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| Thanks to all who came to our shows downstairs at
Bom-Bane's during May 2007. We had an enjoyably busy time
with The 1st Harmonium Festival of Brighton with
Lorraine Bowen and Jane Bom-Bane, Nick Pynn's Box of
Acoustic Delights - solo and with Arthur Brown and
Boothby Graffoe -, An Evening with Mike Hatchard and a
one-off performance from Jonathan Brown in The Father
Monologues. Everything we had on this festival has
been recorded for a future CD release. We won an award for our venue and the music programme we offered over the festival, and Nick won 'The Latest' Star of the Festival award for his solo performance! We're going to be having more musical events here soon, and perhaps these ones coming up will interest one or two of you: |
| 1st Annual Harmonium Festival of Brighton After a less than harmonious opening number this wonderful duo - harmonium-wielding and mechanical hat-collecting Jane Bom-Bane and International Casio Queen Lorraine Bowen - pedalled their bizarre coughing and splurging instruments into the first hit of the performance. 'Traffic Jam On The Old Steine' saw the Salvation Army harmoniums transformed into Fiestas, and the hilarious and sequin-adorned former Billy Bragg co-performer Bowen nudge her vehicle into the back of a doe eyed Bom-Bane. Their combined love for the instrument produced a fab repertoire of such sing-along hits as 'Ashford International', 'The Crumble Song' and Wide Reader Blue Book inspired 'Ki Nog Stan'; this was a boundary-less evening, covering filofaxes to goldfish - pure entertainment, which for my money, has certainly rescued the harmonium from redundancy. Rating 4/5 'Three Weeks' |
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| Nick Pynn's Box of Acoustic Delights Nick Pynn's solo performance at the intimate Bom-Bane café last night was both dynamic and breathtaking. This celtic-king of string instruments and renowned 'Devil's Fiddler' - the name of his 1996 worldwide commercial release - charmed the audience with a devilish mixture of traditional folk and electro-acoustic innovation. In a performance which featured a beautiful self-made dulcimer, electric and acoustic guitar, and violin, Pynn's delightful melange kicked off with 'Bad Tooth', a fiddle number dreamt during a bout of toothache, and included such Pynn originals as 'Steam Train' and 'The Brightest Star'. Live-sampling all manner of sounds from the singing rim of wine glasses to the slap and shuffle of a deck of cards, Pynn transformed the warm basement of Jane Bom-Bane's into a magical music-box. Rating 4/5 'Three Weeks' |
| Nick Pynn's Box of Acoustic Delights with guest Arthur Brown Sipping smooth Belgian beer and watching the cosy Bom-Bane's fill up, I awaited award-winning cosmic fiddler Nick Pynn with eager anticipation. And as he descended the spiral staircase in a powder-blue suit and sat awkwardly against a backdrop of hanging string instruments I had a feeling I was in for a treat. I was right. A surprise appearance from immortal showman Arthur Brown, the original 'God of Hellfire', stole the show and produced moments of pure poetic musical magic. Live-sampling and looping his string instruments, Pynn built up sonic textures that were hauntingly beautiful. His psychedelic rhythms were organic and performed with incredible vigour, as he trod the thin line between dream and nightmare. Don't miss Pynn's next performance at this classy joint. Rating 4/5 'Three Weeks'  |
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| Jane with The Groanbox Boys who performed at Bom-Banes in 2007. |
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