& present

SHIRLEY COLLINS ‘America Over The Water’
In 1959 Shirley Collins and Alan Lomax left together to travel for a year in the musical heart of the Southern States of America. During this trip they made recordings during religious and social gatherings, at funerals and of the chain gangs. In this way they discovered the likes of legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. These original recordings were later also used in the Coen Brothers' film ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou’.
The book ‘America Over The Water’ tells their story, interlaced with anecdotes from her youth during and after the second World War in Hastings, in Britain, and also her first meeting with Alan Lomax in London. Assisted by actor Pip Barnes and supported by unique image and sound material, Collins knows how to bring the story to life again on stage. A 2 hour show that will carry you back to the heart of this fantastic Alan Lomax project and only the second time that it will have been presented outside of England.

ALASDAIR ROBERTS
On ‘Spoils’, the new album from Caledonian bard Alasdair Roberts on the Drag City label (see too: label- and soulmate Joanna Newsom), the singer-songwriter returns increasingly to past centuries. Old instruments play a leading role on this fourth solo album, bringing back to life music that many of us have forgotten, all of this is to serve the Roberts' breathtaking melodies.
‘His finest work to date’ (Uncut)
‘Magnificently unique’ (Observer Music Monthly)

In its March 2009 edition, fRoots magazine spent 6 complete pages covering the new draft of British folk artists . After careful study and making contact with the performers in question (long live MySpace), 1 other leading player in that article will be coming to Brussels too:

The most enigmatic figure on the bill is undoubtedly 24-year-old Stephanie Hladowski. She acts like a recluse but if you hear her sing ‘Willy O’Winsbury’ or ‘The Month Of January’, you be bombarded with the most fiery of emotions. Her grandparents are from Poland and so she introduces Eastern-European elements to her music, which sometimes makes it seem like you're listening to a gypsy song that was recorded in the 50's. In the trivia section, just this: her brother Chris Hladowski is a member of A Hawk And A Hacksaw, that other Eastern-European influenced folk music band (who just recently appeared at Les Nuits Botanique).

An evening with the best of the new draft of British folk. As late afternoon introduction by none less than British folk icon Shirley Collins with her story of the journey she made to America with Alan Lomax in ’59.
In autumn 2009, the AB will be organising a tribute to the American ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax (1915-2002). It is thanks to his pioneering work that anyone can now acquaint themselves with the earliest folksong recordings. Together with his father, he was responsible for the discovery of blues legend Leadbelly and folk icon Woody Guthrie. Lomax was later the most important staff member of the Archive of Folk Song or to the Library of Congress in Washington.
Shirley Collins couldn't be left out of this tribute either. This leading lady of British folk met Alan Lomax in London in the early 50's. He later took her on his most famous journey through the Southern part of the United States. A wonderful book about that journey was published in 2004, ‘America Over The Water’, which she will now bring to life on stage. Following in her wake - according to the prominent fRoots magazine - 2 of the best newcomers of the British folk scene: Alasdair Roberts and Stephanie Hladowski.

STEPHANIE HLADOWSKI