Club Night Sep 2010

What an amazing night! As the Serbian dance group and the Swedish band entered the hall we knew it was going to be a big night, but even more surprises were in store. After a couple of fiddle tunes to get things going the Serbian dancers from the cultural group K.U.D. Kolo took the floor and wowed us with their beautiful and energetic traditional Serbian dances. They performed the Vranje (a dance from southern Serbia that shows the Turkish influence from the days of the Ottoman Empire occupation) and the Shopske (a tradional shepherds' dance, also from the southern region of Serbia).

It was a hard act to follow but Simon's always up for a challenge and got us all singing along with Uncle Joe's Mint Balls - obviously well-known to the Brits in the audience, Danny and Ted knew the words to every verse!

The Red Herrings gave us a couple of delightful Swedish tunes, enlivened as always by Björn's Nyckelharpa or keyed fiddle, an ancient and wonderful instrument, rather like a violin with a small keyboard grafted onto its neck.

Dave's repertoire of poems and stories is getting more and more impressive, and extending well beyond the Australian bush poetry he's best known for. This month it was The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Canadian poet Robert Service, with a bit of audience participation just for fun.

There were old favourites a-plenty with Alison and an impromptu ukulele ensemble performing the Carter Family classic Keep on the Sunny Side and a bracket of dance tunes from members of the Bush Orchestra. And Greg J. performed a terrific Bob Dylan song we hadn't heard for ages; Brand New Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat.

Newcomers Sarah and Brendan made an impressive NFFC debut with a virtuoso performance of Brahms' famous Hungarian Dance No. 5. The bar just got raised a bit for classical music at the NFFC!

Young Isaac has been coming along to the Folk Club nights since the very beginning (and just about doubled his height over that time too!) and has had a go at playing several instruments, but tonight he showed us the result of his latest project - a shiny new hand-made mandolin! He and Bruce made it from a kit over several months and it looks and sounds fantastic. Well done Isaac, maybe Bruce will give you a few lessons in how to play it now...

There was so much more but I was too busy singing along and having a good time to make notes...

Finally Alisdair gave us a wonderful end to the evening, with his a cappella rendition of My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose. It only remained for Alan to wind us up as usual with The Parting Glass. An outstanding night of music and entertainment, and we're looking forward already to the Open Stage night on 8 October, see calendar for details.