Our Saturday program has been boosted with the addition of Romanian gypsy band Mahala Rai Banda, emerging from the ghettos around Bucharest. The band combine a dazzling array of styles using violins, accordions, brass and a riotous rhythm section to create an energetic party performance. You will also be treated to the truly unique Duke Special. Dynamic, musically ambitious and bracingly eccentric, his inimitable style and lush musicality are incomparable. Dubbed as “hobo-chic”, Duke Special performs sing-a-long songs with addictive melodies in a vagabond style. And to top it all he’s even sung alongside The Muppets! We are pleased to welcome back Wychwood favourite Gary Armstrong. Former front man of indie rock band The Beetroot Kings, Gary has managed to bridge the void of genres to appeal to music lovers of all varieties. With countless shows and festival performances behind him Gary is a must see act this summer.

Playing on Sunday will be Urusen, one of the most exciting bands to emerge out of the UK alt-folk scene. The band have graced numerous festival stage including Glastonbury and have been championed by Peter Gabriel and Real World. Urusen have been featured in The Independent and ben described as ‘Terrifically atmospheric’ by the Telegraph.

The band’s new recordings have also lead them to be picked by Peter Gabriel and Real World to be the latest featured artist on the Society of Sound – the members club of speaker company Bowers and Wilkins – joining previous artists such as The Unthanks, Portico Quartet and Cara Dillon.

Among their plaudits they have been selected as a highlight pick by the The Independent in their top ten gigs of the week and also described as ‘Sweepingly memorable’ by Metro and ‘Terrifically atmospheric’ by the Telegraph. Their music has been used for national television, including a UK-wide advertising campaign and they were picked out by BBC Introducing (Bristol) as one of their festival highlights of the year.
The Summer of 2011 has been spent touring and performing at festivals including The Big Chill, Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Winterwell and Wychwood, where they were chosen to perform on the BBC Introducing stage at the festival. Their touring has also seen them play alongside the likes of The Travelling Band, The Staves, Stornoway, Mt Desolation, Pete Roe and Basia Bulat.

Urusen combine the best of the current British indie folk scene and great contemporary American bands like Midlake and The National, as they shift effortlessly between something intrinsically English and something akin to the epic Midwest. Acoustic and electric guitars, drums, cello and double bass, as well as an eclectic array of other instruments such as harmonium, banjo, charango are all woven underneath rousing harmonies into the band’s modern folk rock-tinged pop arrangements. With a lyrical, story-telling signature, and a stirring delivery, you’ll be an eager companion on a captivating journey, wistful at times, but ultimately uplifting, and one you’ll want to join them on again and again.

http://www.urusen.co.uk/

“What makes my music work to so many different audiences? good question.I think it’s the fact that I dont sing about things I dont understand.I sing real life as I’ve lived it, it’s all I know. I like and get on with so many different people, I dont feel I need to pin myself down to one crowd, I dont think you can pigeon-hole people. To the bone people are people, they all care in their own way and it’s the same for my music.”

http://garyjarmstrong.com/

His critically-acclaimed 2006 album ‘Songs From The Deep Forest’ achieved platinum status in Ireland and received plaudits across the board. His 2008 follow-up, ‘I Never Thought This Day Would Come’ was recorded between Wapping, London, Champaign, Illinois and Culleybackey, Northern Ireland. This was a more immediate and visceral collection than its predecessor, with many moments of beauty and hope juxtaposed with a dark, brooding edge – the trademark twist of the Duke. It was an album for sleepwalkers, skeletons and gravediggers, for those who have fallen so far down they can taste the soil between their teeth.

Duke Special’s immense creative talents have seen him involved in projects as diverse as writing the theme tune for Sesame Tree (the Northern Ireland edition of Sesame Street where he also got to sing with The Muppets) to writing the music for and appearing in Deborah Warner’s critically acclaimed 2009 production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children at London’s National Theatre, starring Fiona Shaw in the lead role. It was during this production that Duke and his band went into the studio to record an album of the twelve songs from the play, which was to form part of his ambitious new project for 2010 – the release of a 3 CD box-set, A Book, The Stage & The Silver Screen.

When he’s not busy in the recording studio, Duke is to be found out on the road bringing his inimitable live show to appreciative audiences across the world. As well as extensive tours of the UK, Ireland and Europe, live highlights of the past few years include curating and headlining his very own one-day festival, DUKEBOX in Custom House Square, in the heart of Belfast, hosting a night at the Belfast Film Festival where he performed as a puppet of himself, performing his songs accompanied by 60-piece orchestras in Dublin and Belfast, and numerous festival appearances, including Glastonbury, Latitude, Greenbelt, Electric Picnic and Oxygen. Not forgetting headline shows in New York and Washington, Dubai, and supporting the likes of Paolo Nutini in Paris, Duffy in Copenhagen and Snow Patrol in Belfast.

He even found time to learn to swordfight for an on- stage showdown and piano-duel in Dublin with his long time nemesis, Neil Hannon. Duke Special is a fervent performer who harks back to a pre-rock ’n’ roll era, with dashes of Gershwin and orchestral swing, all tinged with a Northern Irish lilt and poetic lyrics that could feature in a modern-day fairytale; the perfect balance of old and new – boasting the appeal of a three-minute pop song with the incessant charm of an old-school music hall.

He is the ringmaster of a broken down circus, the lead dancer in a forgotten ballroom of ghosts, the loudest singer in a midnight choir and the first on his knees in an old time revival tent.

http://www.dukespecial.com/

Tracks by Mahala Rai Banda have been covered and sampled by Nouvelle Vague, Balkan Beat Box, Dj ClicK, Forty Thieves Orkestar and Russ Jones. Their song “Mahalageasca” makes an appearance in the Borat film and also features on the Buddha Bar Ten Years compilation.

http://www.myspace.com/mahalaraibanda

Raised in the singing community of the West Yorkshire Pennines, Fay’s childhood was as much influenced by the bare essentials of the West Yorkshire landscape as the lively, warm music scene surrounding the Famous Bacca Pipes Folk Club in Keighley. Her debut solo CD, ‘Looking Glass’ was released to a fanfare of music media praise and brought her a nomination for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2011. She has guested on the latest CDs by Martin Simpson and Spiers & Boden.

“A real singer… in an age of honey throated whimpering” fRoots

“Unadorned – and quite exquisite… Hield is a rare talent” Uncut

http://www.fayhield.com/

Having formed in 1976, the band now have over 35 years of punk rock history under their belts. The Damned are incredibly ambitious and have constantly evolved, with their later albums taking influences from psychedelia, prog rock and metal genres. The Damned are generally recognised as one of the founders of goth music and have been a constant source of inspiration for many emerging hardcore bands.

http://www.officialdamned.com/

Thrill Collins are a band on a mission to revive the genre the world forgot; skiffle. They are going about this mission by reworking the popular songbook of the “golden age of pop” into melodious rockabilly anthems. The band have toured Europe twice and America as well as playing at Glade, Wychwood, Eden, 2000 Trees and Cheltenham Jazz festivals, and perform alongside artists such as The Wurzels, Zero 7 and Frank Turner.

The band have released two EPs, both recorded by legendary British producer George Shilling (Blur, Texas and James Brown). Thrill Collins have been described as “one of the best live bands in the county” by BBC Introducing.

www.thrillcollins.co.uk
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