Blitherscrum Festival

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 05 May 22 - 01:26 PM

One of the things that truly highlights the Blitherscrum Festival is the number of people attending who are in the cattle export business. I remember a good friend saying last year that there were loads of bull shippers.

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: GUEST,JeffB
Date: 04 May 22 - 06:17 PM

My friends Oswald and Olive Withen-Woldsthwaite of Kazoo Kazam! have just told me that they have agreed an extremely busy Sunday schedule at this year’s Blitherscrum FF, and have asked me to pass on this information hand-out.


10.30    Venue:   The Rockery       Event: Morris and International Dance.
Kazoo Kazam! and The Humming Men are providing original music for this event, which will feature :-
1) PogoMorris    A dazzling display of intricate pogosticking Cotswold morris from this ever-popular side, whose dances include Bacca Pipes, Chucky Sticky, and a new one especially written for PogoMorris, Chunky Sicky.
2) Adderdabberabury        This hermaphrodite side perform the truncheon dances of their local Much Whining tradition. The notable features of Much Whining dance are the characteristic hop step (the dancers hold their left feet up behind their thighs) and the loud grunt on every fifth hop.
3) Turdish Delight            Turdish, or Turko-Kurdish, dance has only a superficial resemblance to the ritual combat of our border morris. For one thing, the ferocious screaming is continual. During the preceding acts, the dancers will perform traditional Turdish street theatre in and around The Nelson's Arm in which they separate into two opposing sides, drink a pint of arak each, shout insults while making obscene gesticulations, brandish their sabres, and attempt to tie on their blindfolds. All the steps and figures – the leaps, kicks, punches, slashes and thrusts – are improvised, unrehearsed, and completely spontaneous. The dances are intense, colourful, and spectacular, but tend to be quite short.
Donations to Blitherscrum Royal Infirmary Intensive Care Unit and National Blood Transfusion Service.

13.30        Venue:         St Haemophilia’s Without-the-Walls (affectionately known as The Holy Mushroom).    Event:        Folk Sunday Service
The Rev. Osric Gothbone cordially invites festival-goers to Sunday Service at THM. Congregants will be invited to sing folk songs with a religious content for an hour, after which Kazoo Kazam! and Catsqueezers will perform an instrumental version of Bark’s cantata “Wenn die Katzen nicht entfluchten”. After last year’s distressing incident, congregants are respectfully requested not to exchange tokens of Christian love.
Retiring collection. Preferably sterling, but any international currencies also most gratefully accepted.

16.00   Venue:   Dribblers    Event:   Workshop - ‘Your First Kazoo’.
For both beginners and the more experienced kazooist. Kazoo Kazam! (Oswald and Olive Withen-Woldsthwaite) will give advice on what to look out for in buying a basic kazoo, tips on care and maintenance, and a simplified explanation of the clever physics that produce the entrancing sound. Time permitting, they will then explore performance techniques in a hands-on, lips-pursed workshop on making music with the kazoo, in three stages. 1] Beginner : Drone, and How to Crescendo and (just as important!) Diminuendo. 2] Intermediate : simple Arpeggios and the Glissando (you can gliss both up and down!) 3] Advanced : Ornamentation – Trill, Tremolo, Mordant, Appoggiatura etc.
    Oswald and Olive will use instruments from their vintage collection. Oswald will astound you with his jaw-dropping Big Bullfrog, and Olive will show you what she can do with her legendary Pipistrelle.
Donation.

18.30   Venue: The Nelson's Arm   Event: Meet the Group
A chance to meet and chat to virtuosi kazooists Oswald and Olive Withen-Woldsthwaite, who will recount some tales – some hilarious, some hair-raising! - from their fascinating careers performing all over the county on their enchanting instrument. They might even be persuaded to perform a little of their ground-breaking tone-poem based on a traditional Nunavut funeral dirge, ‘Aimless Futility, Random Tonality’.
Donation.

21.00    Venue: Feckwith Hall   Event: Evening Concert
Headline act The National Yodel Choir will be supported by Kazoo Kazam!, Gastric Reflux, Catsqueezers, Didge It and the Moon Yowlers, and Halitosis Heroes. MC Dai O’Rea.
Festival tickets only.

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 01 May 22 - 07:50 PM

No news of a 2022 event yet but I'm sure someone will come up with the itinerary for it soon. Hoping that Jezlo and Vinegarbutt are
appearing this year.

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Vic Smith
Date: 01 May 22 - 11:49 AM

Any news of the 2022 event?

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Vic Smith
Date: 14 Apr 20 - 06:52 AM

In an attempt to lure the more folk song academic elements, the Blitherscrum organisers are organising an on-line conference this year. They are calling for an outline of papers to be submitted on one of the more challenging aspects of the detailed study of traditional song.
The all-embracing title of the conference is:-
The Ewan MacColl Threads on The Mudcat Café

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Apr 20 - 05:16 AM

How about on-line - ability to sing behind the beat

With sub categories for
1) 300mS - BT standard broadband
2) 250mS - BT superfast broadband
3) (with scritschpingshshshs accompaniment) variable mS - dial-up (experts only).

or

Synchronised Clapping (Thursday night pre-festival early arrivals)

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival
From: leeneia
Date: 13 Apr 20 - 03:59 PM

I've heard that some young turks will be doing a performance based on microphone static with vocals which are breaking up. They want to legitimize the sounds of virtual meetings.

Subject: RE: Blitherscrum Festival 2020
From: Vic Smith
Date: 13 Apr 20 - 12:08 PM

From what I have been hearing there is only going to be a Blitherscrum Virtual Festival this year because of the lockdown - mainly based on competitions. I haven't got a complete list of these events (perhaps others can help me out here) I do know that they are short of judges and are looking for anyone who is experts for the following -
> Traditional ballad performed with semaphore flags (minimum fifteen verses)
> Sea shanties that were collected in the coastal ports of Nottinghamshire
> Blindfold morris stick dances

Subject: Blitherscrum Festival
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 07 Feb 20 - 06:10 PM

It has been around six years since the Blitherscrum Festival took place in the UK. I was wondering why it was no longer mentioned. I had a major stroke in 2014 and have had a long time recovering but still a long way to go so have not kept tabs on what is happening on the British Folk scene....... Has it closed down completely?