TheBowerHouse

Welcome to the Bowerhouse

2018

The Bowerhouse is an independently run art and performance space in Maidstone, Kent. We have regular concerts, folk club and life drawing, irregular choir practices and art exhibitions

Autumn at the Bowerhouse

The Furrow Collective

13th NOV | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £14

‘Best Group’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017
Described by MOJO as ‘a mouthwatering collaboration’, Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton are four fine soloists sharing a mutual love of traditional songs, from both sides of the English and Scottish borders, with playful, boundary-defying musicianship.
Since their critically acclaimed debut At Our Next Meeting, The Furrow Collective has been in demand as a touring band, gigging throughout Europe and performing BBC live sessions. Hot on the heels of two BBC Folk Award nominations, they released their new album ‘Wild Hog’ on Hudson Records on 4th November 2016 to huge critical acclaim.

Songs full of death and magic.’ The Guardian****

‘a winningly produced masterclass in folk tradition.’ The Observer ****

‘A group of singers and musicians at the peak of their powers’
fRoots***** Album Choice Playlist

‘Strongly collaborative, innovative and quite distinctive’ Songlines ***** Top of The World

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Daoiri Farrell

20th NOV 18 | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10

Although the only singer/musician in his immediate family, Daoirí (pronounced ‘Derry’) was introduced to the music at a very early age by his parents who shared a keen interest in artists such as Christy Moore, Andy Irvine, Frank Harte, Planxty and The Bothy Band and more. Daoirí took up music himself at the relatively late age of 16 and only started to perform at 23, but he has come a long way since then and the early release of his accomplished debut album ‘The First Turn’, which he recorded in 2009 while studying music on the Ceoiltoir Higher National Diploma in Irish Traditional Music Performance course, in Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE), Dublin.
‘The First Turn, could well prove to be a winner for Daoirí Farrell’ Irish Music Magazine

Following the release of ‘The First Turn’, Daoirí took an extended break from recording to pursue a degree in Applied Music at Dundalk’s Institute of Technology, followed by an MA in Music Performance at the World Academy of Music in the University of Limerick.
Since Daoirí’s return to the stage, he has regularly performed in the many singing circles and folk clubs around Ireland, from Dublin’s famous Góilin singers club to the All-Ireland Fleadh to name but a few. He has performed alongside some of the biggest names in Irish and international folk music including Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Alan Doherty, Danú, Dervish, Julie Fowlis, The Young’uns, Paddy Keenan Trio, Matt Molloy, Arty McGlynn, The John Carty Big Band, The East Pointers, Kíla, Sean Keane, Gerry O’Connor (Banjo), Gerry O’Connor (Fiddle), Alan Burke, Lynched and more.
He became the All Ireland Champion Singer at the Fleadh in Co. Derry in 2013 and won the Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections in 2015 with the line-up FourWinds.
He has continued to gain in stature among the Irish folk-singing circuit, and has toured in numerous line-ups throughout Ireland and beyond, including dates in France, Germany, America, Canada and India, with his UK launch as a solo artist taking place at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival in January 2016.
Daoirí is currently working on his second solo album, due out in autumn 2016, and will tour the UK in May 2016 – including support dates for Cara Dillon and Sam Carter – and November 2016, with festival dates confirmed for this year including Moseley Folk Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Costa Del Folk and FolkEast.

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Kitty Macfarlane

8th DEC 18 | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10

"This young Somerset-based singer-songwriter's blessed with a strong identity: a confident singing voice and a compelling writing style deriving inspiration from growing up in the south-west, allied to a talent for finding wider significance in everyday experiences. An outstanding debut"
- fRoots Magazine. Read more reviews here.

Kitty Macfarlane is a Somerset-based singer and songwriter. Her lyrics combine honest snapshots of everyday humanity with the bigger questions that have connected minds and voices for centuries, driven by her own fingerpicked guitar. As well as the release of her debut EP Tide & Time - featuring Sam Kelly (co-producer), Jamie Francis, Lukas Drinkwater, Maya McCourt and Ciaran Algar, and gaining her first national airplay on the BBC Radio 2 folk show with Mark Radcliffe, and Tom Robinson's show on BBC 6Music - 2016 has seen Kitty complete an extensive national support tour with award-winning duo Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman. Other highlights range from support sets for Seth Lakeman, Alasdair Roberts, Rachel Sermanni, Blair Dunlop, and Feast of Fiddles, to appearing as a theme-tune on Radio 4, being a featured artist for a BBC Introducing documentary, and making the semi-final of the BBC Young Folk Award in 2015. Kitty has also recently been awarded a creative bursary from the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) for a songwriting project of her own devising.

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JIM CAUSLEY
'A Causley Christmas’

14th DEC 18 | at the BOWERHOUSE | DOORS 7.30pm | £10

“The finest singer of his generation” Mojo Magazine

“A voice in a million” Geoff Lakeman

Join Jim in celebrating the Christmas season as he entertains you with lesser known West Country carols, medieval and secular carols from around the British Isles, his own settings of moving Christmas poems by his relative, the late Cornish poet Charles Causley as well a gurt dollop of festive fun with songs of over-indulgence and even a spot of panto too! If you are feeling a little dismayed with the over-commercialisation of “Christmas present” then join Jim for a journey through Christmas past that will be guaranteed to get you in the festive spirit!
Since the release of his debut album in 2005, Causley’s unique voice and persona have helped him become one of the most well-loved and respected figures of today’s contemporary roots and folk scene. A prolific collaborator, Causley is hugely admired for his work with iconic groups The Devil’s Interval and Mawkin:Causley as well as playing, touring and recording alongside Waterson:Carthy, John McCusker, Eddie Reader, Graham Coxson, Shirley Collins, Michael Morpurgo, Show of Hands, Kate Rusby, David Rotheray of Beautiful South fame and many more. He was described by Mojo Magazine as “the finest singer of his generation” and they put Forgotten Kingdom in their Top Ten Folk Albums of 2016 list. Westcountry father of folk Geoff Lakeman described Causley as possessing “A voice in a million” in a recent interview in the Western Morning News, some accolade indeed!
More than simply a folk-singer, multi award winning singer-songwriter, musician and proud Devonian Jim Causley is an all-round entertainer and during the past decade Causley has been nominated no less than six times for a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, last year he was nominated as “Singer of the Year” at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, he won the Spiral Earth Singer of the Year award in 2014, presented his own folk music show on BBC Radio Devon and in 2015 he worked with BBC TV historian Dr Sam Willis to create the music for his show 'Highwaymen, Outlaws and Villains' and was asked to perform his song about Dartmoor tin mining 'Pride of the Moor' on BBC TV's Countryfile - Dartmoor Special.

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