As a trio, Gigspanner, formed by Steeleye Span’s erstwhile fiddle player Peter Knight, has built a massive reputation for dismantling traditional music and song and reassembling it into “music of intelligently crafted brilliance” (Songlines).

BBC Folk Award winners (Best Duo) Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin are described by The Guardian as being “Subtle, bravely original…a combination of virtuosity, intensity and charisma”

Their appearances together as the Gigspanner Big Band are a rare but highly sought after affair, thanks to performances of dazzling musicianship and arresting chemistry.

The originality of their combined musicianship inspired Fatea magazine to write ““What a fabulous team they make, together producing a startlingly new musical form with few, if any, true antecedents. The flights of musical and interpretive fancy are staggering in their natural invention” 

“Unhindered by the limits of technical ability” (Spiral Earth), they take self-penned material along with music rooted in the British Isles, and with the flick of a bow, a finely chosen chord or slip of a beat, produce richly atmospheric arrangements layered within a wealth of subliminal musical influences “with notes seemingly plucked from the stars and rhythms from the equator”.

“The Gigspanner Big Band are a unique musical proposition; they are taking folk music down new and enthralling paths. They are also one of the most exciting live bands you are likely to see this year (or any year, for that matter)”

FolkRadio UK

 


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