Date/Time
Date(s) - 26/06/2016
2:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
Orwell Hotel - His Lordship's Library
Categories No Categories
Essex poet-musician-columnist Martin Newell reads two of his long poems ‘The Song of the Waterlily – the building of a boat’ and ‘Black Shuck’, accompanied by original music composed by members of The Hosepipe Band.
‘The Song of the Waterlily’ has been performed for the Poetry Wivenhoe group, at Folk East Festival (2015), at Essex Poetry Festival and at a number of other arts centres in our region. One blogger in the festival audience commented: “… an unexpected delight, was poet Martin Newell and the Hosepipe Band whose words-and-music epic ‘The Song of the Waterlily’ was, for me, worth the Sunday entrance fee on its own.”
‘The Song of the Waterlily’ describes the building and proving of a traditional Essex deep-sea fishing smack from tree to sea. We follow the story through the eyes of a young shipwright, helping a master shipwright to construct the boat. We then follow the progress of the boat from her launch, her naming and her first regatta race, until the day of her proving when she must face a storm in the perilous North Sea.
‘Black Shuck’ tells of the sinister, ghostly dog said to have haunted East Anglia since Viking times. For hundreds of years, Black Shuck, who is associated with death, has stalked the dens, coastlands and churchyards of eastern England. The poem follows in the phantom dog’s tracks through the half-forgotten villages and lanes of North Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and captures some of the dark mystery of this largely unsung part of Britain.
An audio CD recording of this unique work will available at the festival or, in advance from the group’s website
