited with their parents after many years of enforced separation and exile.
Many thanks to Alison MacFarlane for organising the evening’s event and helping us launch our new CD at a May Day event in our home town. It was a lovely way for na-mara to take its next step forward.