Mark Bradshaw and the Jackdaws
Mark Bradshaw is a composer, songwriter and performer now living in the Hope Valley. Accomplished on guitar, mbira and piano, he’s recorded, researched and performed all over the world. In the UK, he was a member of Spirit Talk Mbira, and one half of Blissful Virtuous. In eSwatini, he collaborated extensively with the country’s finest songwriters - Bholoja and Velemseni - and researched and recorded rural musicians to release an album of traditional music, Songs of the Swazi.In Singapore, he headed up the acoustic quintet, Shumba ye Moyo. He has studied Zimbabwean mbira for over 30 years, most recently as a student of Tiri Chiongotere. Mark’s mbiras are made by Fradreck Mujuru.
Rob Whale (violin and vocals)
Mark is accompanied by Rob Whale, an accomplished songwriter, arranger and performer in his own right. Rob is also a vital cog in Jack’s Rake and A Band Named Brian. A multi-instrumentalist, in the Jackdaws he’s a fabulous violinist and wonderful harmoniser.
The Beauty In It All
After living in Africa and Asia from 1999 to 2023, Mark returned to the UK to live in the Hope Valley, and in so doing, lived through the cycle of the seasons for the first time in twenty-five years. The words are rooted in this experience, and centre on the beauty and wonder to be found in the woods, moors and edges of the Dark Peak, and our inability to value the earth above our selfishness and greed.
Musical influences are wide-ranging. Central is the music and the musicians of Southern Africa, particularly the mbira dzavadzimu music of Zimbabwe and the makhweyane bow music of eSwatini. Mbira-style guitarists such as Joshua Dube and Jonah Sithole and the masterful Derek Gripper are vital influences too. There’s also weight from UK folk - Martin Simpson’s finger-picking and tunings, Louis Campbell’s colour and space, and blues guitarists like Brownie McGhee and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Violinists such as Sam Sweeney and Owen Spafford and the more outrageous sounds of Swati oil-can violinist Elias Matsenjwa impact the violin writing.
African ideas of repetition, variation and groove, the descending lines and implied chord progressions of mbira music and the harmonics and intimacy of makhweyane music are a profound influence. Live-looping develops interlocking, multi-layered guitar and mbira textures. Violin lines are often lyrical, vocal harmonies often sweet.
The Sette of Odde Volumes
The Sette of Odde Volumes are a trio local to the Hope Valley, who have been writing and performing songs together for over ten years. Combining guitar, bass, strings, piano, and vocal harmonies, their narrative-rich, eclectic songs invite you into a world of tall tales and curious characters, evoking the beauty in the small things and the fantastical in the everyday.
Bandcamp link: https://setteofoddevolumes.bandcamp.com/
Youtube links:
One man band on the run - https://youtu.be/J_T_9vK6470?si=XHNHhafKVL6ZVk9u
Papier-mache effigy of you - https://youtu.be/LLDbO-RqVl8?si=N1KZXx3XwV-ZHkPg
About this event:
Date - From 7pm on Saturday, 12 September.
Timing - Doors open for drinks at 7pm, performance starts at 7.30pm.
Price - £10 / £7 with ACCESSIBLE coupon code.
Location - Downstairs at Open House.
Wheelchair accessibility - This event is accessible to wheelchair users. There is an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Email music@openhousehathersage.com to reserve a priority seat/wheelchair space.
Booking - Limited to 60 spots, to book your spot please click below.
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For subsidised tickets, please use the coupon code ‘ACCESSIBLE’ when booking on the next pages.
We want to support the grassroots music scene, book high quality artists, offer fair pay to musicians and run a sustainable venue. Across the UK, many small music venues are shutting and we want to buck this trend.
Standard tickets are priced to fairly pay the musicians and to support the venue. We also recognise that these tickets are potentially unaffordable for some people and we also offer subsidised tickets because we want live music to be accessible to as many people as possible.
For our higher priced events, some people may find these subsidised tickets difficult to afford so we have developed a programme of events at different price points, including ‘grassroots double bill’ events and free open mic events. We hope to see you at a music event soon. -
This event will be held downstairs and is accessible to wheelchair users with an accessible WC on our ground floor.
Please contact us if you have any concerns.