TheBowerHouse

Welcome to the Bowerhouse

2019

The Bowerhouse is an independently run art and performance space in Maidstone, Kent. We have regular concerts and community events including folk club (4th Tuesday of the month 8pm-11pm) life drawing (every Thursday 7pm-9pm), community choir (every Wednesday 7.30pm- 9pm)

AUGUST MUSIC

Andrew Waite & Lucy Farrell

29.08.19 Doors 7.30pm

Fresh from recording a brand new album (released in feb 2020) of new songs, tunes and new arrangements of traditional songs this new duo will be dropping into the Bowerhouse for a one off acoustic set on their way to playing some festivals in france.
Expect mesmerising songs and high energy tunes!!

Email to reserve your *£5* ticket
£10 on the door

Anne Niepold (Belgium/Germany) and Riccardo Tesi (Italy)

Solo performances from two extraordinarily gifted and influential European musicians in one concert.

October 4th | Doors 7.30pm, music from 8pm | £15

Anne Niepold
Anne Niepold is a renowned diatonic accordionist and composer. Having started in the world of traditional music, she developed an interest in improvised music and studied jazz composition and arrangement at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she won her Master's degree as well as the prestigious Toots Thielemans Jazz Award.
Anne will be debuting material from her new album Vita Brevis.
“Anne is an incredible diatonic accordion player. Nothing scares her. She knows no limits. On the contrary, she magnifies the constraints of her accordion with impressive results.” Accordéon et accordéonistes magazine.
"... she shows us the right path, that of intelligence, respect, emotion and heart. Run fast to listen to her and see her in concert! " Richard Galliano

Riccardo Tesi
Riccardo Tesi is an internationally acclaimed accordion player and composer, and one of the most daring and authoritative musicians on the European world music scene. He has an instantly recognisable style, drawing on ancient and modern musical languages, he has widened the vocabulary and the technique of an instrument that has long been associated with traditional music. Over 35 years he has played with world music artists such as Elena Ledda, Justin Vali, Kepa Junkera, John Kirkpatrick and Patrick Vaillant, jazz musicians Gianluigi Trovesi and Gabriele Mirabassi, and great songwriters such as Ivano Fossati, Fabrizio De Andrè and Gian Maria Testa. Leader of Banditaliana , one of the most renowned Italian groups on the world music international scene , and member of Samurai, all stars quintet of European accordion players, he has played in the most important jazz and folk festivals all over Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan.

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Andy Irvine

"...one of the great Irish singers"

October 25th | Doors 7.30pm music from 8pm

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Andy Irvine is one of the great Irish singers, his voice one of a handful of truly great ones that gets to the very soul of Ireland. He has been hailed as "a tradition in himself." Musician, singer and songwriter, Andy has maintained his highly individual performing skills throughout his over 50-year career. From Sweeney's Men in the mid 60s, to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s, his duo with Paul Brady in the later 70s and then from Patrick Street to Mozaik, LAPD and Usher’s Island, Andy has been a world music pioneer and an icon for traditional music and musicians.

As a soloist, Andy fills the role of the archetypal troubadour with a show and a travelling lifestyle that reflect his lifelong influence, Woody Guthrie. To quote The Irish Times, "Often copied, never equalled", his repertoire consists of Irish traditional songs, dexterous Balkan dances and a compelling canon of his own self-penned songs.

Rankin Robertson

November 15th | Doors 7.30pm music from 8pm

Rankin Robertson: Scotland meets Cape Breton Island in this unique fusion of harp, fiddle and stepdance. Ailie Robertson (Ailie Robertson - Composer Harpist) is one of Scotland’s finest clarsach players, and is in great demand worldwide as a performer and teacher. Mairi Rankin is of the hugely influential Rankin Family. She plays fiddle and step-dances up a storm. Born in Mabou, Nova Scotia, Mairi has been influenced by some of the best Cape Breton traditional musicians. The two have been playing together for nearly a decade in their band The Outside Track, but this is their Scottish debut as a duo.

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Martin Simpson

With support from Emily Portman

December 8th | Doors 7.30pm music from 8pm

Nominated ‘Musician of the Year’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018

“Martin Simpson has transcended borders and oceans to quietly become a superb storyteller and musician of great depth and unquestionable taste.” Stephen Fearing

The remarkable intimate solo performances Martin gives go from strength to strength - every gig is a masterclass. He travels the length and breadth of the UK and beyond, giving rapt audiences passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty through his playing.

Universally acclaimed as one of the finest ever acoustic and slide guitar players, and a fine banjo-picker to boot, his solo shows bear witness to an artist at the very top of his game. Whether interpreting material from tradition or singing his own potent self-penned songs, Simpson is a remarkable storyteller: captivating and profoundly moving. His own songwriting produced the poignant ‘Never Any Good’, from Prodigal Son, 2007’s Folk Album of the Year.

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