Folk and FolkRoots

Cumbrian and British Traditional Music
2010: BlueJam has been running an open folk session for over 2 years now - sometimes led by well-established Cumbrian folk musicians like Carolyn Francis, sometimes led by young emerging folk musicians like Rob Heron and Catherine Ashcroft.

The sessions now take place on Wednesday evenings and are open to all ages, though players under 11 need to be accompanied by an adult. The idea is to provide a space where people can learn Cumbrian and British folk tunes and styles at their own pace and gain the confidence to then join in the many sessions happening in pubs and clubs around Cumbria. (See MAC website for details of regular acoustic sessions)

The sessions take place on Wednesdays at 7.30pm at the EDC rooms, Lowther St, Penrith and are self-funding. Thanks to Roger Butterfield for taking on the leadership of the sessions and making it sustainable. See Calendar for details of next public session.

FolkRoots sessions
Jilly has also been running workshops since 2003 that look at a wide spectrum of folk and acoustic music, mixing traditional instruments with voices, drums, electronics and also crossing genres with arrangements that introduce improvisation, jazz and contemporary styles along with the instruments associated with them.
As BlueJam is constantly asked to perform a wide variety of music for different functions the music of the sessions adapts to fulfil the current need - so for Solfest we have a band with vocals, horns and samba drums, for Apple Day a saxophone quartet playing medieval music, or whistles and flutes, or acapella arrangements of world music songs.
Our focus is to encourage musicianship among all our players but especially the young musicians who can increase their skill and understanding by experiencing how different instruments work in various musical environments. (see Community Bands page for all our past and present performing groups)
Currently Jilly is running a folkroots session for families with young children which is turning out to be extremely popular (and lively!!) and allows people the opportunity to try acoustic instruments at any level of skill and make a good group sound. This is part-funded through our ORCHID project by youth music.

Cumbrian folk traditions and young performers
BlueJam is currently developing a project to look at the way young people in Cumbria are accessing folk and acoustic music

and moving it in a contemporary direction with some great songwriting and arrangements that enhance our rich heritage. We are interested in how folk music acts as a catalyst for intergenerational dialogue and learning, with respect being given in both directions by young and old. We would like to recognise the talent that is emerging from local young people and encourage others to find out more. Watch this space and wish us luck with funding!!