Looking for a new home

Unfortunately, the Galician, French, Scandi and harp sessions can no longer rely on getting the usual slots at the Port, so we are looking for new venues. The French and Scandi sessions are moving to the Victoria Arms, the harps session is still undecided.

For the Galician session, I am hoping to stay close to the coach stops of the Oxford Tube, so our friends from London can easily come and join us. At the Vicky Arms that would be tricky to do.  I have sent out inquiries to the Royal Blenheim and St. Aldates Tavern, which are both very close to the St. Aldates coach stop and which have both hosted lovely sessions during the Folk Weekends last year and the year before. I am also considering a couple of places near Headington Shops coach stop. Around St. Clements, all options have been checked the last time we were looking, and the Port ended up being the only one around there.

The October session is definitely happening on the 30th, but as yet we don’t know where it will be, so watch this space.

PS in more positive session news, Oxford has a brand new Old Time session, which happens on Thursdays at irregular intervals at the Up in Arms, Marston Road. The next one will be on the Thu 24th, at 8pm.

 

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singing and dancing

We had a lot of dancing at the September session, thanks to Alba, a Galician music and dance teacher who worked hard to get people moving. Here are some photos which Sonja took:

 

 

I’m afraid that Sonja happened to sit directly opposite to me so it can’t be helped that I’m in all the pictures. Just try to focus on Alba and her dance moves. I also made a couple of videos which I’ll post separately, and Sonja has shared videos in the facebook group.

 

 

Galician Session Oxford September 2019

This month the Galician session will happen on the last Wednesday of the month as usual, specifically:

Wednesday 25.9.2019, 20:30 – 23:00.

at the

Port Mahon, 82 St. Clement’s St., Oxford OX4 1AW

We’re normally in the downstairs bar.

 

(serving suggestion)

This month, in the twenty-sixth session in the new sequence, we’ll again play lots of lovely tunes from our vast collection of Galician traditionals (and maybe the odd one from other traditions as well). The Oxford Pandeireteiras will play their tambourines and sing some of the songs they practise in their weekly meetings (you can also join a new monthly singing class with them!). Sheet music will be provided for anybody who brings an instrument and wants to join in (I also have a PDF file with 19 of our favourite tunes which I can email on request). There will be space for dancing, which has been used enthusiastically in the first sessions at the new venue. A box of miscellaneous percussion instruments (including the very Galician cunchas, i.e. scallop shells) is also on hand if you would like to rattle along with the rhythms.

Note that the pub has a 11:00pm curfew for musical activities, so the session will close before that time with the traditional anthem of “Fisterra”. If you don’t have to leave earlier, it would be nice if you could stay for that. The curfew also means that if we start late, we’ll just have less time to play music.

For further info about the sessions and sharing audio and video recordings of the tunes we play, subscribe to this blog or join the Facebook group. There is also a mailing list for email reminders I tend to sen out a week before each session.

 

Looking ahead, the normal schedule applies for October and November, but in December the last Wednesday falls on xmas day, so I guess we’ll have to move the session to the 18th. If only because the pub will be closed on the 25th.

 

If one session per month simply isn’t enough for you, check the other sessions page.  There’s an amazing number of regular events going on around here!

 

 

Galician Session Oxford August 2019

This month the Galician session will happen on the last Wednesday of the month as usual, specifically:

Wednesday 28.8.2019, 20:30 – 23:00.

We are now back at the newly refurbished

Port Mahon, 82 St. Clement’s St., Oxford OX4 1AW

We’re normally in the downstairs bar. Here’s a blurred impression of the July sessoin which was truly amazing, thanks to lovely people coming from far and wide and bringing their skills and enthusiasm:

This month, in the twenty-fifth session in the new sequence, we’ll again play lots of lovely tunes from our vast collection of Galician traditionals (and maybe the odd one from other traditions as well). The Oxford Pandeireteiras will play their tambourines and sing some of the songs they practise in their weekly meetings (you can also join a new monthly singing class with them!). Sheet music will be provided for anybody who brings an instrument and wants to join in (I also have a PDF file with 19 of our favourite tunes which I can email on request). There will be space for dancing, which has been used enthusiastically in the first sessions at the new venue. A box of miscellaneous percussion instruments (including the very Galician cunchas, i.e. scallop shells) is also on hand if you would like to rattle along with the rhythms.

