25.03.27: Brown Wimpenny (UK)
Old industrial ballads, improvisation and joyous communal singing.
"Rooted in friendship, improvisation, and the time-slip power of the old songs, it is messy, misshapen and rapturous too. Long live and prosper."
– MOJO ★★★★
Armed with an eleven-piece ensemble of fiddles, banjos, mandolins, accordion, flute, double bass, guitars and brass, British folk collective Brown Wimpenny throw themselves into a communal reinvention of the traditional songbook. From old Northern English industrial ballads and Irish folk songs to Appalachian bluegrass and centuries-old rituals, they breathe new life into the tradition through a sprawling, unpredictable mixture of improvisation, unbridled musical joy and communal singing, seeking to dissolve the boundaries between performers and audience.
Brown Wimpenny is presented together with Huset
Date: Thursday 25.03.27
Doors: 19:30
Show: 20:00
Price: 130 DKK in presale / 150 DKK at the door
Venue: Stairway, Lindehøjen 23, 2720 København
Brown Wimpenny (UK)
With roots in Manchester, Liverpool and London, Brown Wimpenny are part of a new wave of British folk musicians rediscovering, reinterpreting and revitalising traditional folk music. The collective emerged from informal Sunday jam sessions in banjo player Seth Lockwood's Manchester living room, gradually expanding into a sprawling community of as many as 25 musicians before settling into its current eleven-piece formation. Drawing inspiration from folk singer and socialist Ewan MacColl's approach to working-class song traditions, Brown Wimpenny regard folk music as a living, collective heritage belonging to everyone and no one.
On their acclaimed debut album Long Live Brown Wimpenny, released through the influential British folk label Broadside Hacks Recordings, the collective moves freely through centuries of folk music history. From Irish standards such as Raglan Road and the Northern English industrial ballad Sheffield Grinder to ancient sheep-counting rituals from North Yorkshire, they unfold a musical universe in which traditional melodies are dismantled, stretched and reassembled into sprawling arrangements. The album was named Folk Album of the Month by The Guardian and received enthusiastic reviews from MOJO, UNCUT and The Quietus, among others.
Above all, however, Brown Wimpenny's music is meant to be experienced collectively. Rooted in the social and political traditions of British folk music, they seek to break down the divide between performers and listeners, reclaiming the spontaneity and sense of community that have kept these songs alive for generations. On stage, they move between fragile, almost ceremonial passages and explosive, exhilarating outbursts, as eleven musicians throw themselves headlong into each other's melodies and rhythms. The result is a chaotic, euphoric and deeply human live experience in which tradition is not merely preserved, but brought vividly back to life.