The Camden base of the English Folk Dance and Song Society seemed an entirely appropriate venue for the launch of Hannah James and Sam Sweeney’s new album State and Ancientry. The audience squeezed in, and were treated to the album played through in order, with interjections from their many special guests.
First off we had Hannah and Sam showing what they can do with the Playford tune (apparently actually written by Purcell!) Hole in the Wall. Continuing the Playford theme with a tune called Parson upon Dorothy, they were joined by Maz O’Connor, Rowan Rheingans (Fidola, Lady Maisery) and Hazel Askew (The Askew Sisters, Lady Maisery) for a rousing chorus of Dolly the Dillon doll. During this we also witnessed Hannah simultaneously singing, playing the accordion and providing percussion with her clogs!
There were a number of solos throughout the evening, but the first was from Maz O’Connor who sang a beautiful unaccompanied version of traditional ballad The Unquiet Grave. Continuing on through the album, we came to one of my favourite songs - William Taylor. Next up was a set of tunes - starting with morris tune How Do You Do, and followed by one of Sam’s own compositions, going by the excellent name Gallons of Cognac. You’ll have to go and see them live to get the story behind that one, but it definitely amused the audience.
The evening only included one clog dance from Hannah, but still she held the room entranced, easily showing why she’s considered one of the best clog dancers in the country. There was a lot of instrumental excellence squeezed into the evening, but none more so than from concertina player Rob Harbron, who joined the duo for a couple of tunes, and then performed some of his own - on the theme of canine encounters.
we saw a change in tone for the last set before the interval, with Sam using his Hardanger fiddle for a set on the subject of hunting (Hannah explained that she had never quite felt happy with singing songs about hunting, but then realised that she sings songs about all manner of other activities in which she would not indulge, so little reason for avoiding hunting as a topic!). In any case, the song in question is on the side of the hunted, not the hunters).
I have to give an honourable mention here to the excellent tea and cakes served by the café - if only more venues would provide such fare!
The evening continued on through the rest of the album - some rousing tunes and an unaccompanied ballad from Hannah (There Was a Lady Lived in the West). Hannah was then joined by her fellow members of Lady Maisery to do some diddling (that is singing tunes as opposed to songs). Moving on, we enjoyed the song with the best final line of the evening “This shows that women are better than men, they can go down to hell and come back again”. Well, you can’t argue with that, can you? (The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife).
The next surprise of the evening was Tom Moore (of Moore, Moss, Rutter) who added some extra fiddle flavour to a tuneset, and then showed us what he can do on his own with some tunes of a Scottish flavour.
Almost overrun with the possibilities from guests, we also heard two Swedish tunes from Rowan Rheingans with her sister Anna. The final track of the evening was another traditional favourite - The Golden Glove. There was a rousing encore to finish off a wonderful evening - Hannah and Nicola Lyons (4Square) dancing an astoundingly fast version of the Falmouth Packet. Most of the audience seemed to be on their feet to watch. What an uplifting and energetic end to a great gig. I wanted to dance all the way home.
State and Ancientry is released on the 2nd April. Hannah and Sam are next appearing in London at Green Note on 17th September.