Note that the pub has a 11:00pm curfew for musical activities, so the session will close before that time with the traditional anthem of “Fisterra”. If you don’t have to leave earlier, it would be nice if you could stay for that. The curfew also means that if we start late, we’ll just have less time to play music.

For further info about the sessions and sharing audio and video recordings of the tunes we play, subscribe to this blog or join the Facebook group. There is also a mailing list for email reminders sent a week before the sessions.

 

If one session per month simply isn’t enough for you, check the other sessions page.  There’s an amazing number of regular events going on around here!

 

How it all began

If anybody out there stumbled upon our session and experienced the Oxford Pandeireteiras in full swing they may well wonder how this all started. I just discovered (as nobody tells me anything) a documentary from ~2012 with the first generation of pandeireteiras here, but without them playing any music. The brand new traditional music course launched by the Galician Studies Centre in January 2012 gets a mention.

This is part of a series of one-hour documentaries on Galician migrants around the world (each featuring one city) that ran from 1.7.2010 (London) to 2.7.2015 (episode 91: San Francisco).  Made for an audience back home in Galicia, this is more about the culture of the host country of course, and how the migrants experience it, so in the Oxford episode you’ll hear UK pop music (I need to listen again to check if they played any actual Oxford bands) rather than Galician ones.

 

Update: I just discovered a YouTube playlist which includes all 91 episodes in chronological order. Episode 9 on Brussels is of interest for fans of Galician music as one of the interviewees is Nuria from IALMA (she’s up second, so about 10 mins in).

Galician Session Oxford July 2019

Two years since this session’s founding genius, Mano Panforreteiro, moved away from Oxford, but some of us are still here! Some others have also moved, so if any musicians out there would like to join, there is space for you!

 

So, anyhow, here goes:

This month the Galician session will happen a week before the last Wednesday of the month, specifically:

Wednesday 24.7.2019, 20:30 – 23:00.

We are now back at the newly refurbished

Port Mahon, 82 St. Clement’s St., Oxford OX4 1AW

We’re normally in the downstairs bar, which now looks like this:

 

This month, in the twenty-fourth session in the new sequence, we’ll again play lots of lovely tunes from our vast collection of Galician traditionals (and maybe the odd one from other traditions as well). The Oxford Pandeireteiras will play their tambourines and sing some of the songs they practise in their weekly meetings (you can also join a new monthly singing class with them!). Sheet music will be provided for anybody who brings an instrument and wants to join in (I also have a PDF file with 19 of our favourite tunes which I can email on request). There will be space for dancing, which has been used enthusiastically in the first sessions at the new venue. A box of miscellaneous percussion instruments (including the very Galician cunchas, i.e. scallop shells) is also on hand if you would like to rattle along with the rhythms.

Note that the pub has a 11:00pm curfew for musical activities, so the session will close before that time with the traditional anthem of “Fisterra”. If you don’t have to leave earlier, it would be nice if you could stay for that. The curfew also means that if we start late, we’ll just have less time to play music.

For further info about the sessions and sharing audio and video recordings of the tunes we play, subscribe to this blog or join the Facebook group. There is also a mailing list for email reminders sent a week before the sessions.

Other events coming up:

Friday 19.7. 20:30h till late: After the success of the Midsummer Mazurka on the corner of Broad Street / Catte Street, there will be some more dancing in the streets this coming Friday.  Codename: July Jig. But if anybody wants to dance a Muiñeira or three, I am sure that can be arranged!

Saturday 27.7. 13:30h Romaria do dia da patria – a major festivity for the Galician national day  (25.7.) happening in Hyde Park, London,  The Statue of Achilles, London, W1J 7NT, organised by REGA UK

2.-11.8. Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Bretagne) – featured country this time is Galicia!

Events in July

Most importantly, our session will exceptionally happen _not_ on the last Wednesday, but on the 4th, due to impending summer holidays. I’ll do the official post later in the month, but wanted to flag this up here as an early warning.

