Ailsa Festival - at the Ailsa Tavern, Twickenham
     
BANDS - JAMS - MUSIC TALENT CONTEST - OPEN MIC - REAL ALES - WORKSHOPS - GREAT FOOD - FREE ENTRY (EXCEPT CONTEST)

1. Diary of Events
 

2. The Bands

Be Sharp:
A fantastic three-piece with a high class blues / rock music sound - like "Cream"! I can't recommend them enough. You HAVE to come and experience their music, which includes both classic covers from the likes of Steely Dan and Cream plus their own powerful originals!


Plus support spot: Nessles:
Nessles has an incredible voice not unlike Florence from "Florence and the Machine"
and she writes powerful rock / blues influenced songs, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.




The Carnaby's: A massively popular, young and up-and-coming band with a great sound!
 

Plus support spot: Amy Longden-Rogers

Amy has a beautiful, clear and expressive voice, which is a joy to listen to and she sings with a passion!

The Jazz Band: A superb jazz four-piece led by Evan Clegg.

 

3. The Workshops and Jams
Workshops will be free for festival goers!
There will be three workshop/jam areas:-

1. Marquee in garden         M       2. Raised corner in main bar (R)        R       3. Darts / family area (D)        D

There will be three 45min sessions of 2 different workshops (in areas "M" and "D") and a jam (in area "R"), which start on the hour – so midday, 1pm and 2pm.
The workshops and jams and their leaders and areas will stay the same but there will be 15min refreshment breaks. This will allow pub customers to rotate to another session area  - so they can sample every activity over the afternoon if they want to. 

Sessions and Leaders

Surya Cooper

Surya is a qualified music teacher offering lessons in guitar and ukulele as well as other related music skills. She runs several local music groups, which meet on a regular basis with which interested people can get involved. See her link for more information.

Ed Spevock

The multi-talented Ed Spevock has been a professional drummer and percussionist for over twenty years, performing with such artists as Cat Stevens, Jimmy Cliff and Jack Bruce to name but a few. In the Seventies he was to be found as the regular drummer with such bands as 'Babe Ruth', 'Chicken Shack' and 'The Peddlers'. Christmas 1999 saw Ed performing in the West End musical 'Great Balls of Fire', and amongst the other shows Ed has performed in are 'Snoopy', 'Disgracefully Yours' and 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' Ed is also a teacher and is a founder member of 'Baroque to Rock' - www.baroquetorock.freeserve.co.uk, an educational live music band performing in schools, and can also be heard with the Babe Ruth Band -www.baberuthband.com

4. The Original Music Talent Contest - "Rising Stars"

Contest Information 1. Concept 2. How To Enter - Won by Zoe West 3. Prizes and Sponsors 4. The Contestants 5. The Judges 6. The Judging Panel on the Day 7. Performer Photos and Links 8. Timing Plan 9. You Tube Page

Concept

To help any reasonably competent, not already established music performers, serious about wanting to take their own music further professionally, by giving them a £100 cash prize, exposure via live gigging, publicity and potential contacts in the music industry. Any musician / band* could apply. (There was no upper or lower age limit – the fact that the applicant(s) was not already established and wanted to make a career in music would likely favour the younger or more passionate person).

There were 3 judges with connections in the music industry, who marked as well as commented on each performance immediately after it has been given, on the afternoon.


* Bands applying will have to understand we will have a limited time to set up take down gear as well as space and will need to agree to cut down drum kit etc.. We might be able to share drum / backline if we have several bands applying.

How To Enter Talent Contest -       

Won by Zoe West 

 

Talent Contest - Prizes and Sponsors

- £100 cash - 40min feature spot at Twickenham Green Fair, Sunday 7th July, 2pm - 40min feature spot at St. Margarets Fair, Saturday July 13th (4.10pm - 4.50pm) - Free full year's membership to great band listings site, Gigall (worth £25) - Free full year's membership to great band listings site, Lemonrock (worth £30) - Interview and live performance on Brooklands Radio   ("Under The Radar" - with David Durant)  - Other opportunities - like supports to bigger names to be announced. NOTE: Radio Jackie will be announcing the talent contest on air and on their web site.

