Schools’ Project Round Up

The 2008 schools' project was a huge success, Damien, Bryony and Fiona worked all week in school and then the whole Demon Barber Roadshow descended on the Music Hall for a fantastic collaboration between the Roadshow and the school.

The week in school saw the trio work with every child in school, with 30 children chosen to be involved on stage in rapper, clogging, morris and song.


Here’s a review from the Shropshire Star (21 June 2008)

"If anybody in the audience at the Music Hall last night (FRI) came to see the Demon Barber Roadshow with a preconceived stereotype of what folk music was, just minutes in the company of this dynamic and high energy band must have dispelled those myths forever.

The Demon Barbers is no ordinary group - if there was ever a folk rulebook, they threw it away years ago. They combine a bass guitar and drums with a violin, melodeon, accordion and an English concertina with their own unique take on traditional English folk songs.

Add to the mix two talented clog dancers (Tiny Taylor and Fiona Bradshaw) and rapper and morris dancers and you've got a show that held the audience spellbound.

But last night Roadshow leader Damien Barber - who along with Lee Sykes, Andy Stephenson, David Hall and Will Hampson turned rapper dancing into a sight to behold with florescent swords - and singer and violinist Bryony Griffiths were only too delighted to be upstaged by the 30 children from Oxon School that they have been working with all week as part of Shrewsbury Folk Festival's schools project.

The children, varying from year two to six, took starring roles showing off the traditional folk music and dance skills they have learnt in just several days. As head teacher Mark Rogers said it will be an experience the children will never forget.

The Demon Barbers and their young Oxon protégés will be wowing the audiences again at Shrewsbury Folk Festival from August 22 to 25"

The project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will continue in 2009 and 2010 with traditions from the rest of Great Britain – more details to follow next year.

Demon Barber Roadshow Tickets - FREE!!

We have the full Demon Barber Roadshow at the Music Hall in Shrewsbury on Friday 20th June; entry is by invitation only but here’s your chance to win tickets for this private show!

As is normal, we kept some tickets for the show available for guests of the band, and they’ve kindly made these available as giveaways......

We have 5 pairs of tickets on offer for the concert – it’s Friday 20th June, The Music Hall, Shrewsbury (show starts 7:30pm)

To enter the draw, please send an email to neil@sff.co.uk (please replace the sff.co.uk with shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk, thanks).

We’ll draw 5 pairs out early next week and will email the lucky winners – demand for these will be high, so please only enter if you can attend. Good luck!

Schools’ Project and the Heritage Lottery Fund

We’re proud to announce that we’ve secured almost £26,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to deliver a unique folk music project to local primary schools over the next three years.

Each year there will be a week-long project which sees folk artists go into local schools and work with children to pass on traditional folk music, dance and drama skills; this year the project will concentrate on traditional folk arts from England, and then look in turn at the folk heritage of Wales and Scotland.

We have Damien Barber, Bryony Griffith and Fiona Bradshaw from the Demon Barber Roadshow working at Oxon Primary School for a full week starting Monday 16th June, and this is followed by a full Demon Barber Roadshow evening performance on Friday 20th June at the Music Hall, Shrewsbury.

Each year the musicians and bands working in school will also be booked to perform at the festival, where the all festival attendees (including the school children and their families) will have chance to work with the musicians again.

We proud to have the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund for this innovative project, and believe this is an important part of the festival, as well as being vital for the continuation of folk arts in Great Britain.