There are a fine band of lady musicians known as The Marmalade Band (known colloquially as ‘The Marmaladies’) who perform traditional songs and music at venues around the South Manchester / North Cheshire area - sometimes further afield. From time to time these fine ladies play for ceilidhs, and on these occasions my guitarist friend John and I are called on to be honorary ladies for the event. We provide the ‘grunt’ for the band whilst the female Marmaladies do the really clever stuff.
On 17th August The Marmaladies, along with their masculine sidekicks are playing a large festival event in the centre of Manchester – so we thought we’d better get some practice in! This time we have an extra honorary Marmalady, Mike, who plays stringy things like mandolins with a certain aggressive expertise. He’s a bit good.
We sat around Marian’s (who plays fiddle) kitchen table for 2 hours this afternoon and worked damned hard at a tune set that the ladies weren’t too familiar with. The ladies, being ladies, got stuck in and really came up trumps.
John has been messing about with bits of copper and plastic pipes and has managed to make some very effective flutes and tin-whistles. The photo above shows Clare playing a flute made from a length of 22mm copper pipe – it sounds pretty good.
I reckon the Festival Ceilidh in Manchester will be fun – particularly considering that John, Mike and I will be honorary ladies for the event!
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