 |
| Alan Franks |
Alan Franks
Kathleen Williamson
Charlotte Moore
Amanda MacLean
Syd Maddicott
Ross Baxter
Chrys Salt
Isabella Pappas
Dorten Yonder
Glen Strachan
Tim Whitehead
Jonathan Gee
 |
| Dorten Yonder - Jan Lawrence |
Date - 6th May 2017
Venue - Oddfellows Hall, Richmond-upon-Thames, UK
 |
| Ross Baxter |
Current release
Wherever You Go (2017)
Future Performance
Alan's latest play, Looking At Lucian, about the painter Lucian Freud, opens at The Theatre Royal, Bath on 31st August 2017, starring Henry Goodman.
 |
| Kathleen Williamson |
A gig to launch the album Wherever You Go which features the
lyrics of playwright and journalist Alan Franks. The tunes, which range from jazz, through pop ballads to folk, are
the work of many musicians, including the internationally renowned
saxophonist Tim Whitehead, Indie rock star Glen Strachan, and Franks
himself. This is the sixth CD of Alan’s songs.
 |
| Tim Whitehead |
Of the making of Wherever You Go Franks says: ‘It’s been a joy
to work with all these gifted people and to hear their musical
response to my words. In many cases, I don’t think I knew quite
what I was trying to say until I heard their performances.’
 |
| Amanda MacLean |
A collection of oddfellows came together for Alan Franks album launch and although Franks was the catalyst for this night (and the CD, Wherever You Go) it was the strength and depth of talent on show that was the greatest pleasure for the packed audience.
 |
| Glen Strachan |
There were effortless performances of the highest quality from Tim Whitehead's trio and Isabella Pappas but it was in the eddies of Alan Franks' flowing words where this mind was caught. The purity of Amanda MacLean, first with Dorten Yonder and subsequently unaccompanied, rushed the bones like a chilling wind. The peripheries of life dropped away and nothing mattered but the voice and its icy truths. Glen Strachan has a very different charm, in a similar way to MacLean he can cut through the artistic fluff but he is also pure Art itself. In another life, on another island he would be a pictorial Dora Maar, a split personality that both weeps and dazzles through its intense colour. I'm sure Alan Franks will achieve ample recognition with Wherever You Go but you feel this is also a seedbed of collaboration just waiting to spring forth.
 |
| Isabella Pappas |
Isabella Pappas is a singer and actor. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance in The Nether at the Royal Court and Duke of York's Theatre in 2015.
 |
| Dorten Yonder - Maggie Eiseman-Renyard |
Dorten Yonder formed in 2013 when Pete and Maggie Eiseman-Renyard joined forces with Spootiskerry (Richard Cryan, Jan Lawrence and Neil Rogers) to record a CD of Maggie's songs.
 |
| Dorten Yonder - Neil Rogers |
That CD is now available, but the five of them have enjoyed the project so much that they are going to carry on performing together - broadening the repertoire to include traditional dance music and song, and compositions by other band members.
 |
| Dorten Yonder - Richard Cryan |
As Maggie's songs called for varied arrangements, with a wide range of timbres, they have continued to use guitars, bass guitar, mandolins, fiddle, whistles, flute, concertina, bouzouki, tenor and bass recorder, banjo and percussion in their performances.
 |
| Chrys Salt |
Chrys Salt is an award winning writer who has performed her poetry across the UK, in Europe and the USA. Work has been published in journals, magazines and anthologies and broadcast on Radio 3 and 4. She is Artistic Director of The Bakehouse, a flourishing arts venue in SW Scotland and Literature Convener for The Dumfries and Galloway Festival.
 |
| Syd Maddicott |
Syd Maddicott was a British diplomat who was High Commissioner to Cameroon from 2006 to 2009.
He sings and records both a soloist and as a member of the shanty crew the Old Gaffers, and well known for their renditions of sea songs and shanties.
AL.
 |
| Pete Eiseman-Renyard |