Under The Radar Live Sessions is a weekly show presented by David Durant on Brooklands Radio.  The show provides a platform for emerging musicians to reach wider audiences and gain new fans.  Each week a new artist or band are invited to the studios for a live session where they have an opportunity to talk about themselves, their musical journeys, current and future projects such as gigs and recordings, and of course they also get the opportunity to perform a few of their numbers live on air.  During the show the in-house photographer takes photos of the artists and each of the live songs is filmed on HD video.  These are used on David's blog where he reviews each show.  Under The Radar Live Sessions broadcasts on the Internet from studios in Weybridge on Sundays from 7pm to growing audiences across the UK, Europe, the USA and beyond.                                                             See the blog at: www.daviddurantmusic.com

Talent Contest - Judges

There were 3 judges, with connections in the music industry, who marked as well as commented on each performance immediately after it had been given, on the afternoon. Find out who they were below...

Noemi Nuti
Born and raised in New York City from Italian descent, Noemi Nuti is an up-and-coming jazz vocalist and songwriter currently residing in London.
Having developed an interest in music at an early age she started to play the harp at the age of 8 and went on to study with Harriet Ewing as part of her BMus at Brunel University when she moved to London aged 18.  It was, however, only at 21 that she discovered jazz and vocal improvisation and ever since then it has been her driving focus. In 2008-09 she took part in the Tomorrow's Warrior's project, 'Jazz Alive' exploring the British heritage in Jazz for young and talented musicians. Led by Soweto Kinch, Gary Crosby, Orphy Robinson and Zoe Rahman the group performed around the U.K. and culminated with a concert at Soweto Kinch's 'Flyover Show' in Birmingham. In 2008 as part of the London Jazz Festival, Ms Nuti also performed with the Matthew Herbert Big Band, with lead vocalist Eska Mtungwazi as part of a choir of volunteers at the at the Royal Festival Hall.She studied improvisation and composition at Trinity College of Music in 2009 with Anita Wardell, Nia Lynn, Pete Churchill, Simon Purcell, Liam Noble, Julian Siegal, Martin Speake and Barak Schmool. She performed with Norma Winstone at the London Jazz Festival as part of the Trinity Vocal small group in 2010, a highlight amongst many performing opportunities, and graduated with an MA in Jazz Performance in 2012. Ms Nuti has quickly involved herself in many projects including a songwriting collaboration with pianist/composer, Andrew McCormack performing the new work with his trio. She is also a member of The London Vocal Project (LVP) led by Pete Churchill which has launched a first collaboration album with British jazz legend Kenny Wheeler at Kings Place in May 2013 as well as Rhythms Of The City, led by Barak Schmool, as one of the lead singers for both Brazil and UK tours, inspiring her love for Brazilian music. Alongside this she has been a regular performer with NYJO and now often leads the singer's rehearsals. Ms Nuti is now focusing on developing her own music with her newly formed quartet exploring improvisation and deep lyrical content within song structures for her debut album due for release in 2013.  

"Noemi Nuti-  A musician who sings and improvises with a sound so sweet yet full of depth and honesty.  She tells you her story through a song and with that you'll want to listen, again and again." Anita Wardell - Jazz singer

“Noemi Nuti - … completely, winningly alive in themoment [...] a sense of fearless enjoyment.” Sebastian Scotney -londonjazz.blogspot.co.uk

The Judging Panel on the Day

Giving Comments and the Certificates and Prizes



Third Prize to Mike Watts



Second Prize to Nessles



First Prize to Zoe West

Thanks to everyone who took part!

 

The Talent Contestants (who performed on the day)

1. Semitone Ghosts
2. Nessles                 Second place
3. Joe Carabine
4. Kieran Daly
5. Amanda Shaw
6. Zoe West                Winner
7. Fredie Hendrix
8. "Lilith By My Side"
9. Daniel Mushett
10. Lucie Hickie
11. Damon Coles
12. Judith Arkell
13. Gary Brooker
14. Mike Watts            Third place

Performer Photos and Links


Semitone Ghosts
 

"Lilith By My Side" 
 

Timing Plan for Talent Contest - Sat 6th
3pm – 4.30pm
First 7 acts (allows 9mins for set up, performance and judges comments per act. Next act can begin getting set up during judges comments for previous act).
4.30pm – 4.45pm
15mins break
4.45pm – 6.15pm
Second 6 acts
6.15pm – 6.30pm
Judges confer
6.30pm
Judges decision and winner’s spot (3 numbers)
7pm - END