Hey just a little ditty for yas as I’m playing tonight at the Grove! Come and listen at 7:30 at @thegrovenotts supporting @samgrassie alongside @emilyashberry all thanks to @folkroomrecords !
This tunes name is currently pending although it’s written for my friends that enjoy themselves in allotments! Here I am playing for the people in the street outside the lovely @foragerskitchen_sneinton
8/8: Imbolc, February 1st
And so the year turns towards its final cycle!
The concept of these posts is essentially gone, swept away by the wintery instinct to hide away in any hole with warmth, food and music, which of course means mostly Darcy, Marianna and Dexter's little slice of Sneinton heaven @foragerskitchen_sneinton , playing tunes with @emmanuel_instruments
Then on to @wemakeourway for Alboae and the wonderful tune Buckland down, learnt from Leveret with Victor and @william.crt123
Songs in an inn in a cave in a rock (in the bog down in the valley-o) for Robin Hood, a trip to Sheffield to heal the soul and the action on my bouzouki.
Finally, a wonderful new space for me that I hope to see much more of @thegrovenotts , playing the incredible Jim Moray's ode to Voyager 1, Sounds of Earth.
The days are getting longer, the posts are getting longer, and so it goes.
Onward to spring!
Hey folks, just some words to tell you about my day yesterday. I felt the Sun walking around Nottingham. Enjoying where I am at the moment. I went to see the Palais, a place where people have danced for many years way back to my great grand-father’s day.
Did a tour with my dad of some of the famous Watson Fothergill buildings. He was born in Mansfield like myself and his work inspires me in many ways. Some beautiful things here in Nottingham, built by the hands of people from all around the world.
Apart from the sun what else inspired this beautiful walk was waiting for my bench to soak in some linseed oil. it’s nice to have a clean bench! Here’s a tune that has been passing through my fingers recently to the joy of others as well. I’ll name it, Come Dancing with Me or The Joy of Looking Up. Not sure which one yet.
This Friday I’m playing some tunes supporting @man_the_lifeboats at @thegrovenotts come along!
Free Palestine. 🇵🇸
Announcing our support acts for Sam Grassie's Nottingham show this April 8th! Emily Ashberry and Victor Camilleri will join us at @thegrovenotts for a gorgeous night of folk, old and new.
Emily Ashberry photo by @anna.rose.heaton
Yo yo 2026, let’s decolonise our crafts!
so what have I been up to in the workshop other than making a mess!
For me 2025 came to a great close doing what I love best which is playing music with friends and family! But there has been some challenges too in regard to my passion for instrument making.
Well as you can see here, there are some bows I’ve made. Inspired by a renaissance style bow I first saw in Estonia.
These bows have inspired me as they are constructed using materials not tied to colonial/illegal extraction of exotics wood of past and present. And although they are of an old design they work amazingly!
Decolonising violin making and its history are at the heart of 2026 for me. In the workshop I will be focusing on adapting my local woods within instrument making.
When we play on instruments made of silver, gold, ebony, cocobolo, pernambuco, ivory, rosewood, or tortoise shell (and many other materials) we tend to spend time respecting the makers, origins and or composers for those instruments. I believe we now need to pay respects to the native people that tended to these forests, lived with them and who protected these trees/animals for hundreds of years before our needs and business came sweeping by.
So makers and players when you next use these materials think of these people, maybe learn about them, how is it you now use their resources? It may be a little effort but it’s a start.
Things for to read!
Sounds wild and broken - David Haskell
Unsound supplies: Noisy Matter and the Making of Modern Sound Scapes - Fanny Gribenski
It’s a journey and I haven’t all the answers but that’s okay, I’m doing my best!
All the best for now!
MORE THAN JUST A PLANT UP. 🎻 🎤 🎼
Are we gonna be creating a vibrant, greener and more connected Sneinton? YES
Will we have a million bulbs, wildflowers, pretty plants and new greenspaces to whip up? YES
Will that be all? NO
Wild About Sneinton is about building community, making green stuff exciting, diverse, engaging, creative, loose, open, explorative, and all the rest.
And with that we are happy as Larry to say that as with the event in April we're gonna be having music, workshops, free seeds, creative activities, herbal teasssss and all sorts of other goodies cracking reet off right at the heart of our event.
More to come on everyone involved, but for now enjoy the music of one of those, our beloved Victor. A young luthier, kind soul and a sharer of moments of fiddle magic.
<3
Thank you to everyone who came and to those who heard my rambling ideas that lead up to the event! You both helped create a wonderful evening that helped inspire some of the next generation of luthiers and craftspeople!
Thanks to @alina_ehret_luthier@ask_s_eide@redfern.instruments for being the so intellectual on the spot and in front of an audience!
Thanks @wemakeourway and family for making the magic space which we all enjoyed that night!
A special thanks to @cherylswoboda for making the trip and her overall support and making me proud!
Not long ago I use recycled plastic to make the tail piece on this here violin. It sure gathers folks attention, I love the chance it gives me to tell them that things can be different, and it can be fun too!
