By happy accident, we first came across Make It Better Later in the Red Lion. Or more precisely, we came across violinist Amy as she annihilated all opposition in a Sunday evening quiz many months ago. Amy lives only a short stagger from the pub, so if you see her, buy her a drink. She’s spending her birthday tonight playing for you.
The other three quarters of this irresistible and exuberant 4 piece live in Yorkshire, not far from the dingy pub in Hull where they played their first gig. Their sound has been described as "like the Pogues on a summer ska train", and they’ve been written about and played on the radio throughout the land. Tonight Make It Better Later will be giving us a rootsy, stripped back acoustic show to get Livestock off to a flying start.
We regret to inform you that the Knights of Mentis have been forced to retreat from the Livestock line up due to a crippling finger injury.
Riding gallantly to the rescue, we’re proud to welcome the Bonfire Band. Get ready ladies and gentlemen, because this may well be the highlight of your festival. The Bonfire Band are a London-based trio who play their own material on guitar, banjo, harmonica and double bass, occasionally piano, and sing lovely harmonies.
So far, so country. Except being more familiar with North London than South Carolina, their songs sound much closer to home, and are all the more affecting for it. It’s a combination that works beautifully, and we unreservedly recommend the new album: One Man Can’t Carry Half a Piano.
Don’t we just know it - Livestock couldn’t go ahead before we’d learned this tricky equation. So if you should see groups of men shifting pianos this weekend, and you may, please don’t debate weight distribution, just clear the way and smile.
Jali Fily Cissokho is a griot, or ancestral praise singer, from Senegal. The griots were bards since before the time of the Mande kings, whose empire covered most of Central and West Africa in the middle of the 14th century. Right up to the present day griots are at the heart of their communities, commenting on social matters in the vein of wandering poets, musicians, historians and satirists.
Fily plays the kora, a 22 string harp built from a calabash, cowskin and fishing line. Fily is an integral part of the Livestock experience, having stolen the show every year since 2007. This summer he returns to headline Friday night with the Coute Diomboulou band, and their own irresistible brand of Afro-Soul.
These three savagely funny ladies comprise the finest satirical cabaret group in the land. They’ve been likened to ‘Absolutely Fabulous meets Noel Coward, as sung by the Andrews Sisters’, but one of the most memorable portraits is by film director Ken Russell, who recently remarked in the Times that ‘it's as though they're the love children of Freddie Mercury and Dawn French...’
If that doesn’t seem altogether complimentary to you, take a look here. Russell is an unashamed devotee of these three ladies, and his article excellently contextualises an extraordinary group. In it he traces the history of the cabaret tradition, and its unlikely resurgence in a West End wine bar in 1983. Since then Fascinating Aïda have toured the world and made countless appearances on TV and radio, arriving at Livestock from another critically-acclaimed residence at the Edinburgh festival.
Founder member Dillie Keane is an adopted daughter of Stratton Audley, and an enthusiastic supporter of Livestock. We are delighted to have Dillie, Adele and Liza singing for us in this exclusive Saturday matinee show.
The Llanos are the tropical floodplains that straddle the southernmost borders of Colombia and Venezuela. They are home to some of the world’s most strange and beautiful wildlife, storybook creatures like caimans and capybaras, giant anteaters and anacondas, as well as some of the world’s most skilled horsemen. The Llanos are also where you’ll find Latin America’s most enchanting, sophisticated and vibrant folk music tradition.
Diego Laverde Rojas, from Bogotá, has played the Llanera harp since 1982, and in all likelihood you’ve never seen a harp played with such muscular virtuosity. In Colombia, Diego taught in various music academies and was director of the Folkloric group of the Central University of Bogotá. He toured the world as a musician with the ‘Ballet Folklorico Colombiano’, and we are delighted to welcome him to Livestock accompanied by his sister Andrea on the four-stringed ‘cuatro’, Jairo Caravali on vocals, and Wilmer Sifontes, from Caracas, on maracas and percussion.
