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Eliza Carthy and Martin Green
Friday 3.45
 Watch the performance.
It seems impossible that the sound blasting from the stage is being made by two people. It's a rocking fiddle and accordion instrumental, it's called Fen and it's issuing from the instruments of Eliza Carthy and Martin Green.
That Eliza's at it again. She loves working with other artists and collaborators like Nancy Kerr, Kings Of Calicutt, Waterson:Carthy and Blue Murder spring to mind. Now she's touring and recording with this chap - great accordionist, long-time member of The Eliza Carthy Band and local Cambridge lad from literally just around the corner. It's mid-afternoon, against all the odds the weather's fine and no-one's sitting in gently steaming puddles - except those of admiration at the virtuosity of these two young performers, delivering a stunning set of unusually interesting tunes and English traditional song.
What's brilliant about Eliza is that she's such a great mixture of past and present: totally dedicated to the tradition and simultaneously full of youthful innovation. In this collaboration the emphasis is on driving tunes where trad meets jazz with trance intensity via pastoral English verse and beautiful Galician melody. She sings a couple of songs: Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy over Martin's gentle rolling accordeon melody and deep bass notes and, solo, Pretty Ploughboy from her forthcoming Topic album, Anglicana. Mostly, though, it’s the dark, wild tunes that characterise this duo. A set from America and North England has the expression on Eliza's face changing from fierce concentration to big grin.
Eyeballing fiercely, Martin rocks away on jazz chords. Later there’s a Morris tune but not as we know it, Jim. And some English hornpipes (Daniel Wright's and The Bagpipe, to be precise) aren't your normal keg of rum either but swing with unbelievable ferocity: more an invitation to do a rapturous mosh than a sedate sailor's hop. They go out on a fabulous tune set: The Presbyterian Hornpipe, another Northern tune and one Eliza wrote after a long game of draughts: rock 'n' roll eh? Martin's low bass chords underpin Eliza's warm fiddle tones, the rhythm oscillates between driving arpeggios and long slow chords and they have a ball.
They’re launching their new album Dinner this weekend. If I were you, I’d get in the queue now.
Mel McClellan
Do you agree with this review? Send us your views.
Eliza Carthy's performance was far from stunning. It was in fact rather dull, lacking inspiration or spark.
Steve G Davies
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