Folk Fusion Bands Promise to thrill at Towersey (Contributed)

OVER the last few years, the British folk scene has seen an ever-increasing number of bands pushing the boundaries of folk by fusing a variety of styles and genres to create fresh and exciting new sounds. Celtic and traditional English styles have been infused with influences ranging from Bluegrass to Jazz, Latin to Old Time Americana and all sorts in-between. This year, Towersey Village Festival welcomes a healthy slice of these exciting fusion bands and projects to its stages.
Eleven-piece folk big band Bellowhead mix folk, rock, jazz, soul and world music influences with more than a hint of English Music Hall and a dash of cabaret, producing a thrilling and heady brew that simply defies easy categorisation. Irish quintet Lunasa create a sound which is rooted in Irish tradition whilst touching on jazz and other improvisational music forms. Meanwhile, Salsa Celtica fuse Latin and Celtic flavours to create a high-energy mix of unforgettable musical explorations which has made them festival favourites all over the world.

Towersey Village Festival also welcomes some of the newest folk fusion bands to be breaking onto the scene. Park Bench Social Club?s eclectic blend of Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional folk bluegrass, gypsy jazz, bhangra and old time Americana is scoring rave reviews with audiences and critics alike, up and down the country. In addition, The Glorystrokes are possibly the world?s only traditional English metalcore dance band, infusing traditional and self penned English folk tunes with Metalcore, Industrial Metal, Electronica and Post-Rock. Performing with dual melodeons, heavy drums, detuned guitars, programmed beats, samples and rumbling bass the band produce a truly unique interpretation of traditional music.

What unites these bands is their desire to blast away the boundaries where one style ends and another begins, electing instead to blend a colourful array of genres, creating sounds that are new and inspiring. This is an exciting time for the folk music scene and Towersey Village Festival provides a great space and atmosphere in which to experience this exciting line-up.