Here’s what Nitin Sawnhey says about Nila Raja:
"Nila's fluid voice and compositional ambition absorb a range of influences from Arabic folk and jazz traditions to contemporary chillout and Indian classical flavours. Always surprising and restless by nature, Nila's work is endlessly inventive and can shift seamlessly between genres and cultural traditions with an individuality devoid of fear or contrivance. Through a voice overflowing with nimble agility, wistful innocence and grace, Nila's debut weaves a very appealing spell. Inspired."
Nila herself says that her favourite things are sub bass, drummers with big hair, glitter paint and big shoes. So you can expect a lot more than just astonishing, innovative, bewitching music from her live show. At the age of just 22, this multi-instrumentalist (Nila plays viola, piano, santoor, tabla and bass) is an Emerging Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London. She has collaborated with luminaries such as Nitin Sawhney, Mad Professor, Max Moya (Ojos de Brujo), Jason Yarde, Zoe Rahman, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Seb Rochford and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. And now she’s playing at Livestock. We can hardly contain our excitement.
What better way to end Saturday night than in the company of The Prime Casuals, Dublin's most colourful rock & roll and country soul band? For the last couple of years, the Casuals have had Livestock dancing and swinging till Frank called time. Which is only right and proper, since it was their roof-raising antics in the Red Lion that planted the seed of a festival here.
Offstage, the Prime Casuals are still doctors, teachers, carpenters and stonemasons. And they’re still putting the finishing touches to their first album.
There was serendipity in the air in Ballyfermot last year when three people called Ryan met in the famous Ceoltoír school of Irish traditional music. Mairéad Ryan, who plays Irish harp and accordion, her sister Mary-Ann Ryan, a flute player and uilleann piper, and Bríaín O Ríaín, on guitar, have since been developing their sensitive and assured take on some of Ireland’s most captivating old folk tunes. A certain inspiration to them is the blind harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), who combined the ancient style of ‘Gaelic Harping’ with continental classical music of the Renaissance. Ríaíns’ interpretations of Carolan and other compositions will be icing on the cake at the feast of harps we’ve prepared for you at Livestock this year. Accompanied by the gorgeous singing of Allison Sleator, they will be the making of your Sunday afternoon.
Harry's Tricks is a collection of Brighton-based musicians, led by the magnificent Mike the Mic, the pioneer of ‘swing rat scat’, a style of singing like no other. The group, who will be appearing at Livestock as a trio, specialise in joyful swinging jazz from the 1920’s to the 1940’s, when pop music really was in its heyday.
Since 1997 Mike the Mic has dedicated himself to the full-time creation of musical magic under a number of names, including Tulip Tree, The Haberdashers, Fridge Magnets, Lost Sock Club, Cat Dog Rat Weasel, and now Harry’s Tricks. Mike is a veteran entertainer, having wowed the crowds at weddings, anniversaries, pubs, festivals, county shows, garden parties, wine tastings, charity events and even at Lambeth Palace.
As the resident DJ at the Chat Noir, Mike and Harry’s Tricks have been chosen by The Guardian Guide as pick of the week three times. Should you find yourself promenading around Brighton, you might even see Mike busking. This most altruistic musician makes a most valuable contribution to his local community, giving something to the streets much more valuable than shopping. Brighton’s loss this weekend is Bicester’s gain. Welcome to Livestock, Harry’s Tricks!
It’s not often that you come across a band who play with the verve and the virtuosity of She'Koyokh. These young London-based musicians have pioneered the revival of Jewish-roots music in the UK since 2001, though their repertoire extends from the soulful Ashkenazi melodies once played in the Shtetls of Poland, Romania and the Ukraine to the rhythms of Turkey and Greece, and the exhilarating gypsy jazz of the Balkans.
Tragically, last October She’Koyokh lost their co-founder, bandleader and accordionist, Jim Marcovitch, to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Jim was an outstanding musician and a remarkable man who was an inspiration to many through his life and music. All profits from Livestock will be donated to the Anthony Nolan Trust in memory of Jim.
To see who will be playing this year at Livestock 2010, click the link above.
