Review: Robin Williamson- Storytelling

Subject: Review: Robin Williamson- Storytelling
From: Paul Burke
Date: 20 May 08 - 03:31 AM

Yes, he once of the Incredible String Band of our long- lost youth... last night in Matlock (Derbyshire UK). A little older than when I last saw him (in about 1972), but still full of invention, he's turned to story telling in, as he puts it, the Bardic Tradition, which he readily admist no one knows anything about so he's free to make it up. He accompanies the stories superbly on the clarsach, with haunting, wandering tunes reminiscent if the ISB, that weave into the words of the stories with hypnotic effect. With little

How he keeps the musical and story threads going through two full-hour sets, how his voice holds up- all impressive in themselves. But the stories, high Irish tales of Finn and Naoimh and the rest, Scottish stories of the Black Thief, Welsh tales from the Mabinogion, Norse stories of Odin and Loki, interspersed with traditional songs, poems, music hall somgs, his own songs, and little side stories of less grand character, all seamlessly and naturally, left me feeling the evening was all too short.

A great performenace by a lovely bloke, I hope you're lucky enough to find him near you.

Subject: RE: Review: Robin Williamson- Storytelling
From: alanabit
Date: 20 May 08 - 04:54 AM

I missed the ISB, but I caught him once at a festival gig in 1979 with The Merry Men. Good music it was too. The most memorable moment was when he did a poem about a man, who likes to gripe all day. He held the audience spellbound. No mean feat, considering the gig was in Germany.

Subject: RE: Review: Robin Williamson- Storytelling
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 20 May 08 - 05:31 AM

You make this sound like a recent move on Robin's part. I'd say he's been at the forefront of the Storytelling Revival in this country since 1980 at least, which is when I first saw him performing solo in a set featuring his now legendary renditions of The Man Who Never had a Dream and Wee Jack & the Old King.

Did anyone get his most recent ECM CD The Iron Stone by the way? A freely improvised redux to many of his earlier works, as the title suggests, and a work of pure sweet & uncompromising genius.

Oh, and the group he had in the late 70s was The Merry Band, featuring as it did a lady harpist whose name presently escapes me...

Subject: RE: Review: Robin Williamson- Storytelling
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 20 May 08 - 05:47 AM

Sylvia Woods