Trad Arts Team

Want to learn how to sensitively accompany tunes and songs? Looking to improve your timing and groove? Don’t know what chords to choose?

Join us for our first Folk Tune Accompaniment workshop with Chris Roberts on 18th May. Chris is an experienced accompanist having performed live on BBC R3 ‘In Tune’, at Glastonbury Festival, and across Europe including Poland, Albania, and Estonia. He performs regularly with pop singer Tanita Tikaram, and recently undertook an 870-mile walking tour of the Welsh coast with folk duo Filkin’s Drift as an experiment in sustainable touring.

This workshop is suitable for any melodic instrument interested in accompanying folk tunes. Places are limited and tickets available via our brand new website designed by the brilliant Seth Bye www.birminghamfolk.co.uk/events.

Our monthly newsletter listing events in April has now been sent out and is published at

Trad Arts Team News, April 2024 It has been a damp and dismal year so far, but there is now a sense of gloom for all local performance activities likely to be affected by the government imposed austerity on the city. So we are ho…

Starting next week, the Trad Arts Team are putting on new Arts Market, every 3rd Saturday of the month at New Life Baptist Church opposite ASDA. With music and art from 1pm-5pm, what could be a better way to spend your Saturday afternoon?

Handsworth Socials is organising the next St Andrews live music / films etc social evening on Saturday 10th Feb, 7.15pm start, finish just after 10pm. Theme is 'Refugees are Welcome Here'.

There will be musicians from The Gambia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan - and Handsworth! Celebrating the huge contribution refugees and asylum seekers make to our cultural lives. Also refreshments with a topical twist, drinks, cakes, raffle and above all good company!

Pay on the door as usual, £3 / £7 / £9 - you choose. If you are intending to come, please text 07802 546076 to reserve your seats, or email [email protected]

We'll look forward to hearing back from you, and looking forward to a great local night out!

Tim & Mogs and the Handsworth Socials team

An interesting event at Mac on 18 January featuring a world class collaboration of Romany traditional musicians from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and members of a contemporary ensemble based in Norway. More details here

Angrusori | Midlands Arts Centre Angrusori features Nils Henrik Asheim and Iva Bittová and will be a fun-filled performance inviting listeners both old and new. It is music that seeks to give

How do I enter the Young Storytellers Festival of Wales Competition?

To tell a story at our friendly competitions on Saturday 21st October, please register in advance so we can keep you a space, and send you the access link if you are joining us online.

It might be possible to enter on the day, but only if there is space!

More about the competition

🌟 It’s open to people aged 7-25 who live in Wales or are from Wales
🌟 You will have up to 5 minutes to tell your story
🌟 You can either come to Llandudno or join us from wherever you are via Zoom
🌟 You can tell in Welsh, English or bilingually
🌟 There will be a prize for everyone who takes part and a special prize for each age group winner

To register for the competition please fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/EuWpsh98xD7qVUPP6

Next Saturday, celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS with Banner Theatre, Keep Our NHS Public and Birmingham TUC. Tickets from

75th Birthday Party for the NHS A celebration of our NHS, those who fought for it, and the fightback to defend it from the cuts, closures, wage freezes and privatisation.

On Wednesday 19 July come along to Birmingham Storytelling Cafe in Kings Heath to hear Raucous Norse stories from Amy Douglas and Jason Buck - tickets available from

Storytelling Cafe with Amy Douglas and Jason Buck Amy Douglas and Jason Buck: Raucous Norse Come along to Storytelling Café for a great night of feasting and drinking as we listen to tales of 'Raucous Norse'. Swearing, drinking, murder, s*x, violence, a god tying his unmentionables to a goat for cheap laughs, and “a tidal wave of giant's p*ss”...

Moseley Village Band is a community band that plays lively traditional tunes. They meet on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month and welcome all musicians – if you play an instrument, why not come for a free taster session? Whether you read music or play by ear, that’s fine – for further information email the band or phone 0121 443 5687 https://www.facebook.com/moseleyvillageband/

fascinating programme about an American folk song collector, available on BBC Sounds at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jlm9
"American musician Rhiannon Giddens investigates the fascinating life and recordings of the folk song collector Sidney Robertson Cowell"

Sunday Feature - Government Song Woman - BBC Sounds Rhiannon Giddens investigates folk song collector Sidney Robertson Cowell.

We have had to reconstruct our mailing list following Mailchimp changes. Thanks to those of you who have already resubscribed - if you haven't, you can do so at http://eepurl.com/g7ZLET
The next newsletter will go out shortly, so please go to this link, add your email address and tick your interests.

A tribute to Mick Peat

Derby has bid goodnight to local folk legend Mick Peat, who has died at the age of 80. His work as a musician and promoter for more than 30 years, including as co-director of Derby Folk Festival, helped to establish the city on the national folk scene.

