Many
folk clubs have a number of really excellent singers, musicians and storytellers, and Bodmin Folk Club is one that seems to have more than many !!!! In recent months we have been pleased to welcome Graham O’Callaghan as one of ours so, when he said he would like to launch his new CD on one of our club nights there was only one answer.. YES!
From Irish descent, although originally from Devon, Graham has been described as having ‘one of the finest voices in the tradition’. It has been 50 years since he began his involvement with traditional folk song and many people will remember him as being one of those rich voices that made Jinks’ Stack, the superb 3-part harmony group from Cornwall that played to packed houses, not only in the South West but at clubs and festivals across the UK. When they broke up in 1998 he sang on his own once more. After spending some time in France, which gave him the time and space to rework many of his much loved songs, Graham has returned to Cornwall and is now well and truly immersed, once more, into the folk scene as a solo performer.
This has led him to revisit old friends, experiences and memorable moments and a new desire to recapture the narrative in songs. As he says,
‘Every word, every note and every rest can enhance or destroy the narrative in the song. Not just with the ‘accepted ballads’, but of all songs. They were written in isolation, never intending to be a ‘bit part’ in a folk singers’ repertoire, never written to lighten a social gathering nor were they written to gratify the audience of a local folk club or concert hall. What I try to do is to reinject the poetry of the words back into the song and help people to appreciate why they were first written.’
Every song he sings does just that.
25 years since his last recording, he is back with a new CD, ‘Reflections’, which includes classic ballads such as ‘O Waly Waly’, ‘Bushes and Briars’, and ‘Banks of Sweet Primroses’ and recently written powerhouses such as Martin Graebe’s ‘From Severn by the Somme’.
Graham will be launching Reflections on Friday 21st March at Bodmin Folk Club, St Petroc’s Parish Rooms, Bodmin PL31 2DP, at 8pm. Why not come along and be one of the first to hear tracks from his new CD and perhaps pick yourself up a copy.
