WOMAD

Eliza Carthy Big Band

From United Kingdom

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2003:If you’re looking for murder, sex, rape, gang warfare, crime, violence and skulduggery then forget all those lightweights like Eminem, 50 Cent and So Solid Crew and cop a load of some traditional English music. The truly shocking and magnetic appeal of Albion’s musical roots has long been known to a select sub-culture of folk enthusiasts who have celebrated their common obsession in the cultural closet of folk clubs and folk fests like Cambridge and Sidmouth etc. It needed someone like Eliza Carthy to ‘out’ this scintillating heritage and open the door for a whole ‘nu-breed’ of young, sexy traditionalists like Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, John Spiers and Jon Bowden etc. Admittedly Carthy was well placed for the job. First, but perhaps most irrelevantly, she is the daughter of two of the greatest names in the modern history of English Folk; singer-songwriter Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson of The Watersons and Steeleye Span fame. Secondly she plays a mean fiddle, sings a tender tune and changes the colour of her hair on a regular basis, which, considering folk music’s long suffered image problem is perhaps more relevant than you might think. Thirdly she’s young…only 26. When her album ‘ Red Rice’ was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize a few years ago she was unfeasibly young. The album was also unfeasibly good which is perhaps why Carthy has gone on to share stages with artists as diverse as Joan Baez, Cerys Matthews, Byran Ferry, Elvis Costello and Van Dyke Parks, as well as appearing on ‘Later with Jools Holland’ and in several TV documentaries. Armed with Topic Records’ phenomenal 20 volume ‘Voice of the People’ collection of traditional British music, Carthy has recently recorded another gem called ‘Anglicana’ which the Guardian succinctly described as “magnificent”. Style, youth, wit and virtuosity aren’t always absolutely necessary for a successful career in showbiz but when it comes to English folk, damn can they make a difference!Biography from official website www.elizacarthy.comAt just 24 years old Mercury Prize nominee Eliza Carthy has already shot to the forefront of the world's burgeoning folk movement. Now she's poised to propel herself headlong into the mainstream with the release of her truly absorbing major label debut "Angels & Cigarettes". The album is set for release in the US, early 2001. Set to confirm her status as a world class artist, this album sees Eliza fulfil her immense potential and much more besides - the global musical stage lies at her feet. Be sure to check out Eliza Carthy's US tour in February 2001.Since the release of her critically acclaimed independent albums "Heat, Light and Sound" and the 1998 Mercury Prize nominated double offering "Red Rice", Eliza has been widely acknowledged as one of the most creative, and original, young talents in music today. She has built on her vast reputation as a singing and fiddle sensation and emerged with "Angels & Cigarettes" - a modern sounding collection of personal, passionate and intensely affecting songs.Set in a dazzling variety of musical styles and settings, this 10-track album casts a mesmeric spell over the listener part uplifting, part brutally emotional, but always intelligent and inspiring throughout. The entire album is a lesson in the art of timeless songwriting from start to finish. Non more so than the seductive, idyllic forthcoming single "Whole", a classic introduction to Eliza's sound. She has absorbed a rich tapestry of traditional sounds and reinvented them in her own unique way - a melting pot of old and new, captivating lyrics, entrancing vocal melodies, sublime fiddle playing and heartfelt arrangements.Check out the opener "Whispers Of Summer" for a dose of sunshine, sample "Train Song" for modern rhythms spiced up with a dash of latin spirit, and become entwined in the pace and luscious chorus of "Beautiful Girl." Lose yourself in the heavenly vocals of "Perfect" and on a more light-hearted note skip to the bittersweet "The Company Of Men", complete with stunning 25 piece string section. "Angels & Cigarettes" also included Eliza's reworking of Paul Weller's "Wildwood".Recorded in Brighton, London and Edinburgh, the album was produced by Al Scott (whose credits range from The Levellers to Bomb The Bass). Eliza was accompanied on "Angels & Cigarettes" by an impressive pool of musicians - including members of the Eliza Carthy Band, her father Martin Carthy, Van Dyke Parks, pedal steel player and REM/Richard Ashcroft collaborator BJ Cole, The Mondriaan String Quartet, and Leland Sklar.Eliza has toured extensively throughout the UK, as well as making frequent visits to Europe, the U.S., South America, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. Over the past three years, she has been special live guest for acts as diverse as Bryan Ferry, Oysterband, Van Dyke Parks, Billy Bragg and most recently Joan Baez."Angels & Cigarettes" is the result of a lifetime's dedication to music, from an artist whose career is only just beginning.Biography by Andy Morgan, 2000:'Folk' is a four letter word and someone has just coshed the censor. It's almost as if all those faint hearts who for years ran leagues from any hint of beards, sawdust, pewter mugs, real ale and grown men with bells round their ankles skipping down dingly dell, have at last found an excuse to say "I think folk is quite cool really" to all their mates down the pub. That excuse is a young sassy, sexy, hyper-talented singer songwriter and violinist with a hair-do the colour of Prince's little red Corvette who goes by the name of Eliza Carthy. Since the release of her groundbreaking solo albums, Heat, Light & Sound and Red Rice, Carthy has been riding a wave of adulation. The quality of those albums and the obvious yearning of theircreator to throw a completely new light on 300 years or more of traditional English music quickly snuffs out any cynical thoughts that Carthy owes her success only to the status of her parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, both 'royalty' to fans of British Folk music. Although Carthy can sing an old ballad like 'The Americans Have Stolen My True Love Away' with a tender forceful simplicity that will have you melting into the ground, it was the tantalizing glimpses on the Red Rice album of a brave new world in which folk music can share a bed with drum and bass, techno and rave culture in general and make healthy babies that has made the heart of many a closet folkie beat faster. In a enlightened world Carthy would be racked right next to Pulp, Asian Dub Foundation and Beth Orton rather than Ewan McColl, Fairport Convention and The Albion Band. All in all, she has imbued that hoary old quip "lie back and think of England" with a whole new meaning.