For those in Derby who worked with him on events, he was so much more. He was a true friend of the city who treated everyone with kindness and brought out the best in them. Everyone at Derby LIVE is deeply saddened by his passing and we would like to extend our condolences to his family, friends, and the wider arts and folk community.

Mick had already been promoting shows at the Assembly Rooms, Darwin Suite and Guildhall Theatre for many years before becoming involved with Derby Folk Festival. He brought an incredible list of renowned musicians to the city’s venues, from Ralph McTell to Barbara Dickson, to Bellowhead. On the night of the Assembly Rooms fire, he was due to stage a concert by the Steve Tilston Trio in the Darwin Suite.

A well-loved figure, he had time for everyone who worked on the events he brought to Derby. He would also call in to say hello whenever he was passing by, in particular into the Guildhall Theatre when was on his way for a haircut at his favourite barber’s in the Market Hall.

Bob Rushton, his fellow festival co-director, said: “Mick had time for everyone. Whether it was the artists that he treated as personal friends, and many were, and members of the technical team, front of house, backstage and office staff, he always had time for a friendly chat and a heartfelt smile.

“You always knew when Mick had arrived in the building, not just because of his booming bass tones, but because word soon spread, and with it a joyous pre-cursor to the fantastic concert that would shortly follow. He’ll be hugely missed, completely irreplaceable, and always held in the highest of regards.”

A Derby Folk Festival tradition is to end the final concert with an impromptu rendition of Rolling Home, by festival patron John Tams. Although the 2020 festival went ahead as a Derby Folk Festival at Home, a series of online performances, Mick Peat featured in a socially-distanced performance of the much-loved song, filmed beneath the Guildhall arches by Derby LIVE’s technical team.

Paying tribute to Mick, John Tams said: “Mick Peat: Authentic, builder, encourager, facilitator, icon and everlasting friend.

“Tributes have poured in - here’s a couple: ‘He was the compo that held it all together - the Master Builder.’ ‘What are we going to do now?’”

Fellow festival patron, singer and songwriter Lucy Ward, said: “Mick was a musician, a troubadour, a shining example of someone who gave and gave to his community, time and time again. It seemed as though sharing the folk music that he loved was vocational, and we are all so grateful for the love and passion he poured into our beloved scene. 'Bit of legend' doesn't really do him justice. He is already so sorely missed and will forever be.”

Councillor Robin Wood, Derby City Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, added: “The contribution that Mick Peat has made to the arts and music scene in Derby cannot be underestimated – he really helped to put the city on the Folk Music map. We will be forever grateful to him.”

Photo shows Mick Peat (left) and Bob Rushton (right) onstage at Derby Folk Festival in 2018, taken by Graham Whitmore.

'Our collective imagination could die away': Stewart Lee and Shirley Collins in conversation The comedian and first lady of folk discuss life in lockdown and the future of the arts

Thanks to Paul Ryan for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLkFNVKQ53c

Flatten The Curve, A Coronavirus Song | The Longest Johns (Lyrics by Barnie Matthews) Our good friend Barnie sent us these lyrics as a re-write for Fathom the Bowl during our stream the other day. The song was too good and so much fun that we ...

Only a couple of days to go to the closing date of 31 January!

NEW ROOTS This annual event is for young performers of all styles of traditional or contemporary folk, roots or world music, whether you play traditional material or write your own. Categories are under 18 and 18-24. For information about how to enter, click here

Can folk music save the honeybee? Where folk songs were once about miners and civil rights, the plight of the environment provides rich material for today’s artists

Alex visited our session last week, talked to us and recorded some of the songs - then included us in this broadcast!

Friendly Folk Monday 10th December 2018 4pm On Birmingham Eastside Radio A one off live show on Birmingham Eastside called Friendly Folk. Friendly guests, chitchat and great folk music. We have a tour of the local folk clubs in Birmingham as we head to the Red Lion, Traditional Arts and The Black Diamond folk club. I also had the pleasure of chatting to Vicki Swan and Jo...

We have two events this week at the Prince of Wales. Tonight it's the political song session, and on Sunday afternoon we have a Scandi music session. Sign up to our email newsletter to get a monthly update of all events - it's easy to do at http://www.tradartsteam.co.uk

On 20 October the Traditional Song Forum will be meeting in Newcastle as guests of The University of Newcastle. There is a full programme of activities for the weekend, a highlight of which will be the third Roy Palmer Lecture, which will be given this year by Sandra Joyce, on the topic:

"He Travelled East and He Travelled West: The Contribution of Travelers to Irish Traditional Song"

The afternoon session will feature two talks from Sue Allan and Johnny Handle and Vic Gammon will interview another local resident, Dave Harker. Saturday morning will be given over to a networking session at which TSF members and others exchange information about their recent work and discoveries.

On Saturday evening there will be a singaround in the Bridge Inn and then, on Sunday morning, Barry and Ingrid Temple will lead a walk around Newcastle, looking at sights associated with its musical history

All events are open to all-comers. More information on www.tradsong.org

.. and this ..

Joe - There and Back Again