THE MAGPIE'S NEST COLLECTIVE:
The Magpie's Nest has evolved, so here is a short answer to clarify who, what, where and when.
Giving a whole new meaning to the term 'divide and conquer', we, Joe Buirski and Sam Lee, are presenting our own nights in 2010; Folklahoma and Two for Joy. This way we can bring you more folk in more venues, at more festivals and at other strange and wonderful events. The Magpie's Nest itself is not an event but the umbrella under which we operate.
Joe's Two for Joy will be resident in both our original home The Old Queen's Head and Passing Clouds, and Sam's Folklahoma has found a new home in London Field's new venue The New Empowering Church (a warehouse not a church!). As well as both of us putting on occasional gigs at other venues across London. Folklahoma will be hosting concerts this spring at Kingsplace, The Southbank Centre and 3 new monthly 'Emerging Artists' showcase nights at Cecil Sharp House from May onwards.
We're going to be tweaking the The Magpie's Nest website and mailing list in the near future to reflect this expansion and to bring you more news about more folk. Stay tuned for all the news as it happens.
The Magpie's Nest Collective is born:
The Magpie's Nest has grown from the enormous success of being simply a monthly night at the Old Queen's Head pub on Essex Road into a collective of promoters and enthusiasts of folk, world and traditional music. The question is: how could we not? After nearly four years in the running, the original founders of the club, Joe Buirski and Sam Lee, have discovered such a wealth of talented musicians and bands to work with, and have been comforted by a resurgent interest in traditional music amongst the public, in the media, and within the music industry as a whole, that expansion was inevitable.
“The Magpie's Nest” now represents an umbrella organisation determined to continue to promote quality new, traditional and roots music at various venues across London and at Festivals up and down the country. The Magpie's Nest has grown and blossomed into an ever expanding collective, with new nights, new ideas, new music, and new venues across the capital - all reflecting and representing the diverse and divergent styles of music we care to label “folk”.
The two primary strands in the development of The Magpie's Nest are labeled Two For Joy and Folklahoma! Both promise to bring you new and exciting events at both familiar and new venues, and both promise to remain true to the founding mantra of the Magpie's Nest: “New Folk, Old Folk and No Folk” - in other words, in providing a platform for the entire spectrum of the 'folk' music genre: from veteran performers and purveyors of the tradition through to those influenced by traditional material and creating solely new music. The difference? Two new teams, two new sets of eyes and ears, and a doubling of the capacity of The Magpie's Nest Collective to bring you exciting events and outstanding live music.
History of The Magpie's Nest:
The Magpie's Nest is a folk and acoustic club, the brainchild of Joe Buirski and Sam Lee. Dissatisfied with the lack of folk clubs in London that cater to a younger audience and a younger ear, we decided to form our own club. This was back in March 2006.
With terms like "Nu Folk" being bandied about in the media, and people heralding the "new revival", we set out to explore what was out there beyond the fuss. Having a strong appreciation for the "tradition" and aware that some of the finest talent dedicated to mastering the art yet underrepresented within the current arena, we wanted to provide a platform where the entire spectrum of the genre could be explored and exposed. We sought to create a platform where artists influenced by the tradition, dedicated to the tradition and those productive within the wider ‘folk’ genre could play together and influence each other. This gave birth to our club mantra: New Folk, Old Folk, No Folk.
We never did, nor seek to define the word ‘folk’ neither do we represent every aspect of it. We only aim to enliven and inform that debate. We don’t do nomenclature we just play the music!
But if you want to know more….
New Folk: Often younger musicians re-exploring traditional music and claiming it as their own in a new interpretive fashion. Representing the tradition passing on a generation or evolving from its previous incarnations
Old Folk: Veteran performers, stalwarts of the old scene and gems who may yet be undiscovered by their contemporaries. The ground-breaking sculptors of the previous revival who helped define shape and epitomize folk to its present status. The Legends, Masters and Experts!
No Folk: Singer-songwriters, world acts, sound artists, writers of songs about people and life and representatives of a music influenced by traditional roots or maybe just the idea of it, be it Gypsy jazz, Pastoral Romance, Congolese, Carribean, Shostakovich or Shoreditch. These artists are the ones who make music that leans towards a folk ideal.
And of course……..
Open Mic: A valued and cherished part of our nights. Folk music is music of the people, and this is reflected in our open mic. Always oversubscribed and full of surprises, great talent and a huge variety of styles, experience, performers and wild cards. Many have graduated to a featured slot.
The club is now run collectively by Joe Buirski, Sam Lee and Lauren McCormick, with Federico stepping in to control the sound desk.
