2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 05:30 PM

Dick Miles looks forward to playing many festivals next year as well.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 05:13 PM

Megan and Joe love playing music from lots of genres but there real passion is in folk. They hope that people will give them a chance and not judge them on just there myspace page. They feel privileged and honoured to of won this award and look forward to playing the festivals next year.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: evansakes
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 05:03 PM

Yes, it is Nettlebed they're linked to.

Having a quick listen to MySpace I'm pretty certain the song 'Lavender Moon' was one of the songs they played on the night. Listen to it and imagine it stripped down to just guitar and sax and that's pretty much what we had on the night.

The issue of the accents is a strange one for me....I didn't notice that Megan sang in a particularly English one or that Jayhawkers were employing American ones. Musicality, quality of song, tone of voice, diction etc but please God I hope the judges weren't marking up or down based on such trivialities.

Megan has a distinctive and powerful voice and Joe is a talented sax player with a mature ear for improvisation. I'd say he's listened a fair bit to the likes of David Sanborn. This of course wouldn't ever be a bad thing but it's not going to help him gain much of a folky sensibility. Just as you'd never expect Courtney Pine or Wayne Shorter to be nominated for a Folk musician of the year award.

This may be doing them a disservice but it would be reasonably easy to understand how people could jump to the conclusion that Megan and Joe have been encouraged to temporarily disengage themselves from their band purely to enter this competition.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Folkiedave
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 04:01 PM

Nettlebed I think.....

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:43 PM

'A different musical project'...? So folk music is a 'project'?
What was the 'well-known folk club'? I've been to some well-known folk clubs where I was the only one playing folk music. I'd be interested to hear what they actually did on the night, though.
John Kelly.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Folknacious
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:29 PM

"I assume they must have been doing something completely different on the finals night......musn't they?"

Yes they were. Acoustic guitar and alto saxophone which was a refeshingly different blend, good singing in her own English accent that showed some awareness of traditional vocal styles, well constructed songs, professional without being slick. They were the obvious winner on the night out of a very good set of finalists. I wouldn't have recognised them from that MySpace which is probably a different musical project. The talk afterwards was that they've grown up going to a well known folk club (sorry, forgot the name) where their mum was the landlady of the pub.

Tyde were extremely good but in a style many others play, their age wasn't a relevant factor at all but I suppose that's easier for instrumental-only entrants. Lucy Ward and Maz O'Connor concentrated on the vocals where their immaturity showed a little and in their case you know they'll get better with the life experience to match their song content and obvious vocal abilities. Emily Hoile and Alice Burn had almost too much technique to the point it didn't really gel - less would be more, something you can also only learn from experience. Jaywalkers were the only ones I disliked because of the girl's rather grating American accent.

It was a good night out, and Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller have made huge leaps forward since winning last year, but that always happens.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:18 PM

You should all know by now that 'all music is folk music'! I believe that the Halle Orchestra are thinking of entering next year.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:08 PM

Didn't sound anything like my perception of folk music, either.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:08 PM

Oh, yeah, it's the beano I'm thinking of. And I'm not whingeing. Us dinaosaurs don't, you know. JK.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: terrier
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 03:05 PM

I know that it has been discussed to death many times here on Mudcat, but maybe Guest,jimmoray would like to have a go at defining what the judges of YFA perceive as 'Folk' music, then all our minds will be at rest.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 02:59 PM

The Young Folk Award final is always at the beginning of December.
The R2 Folk Awards annual beano is always at the beginning of February.
People always whinge.
I have no more to say.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Banjiman
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 02:56 PM

John,

I agree with your assessment of the music on the MySpace link. However.....I assume they must have been doing something completely different on the finals night......musn't they?

I understand they were a duo not a full band. Was anyone there and able to comment?

Paul

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 02:36 PM

OK. Call me a dinosaur. Go on...
People seem to be nervous about saying this, but here goes: THIS IS NOT FOLK MUSIC. Not by any definition I am aware of. I have a pretty broad definition, by some people's standards, but this is outside of it. I'm not criticising the music - It's very pleasant, and well performed - but it shouldn't qualify for a folk award. And on those grounds, should not have been allowed to enter, let alone win. A bit like a cyclist winning the long jump event at the Olympics. It's no wonder that J. Public hasn't got a clue what folk music is, when all he has to go on - unless he is prepared to take a leap in the dark and go to a folk event to find out - is the Ministry of Misinformation dishing out this sort of thing. Are these awards at all relevant? It all seems to have more to do with the current 15-minutes-of-fame culture than with folk music.
Incidentally, haven't we just had the folk awards, or have I been asleep for 12 months?
Yrs. Disgruntled. St Helens.
PS. I do folk music, if anybody's interested, although I'm not in line for any awards, nor am I likely to be.
John Kelly.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: greg stephens
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 01:11 PM

The judges, Jim Moray et al, were judging on the quality of the performances that were put in front of them on the night. By all accounts, it was a foregone conclusion, Megan and Joe's act was great. Clearly there are some who query whether they qualify as a folk act. That is another question.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: s&r
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 12:52 PM

The report doesn't mention Maz o'Connor except with lLast Orders. Didn't she compete?

Stu

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Banjiman
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 12:03 PM

I don't know for sure Tony. I hope I am not basing my opinion on a falsehood..........I'll very happily eat my words if this proves to be the case.

Paul

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST,No Fixed Abode
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:56 AM

This is the list of Influences Megan quote on there myspace page

Bill Withers, Sam Brown, Bob Dylan, Anias Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Annie Defranco...

They also list themselves as SOUL/ACOUSTIC/FUNK artists

Is this the right myspace page??

confused
tony

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Banjiman
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:43 AM

Here's a link to Megan's MySpace . I assume the songs on the night were completely different ones, and the instrumentation and arrangements?

Even with my pretty wide interpretation of what is folk...I'm not sure that the songs on MySpace fit ? But then perhaps I'm just very old fashioned and ill informed?

Lovely voice though.

Paul

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST,jimmoray
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:42 AM

I was replying to Richard above...

The other judges were John Leonard (you know who he is), Steve Kersley (Proper distribution), Al Booth (head of specialist music at radio 2) and Eddie Barcan (Cambridge folk festival and Glastonbury).

thanks

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Folkiedave
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:34 AM

Hi Jim,

I was not suggesting there was a conspiracy - I just wanted to know who the judges were.

But your gesture is appreciated.

Dave Eyre

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: GUEST,jimmoray
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:20 AM

Hi Richard,
I was one of the judges this year. All the competitors did well, but Megan and Joe just played best on the night. There's no conspiracy.

Jim

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Folkiedave
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:14 AM

who judged it?

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: cobra
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 11:05 AM

Mrs Lowe might resent that.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: breezy
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 10:55 AM

Someone should enter Jez Lowe next year

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 10:27 AM

Sounds very smoothiechops and not very folk

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 07:54 AM

Smoothops appear to be in hibernation and have not updated the site since last Friday but the winners were Megan & Joe Henwood, a brother and sister duo doing self-composed material with alto sax accompaniment.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 07:43 AM

No I think it was the competition with Lucy Ward as a contestant that has local people interested.

Subject: RE: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: Kampervan
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 07:39 AM

Is this what you're looking for?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/folkawards2008/winners.shtml

Subject: 2008 R2 Young Folk Award - What Happened
From: muppitz
Date: 08 Dec 08 - 07:31 AM

I've been trying to find out the results through the Radio 2 website and it doesn't seem to be on there, anyone know what happened, who won etc???

muppitz
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