I don’t know about anyone else but where I am usually a bit fed up at this time of the year, post-festive season and with at least a couple of months of cold weather to look forward to, the fact that life seems very busy seems to have mitigated my usual post-festive blues.
Maybe it’s the knowledge that there is lots of good music in store for us soon and to that end there is a new version of the Unicorn Diary in The Listings on the main Unicorn Folk website which covers the first three months of events at music venues in the local area in 2024. If your venue is not listed then do be sure to send in details of your events preferably in either Word or Excel format by downloading and completing one of these forms. A plain text list in an email to info@unicornfolk.uk is also fine.
One highlight of the coming month is a concert that is taking place next Thursday 18th January at St Andrew’s Church in Hertford featuring Eliza Carthy. You can find all the details on the on the main Unicorn Folk website where it is a featured concert and also an entry in the Unicorn Diary which is one of The Listings. Some of the clubs listed in the Union Diary have only booked artists for the first month or less but the Unicorn Diary will be updated as soon as we have the details.
I’m also looking forward to the first concert under new management at Royston Live on Friday 26th January featuring The Bounty Hounds where the new team of Bryan Causton, Penni Maclaren-Walker, Guido Rincón & Jeremy Harmer will hopefully also be providing a few tunes.
Did you know that The Stables, Milton Keynes runs music-based workshops and courses year-round which offer sociable and stimulating opportunities for people to become musicians?Amongst these is the Ceilidh Experience, which is a chance for anyone interested in traditional and folk music to play in a band and play at a ceilidh. The courses run every Sunday from 28 January and you can find more details HERE.
Also part of The Listings on the main Unicorn Folk website are the Festival Finder and Gigs & Tours which have both been updated for 2024. Why not see if your favourite band is listed or perhaps even your own band if you are going on tour. Just drop a line to info@unicornfolk.uk if you wish your details to be included and the same goes for anyone organising a festival with at least some ‘folk’ music in it. Links to 100+ festivals are included in the Festival Finder though some, as indicated, don’t yet contain details of their 2024 event. There is also a Dance Diary in The Listings which provides a free listing of events for all EFDSS or Morris sides to publicise their activities, though take up of this service was very disappointing last year. Do take advantage if you can and send your details to info@unicornfolk.uk ideally using the either Word or Excel forms (still labelled 2023 but fine to use) which makes it a lot easier to collate than just plain text in an email.
If you are reading this blog then you probably enjoy listening to folk music, in which case, try listening to ‘Filby’s Folk’at 6pm on Sunday evenings with a repeat at 1pm Tuesdays. You have missed the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve specials but can always catch up on podcasts, now to be found under ‘Rewind’ on the Royston Radio website around a week after the original broadcasts.
Finally, let me wish you all a very Happy New Year in 2024.
Unicorn Folk News 