IT may be called the National Centre for Early Music, but St Margaret's Church in Walmgate, York, plays host to much more than the early years of classical music.
Early music will be centre stage in the York Early Music Christmas Festival from December 8 to 16, but elsewhere folk, jazz, klezmer, flamenco guitar, Bollywood jazz, African kora, Southern Albanian music, carolling and Haiti's vodou heartlands all have their day or days plural.
Guitarist Richard Durrant opened the autumn and winter programme last night with Stringhenge, performing the music of Sussex, East Anglia and Cumbria spanning 11 centuries.
The NCEM's fruitful partnership with the Black Swan Folk Club continues with a new series of concerts that begins on October 10 with Edgelarks, supported by The Little Unsaid. Edgelarks is the collective name for Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, winners of the Best Duo award in the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, whose self-titled new album will be released on October 6.
Bella Hardy
Adventurous fiddle player and singer Bella Hardy, the York St John University graduate who was named BBC Folk Singer of the Year in 2014, showcases her latest album Hey Sammy on October 24, joined in this NCEM/Black Swan show by pianist Thomas Gibbs and guitarist Anna Massie.
Folk guitar virtuoso Martin Simpson backs up the September 1 release of his album Trails & Tribulations with an NCEM/Black Swan concert on November 6. Simpson's spotlight will be on his new recordings: a collection of traditional songs, poems and contemporary numbers by great writers and "songs I had to write because nobody else knew what I wanted to say". Acoustic, electric, resonator and lap-steel guitars, banjo and ukulele all will feature in the repertoire of a Scunthorpe musician with 31 nominations for BBC Folk Awards to his name.
Folk vocal harmony trio Lady Maisery, alias Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans, combine hidden feminist twists on old songs with poignant anti-war ballads and multi-instrumental talents on accordion, harp, concertina, fiddle and banjo in their NCEM/Black Swan gig on November 20.
Bollywood Jazz
Veteran folk musician John Kirkpatrick takes a heartwarming look at the rituals and folklore of midwinter England in Carolling And Crumpets, an evening of mysterious and magical songs of wassailing, wren-hunting, stirring the fire and incessant feasting on December 18 in the last NCEM/Black Swan union of 2017. The New Year has a cracker in place already: Robin Hood's Bay's father-and-daughter duo Martin and Eliza Carthy on February 13.
The NCEM new season travels the world in search of musicians to introduce to York, and once more the old church is one of 12 venues that plays host to Making Tracks' travelling season of concerts with a Buy One, Get One Free chance to see two concerts for the price of one.
On November 7, Saz'iso presents Songbirds of Joy and Sorrow: Southern Albanian Music Lost and Found, followed on February 21 by Chouk Bwa Libète's night of drums, poetry and trance from Haiti's vodou heartlands. Drawing on deep roots in the religious rites of West African Vodun, their repertoire blends traditional Haitian Mizik Rasin roots music with compositions by lead vocalist and poet Jean-Claude 'Sambaton' Dorvil.
Chouk Bwa Libète
Scottish musicians Moishe's Bagel combine cutting-edge klezmer and folk in an intoxicating, life-affirming mix of Eastern European dance music, Middle Eastern rhythms and a virtuoso performance style on October 13. North Yorkshire-based Spanish guitarist Eduardo Niebla is joined by fellow guitarist Daniel Martinez Lopez on October 20; Bollywood Jazz present a new fusion of Indo-Jazz music inspired by the songs and instrumental music of Bollywood films on October 29.
For the first time, kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor and kora player Toumani Diabaté have teamed up to perform hypnotic music from Persian, Kurdish and Malian traditions on November 3. The Christine Tobin Trio, with jazz singer Tobin on vocals, Phil Robinson on guitar and Dave Whitford on double bass, return to the NCEM on November 11, this time to perform her interpretations of Leonard Cohen songs from her album A Thousand Kisses Deep.
Jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard leads his quartet on November 13, weaving a path through the other-worldly guitar sounds of Elvind Aarset and the skittering patterns of the rhythm team of double bass player Michel Benita and drummer Sebastian Rochford.
Tickets are on sale on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk
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