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Folkworks: Sam Sweeney The Unfinished Violin

Violin music inspired by Great War...

Sam-Sweeney-The-Unfinished-Violin

Folkworks: Sam Sweeney The Unfinished Violin

Violin music inspired by Great War...

Plus pre-concert talk at 6.45pm (Sage Two, free to ticket holders)

THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

A veteran of the mighty Bellowhead, artistic director of the National Folk Youth Ensemble, founder member of the acclaimed instrumental trio Leveret, and a superb instrumentalist at the forefront of the revival in English traditional music, Sam Sweeney releases his first solo album, The Unfinished Violin on Island Records this November.

Inspired by his violin, carved but never finished by Richard Howard in 1915, Sam Sweeney has created a live show and album of instrumental music inspired by the Great War.

An expansion and development of his acclaimed live show Made In The Great War, The Unfinished Violin centres on a fiddle the 19-year-old Sweeney came across in violin maker Roger Claridge’s shop in Oxford, made but not assembled by one Richard S Howard of Harehills, Leeds, in 1915. Claridge had come by it at auction, in pieces, in an old manila envelope, put it together and put it on sale. It’s the instrument Sweeney has used for numerous albums and countless gigs, and in time he set about digging into its history, and uncovered the fateful tale of Richard Howard, a music hall performer called up in 1916 to the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment to fight and lose his life in the Battle of Messines on 7th June 1917.

Last summer, Sam visited the battlefield. “Playing over Richard Howard’s grave was incredibly emotional. We were all just stood there, sobbing. He was unknown, no one knew anything about him, no one would ever have visited his grave, ever, and all of a sudden, there I was, playing his fiddle to him.”

Anglo Concertina player Rob Harbron, guitarist Jack Rutter, double bassist Ben Nicholls appear with Sam on The Unfinished Violin.

www.samsweeneymusic.com | Twitter | Facebook


Sam Sweeney is supported by PRS Foundation’s Open Fund.

Pre-concert talk, 6.45pm – 7.30pm, Sage Two

Join Sam for an informal pre-concert talk / discussion. Come and hear Sam talk about the story behind the album, how he put it together and made the tunes come alive. This will be an opportunity for you to ask Sam any questions about the album, fiddle playing in general and anything else that you might want to ask! He will have his fiddle with him…

Sam Sweeney - The Unfinished Violin Introduction

plus support from Folkestra