'CARNIVAL' can be defined as 'merriment, revelry or indulgence' and no-one can dispute the fact that the Carnival band - aka Henry VIII's Rock 'n Roll band - created glorious chaos at the Courtyard, delighting a full house in the process.
Each member of the five-man group, led by Andy Watts, is a fine musician in his own right, but it was a combined op that gave the evening its 'wow factor'.
A shawm, curtal, Flemish bagpipes, a Jew's harp and percussion, including a saucepan 'borrowed from the kitchen', together with more familiar modern instruments, were played with panache and vocals often added to the cheerful mayhem.
The music ranged from that of the Middle Ages to our own era, but not necessarily in that order! The French rustic Bransles, sometime described by Shakespeare as a 'brawl', was featured alongside 'obscure' Texas bohemian music and Macedonian Reggae, and you can't get much more obscure than that.
One song, from East Africa, was translated as 'bring the cows in out of the rain' - something which doesn't happen in Herefordshire, but it does in Tanzania!
A brilliant double bass solo, The Somewhere Waltz, was played in a manner never previously heard, or seen.
An encore, complete with synchronised aerial leaps, followed a take-off on Noel Coward singing I Feel Good, a sentiment obviously shared by the audience.
Hilary Carnson
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