Some exciting events coming up this month:

Sunday 7.7. Slow Session, earlier than usual at 2pm  Also: Cowley Road Carnival

Monday 8.7. French/Breton Session at the Port Mahon – also advertised on balmini.org, so some dancing likely to happen.

Tuesday 9.7. Scandi Folk Workshop / concert with the Oxford Fiddle Group and the band Doggerland, at Headington Quarry Village Hall starting 8pm. The split between concert and workshop will be roughly 50:50.

Saturday 13.7. Extinction Rebellion folk session in Cornmarket Street (outside Barclay’s Bank) 11-14h.

Wed 24.7. (NB exceptionally not the last Wed, but the 4th!) Galician Session Oxford, Port Mahon, 82 St. Clements St., OX4 1AW.  As the 24th is the last day of school and people tend to disappear for the summer, we’ll have the July session on the 4th Wednesday rather than the last.

Sat 27.7. I hear there may be a major Galician thing happening on that day in Hyde Park, London, details TBC.

 

Oh, and as a souvenir of last month’s amazing events, here is a video that our dancers made of the Midsummer Mazurka in Broad Street:

 

 

 

Galician Session Oxford June 2019

This month the Galician session will happen on the last Wednesday of the month, as usual, specifically:

Wednesday 26.6.2019, 20:30 – 23:00.

We are now back at the newly refurbished

Port Mahon, 82 St. Clement’s St., Oxford OX4 1AW

The new session space in the pub looks like this (check the February announcement if you’re unsure where to find it):

This month, in the twenty-third session in the new sequence, we’ll again play lots of lovely tunes from our vast collection of Galician traditionals (and maybe the odd one from other traditions as well). The Oxford Pandeireteiras will play their tambourines and sing some of the songs they practise in their weekly meetings (you can also join a new monthly singing class with them!). Sheet music will be provided for anybody who brings an instrument and wants to join in (I also have a PDF file with 19 of our favourite tunes which I can email on request). There will be space for dancing, which has been used enthusiastically in the first sessions at the new venue. A box of miscellaneous percussion instruments (including the very Galician cunchas!) is also on hand if you would like to rattle along with the rhythms.

Note that the pub has a 11:00pm curfew for musical activities, so the session will close before that time with the traditional anthem of “Fisterra”. If you don’t have to leave earlier, it would be nice if you could stay for that. The curfew also means that if we start late, we’ll just have less time to play music.

For further info about the sessions and sharing audio and video recordings of the tunes we play, subscribe to this blog or join the Facebook group. There is also a mailing list for email reminders sent a week before the sessions.

Other events this weekend:

This coming weekend there will be a few more notable events:

Friday: Clandestine Mazurka in the Broad Street / Catte Street area after the Rowan Rheingans gig in the Holywell Music Room.

Also on Friday: Latin American Open Mic at the Port Mahon.

Saturday into Sunday: The massive Galician St. John’s night festivity, Noite de San Xoan at Port Meadow.

Sunday: monthly session at the Tap Social (apparently it is officially on the second-last Sunday of the month, in case you were confused because the third Sunday was last week).

 

Looking ahead:

As school holidays begin on July 24th, I have booked the July session for this day, Wed 24th, which is the fourth but not the last Wed of the month in this exceptional case.

 

 

Noite de San Xoán

The traditional celebration of St. John’s Night will happen a day early this year, i.e. on Saturday 22nd of June, from pm and until sunrise on Sunday 23rd, which will be just after 4am, so we tentatively scheduled the end of the event for 5am.

Like last year, it will happen at the Godstow Road (ie northern) end of Port Meadow, on the banks of the river Thames. There will be barbecues so bring food to put on them and drinks might be handy too. Once the food is out of the way, there will be a bonfire and we’ll play lots of music, so bring your instruments and your voices, too.

This is organised by the Oxford Pandeireteiras with REGA UK, and it tends to attract quite a large crowd (hoping that the weather has recovered by then).

Galician poetry events

they are a bit like London buses, so there will be two Galician poetry events coming in next week, which I guess is related to the fact that a Galician poet will be visiting Oxford and participating in both.

On Tuesday (5pm, Taylorian Institute) we have:

 

and on Wednesday (5:30 at the Galician Studies Centre):