One thing certain when attending an O’Hooley and Tidow show is
that you leave informed, entertained and very much aware why they are gathering
a deserved reputation as one of the most vibrant duos on the British folk
circuit. Whether it’s their skilled approach to mastering the art of storytelling
by song, harnessing their vocal talents in harmonious unison or sharing their exuberant
personalities in an affable way, this acclaimed Yorkshire couple have hit the
jackpot with both their recorded material and live presence.
Okay the jackpot this evening may have been 50 people in a
rural community centre but folk music is all about reaching out to the people
and there is little doubt that Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow could do this
365 days a year should energies permit such is the demand. BBC Radio 2 folk
award nominations have begun to be accumulated and their latest industry nod
has been on the back of a fine release last year titled THE HUM. As expected
tracks from this album featured prominently in this show which followed a pair
of sets straddling a break with the second one being slightly longer in
touching the hour.
The clock had barely struck eight before the two ladies
strode onto stage, dressed in black and moved straight into this album’s title
track following a brief explanation of its origins from a factory in their home
village. This followed a constant theme throughout the evening with very few
songs not being honoured with a detailed description of its background. Musically
the duo relies solely on Belinda’s keyboard playing but the act is probably
more defined by the vocal interaction. The set list was just two songs in when
Heidi and Belinda stepped off mic to deliver a version of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ and ‘Banjolo’, a song they also recorded on their 2010 debut album
SILENT JUNE.
The style of Belinda and Heidi sways from straight forward ballads
such as the impressive ‘Two Mothers’
inspired by the film Oranges and Sunshine chronicling forced child migration in the
60’s, to jolly up tempo standard folk ditties best exemplified by the drinking
song ‘Summat’s Brewin’’ and the singalong
pre-encore closer ‘Gentleman Jack’.
Of course these songs were granted informed intros with the good folk of
Broseley learning of nineteenth century diarist Anne Lister’s slightly off beat
lifestyle. This last song was probably the ladies most successful attempt at
enlisting audience vocal participation.
Politically you don’t need to spend too long to figure where
Belinda and Heidi position themselves with acknowledgement of Tony Benn to
introduce the anti-war song ‘Like a Horse’,
using animal imagery on their take of the banking crisis in ‘The Tallest Tree’ and honouring Ewan
McColl by covering his song ‘Just a Note’.
This written piece was based on the experience of migrant labour workers
building the M1 motorway and contrasted with the repeated theme of animal imagery, also the topic of the Japanese inspired song ‘Kitsune’.
Getting to know the duo was an easy aspect of the audience
experience and by the time the evening closed with ‘Too Old To Dream’ we were particularly informed of Belinda’s day
job for 19 years prior to giving this music game a crack full time. However recounting
all the snippets, sound bites and slices of folk music education is far too numerous
for a review painting a pictorial overview and like all live music it’s best
experienced in the first person.The Birchmeadow Centre has wisely booked
Belinda and Heidi on three separate occasions and it’s pretty sure the other
two nights were as good as this.
