Singalong anthems for the underdog and the undersung.
"Entertaining and refreshing... Just love the quirky humour." Liz Franklin, Blues&Roots Radio "Wonderful zany historians" Darlo Radio "If you love history and legend, folk tales and songs the Penland Phezants have brought it all together in a performance of character and intrigue. A popular choice on the 2017 Bury St Edmunds Festival" Milkmaid Folk Club. "A fascinating and entertaining show, with a mix of poetry and recitation backed up brilliantly with well delivered original songs." Bury Arts Festival. "The Penland Phezants perform with a wonderful resonance bringing every story to life on a musical path" Sue Marchant BBC Regional Radio "A joy for all present." Richard Collier, Hon Curate, Fring All Saints. "Informative and entertaining. A very professional and enjoyable evening" Elmswell History Group, Suffolk. "Brilliant. Stunning. Genius lyrics; thrilling music. " Elizabeth MacDonald Wall Street Journal, author of Skirting Heresy. " omg best album ever: the Phezants came out of the woods and nothing was ever the same." Jon Wesley, American fan on twitter. "History brought to life in an exceptional way" Dr Paul Richards, Marriott's Warehouse Trust, King's Lynn. "Having attended dynamic Iive performances of Gareth's group in Lynn on Cromwell, Margery Kempe and Sawtrey, I believe these ballads will capture new audiences for our shared East Anglian heritage, of the story of Norfolk and England. It is pleasing to see West Norfolk well represented as well as ballads (typically springing from the experience of the common people) that take us across our exceptional county from Lynn to Yarmouth, Cromer to Thetford" (Dr Richard's introduction to "Doin Different," Poppyland, 2016) "An ardent love and deep understanding of history and an uncanny ability to breathe life into the past and to make it meaningful to the present" (Aude Gotto, in her introduction to "House on the River" Calway's poetic history of Norwich through the changing fortunes of a house.) Living The Dream Name inspired by Rev. Spooner, we are 1. a (published) poet/lyricist/dramatic storyteller/novelist and now percussionist; 2. a veteran folk guitarist/dulcimer player and lead vocalist, and now also a prolific composer; 3. a Welsh Romany-influenced folk harpist/composer and harmony vocalist & 4. a fourth (lead and harmony) singer (= 2 men/2 women.) We grew out of the 2015-2017 Doin different project in which our poet lyricist worked with a dozen folk composers based in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, published a book of 39 new ballads from the East of England and took the ballads on a 22 gig tour of festivals and folk clubs around the towns and fields of East Anglia. At the end of that process - which launched several new folk bands - the lyricist and two of the most exciting composer-players-singers remained together - as the Penland Phezants.
Folk for us means roots, the roots of an England we need to know who we are and whose issues of national identity we cannot abdicate to the Little Englander to annex and define. These are the real roots of England we find in our researches into and retellings of English history: the freeborn England of a great (typically dissenting, under-doggéd) people, wherever they came from originally; a Robin Hood England of fairness; of creative openness to other cultures and ideas and a native brilliance in developing them; the England of the good old cause: that willingness to fight for everyone to have a say and a share.
We beat a drum, strike a guitar and pluck a harp for the unsung or undersung (often female or working class or misrepresented) hero. Starting from the ballad metre, and/or the rhythm of the tale in folk narrative, we fuse folktale, folk ballads, choruses, costumed drama, harp-&-verse and programme music in tales of folk-heroic lives: from Hereward the Wake as a European hero and representative of an alternative England (under-dog, real Robin Hood, rooted in fairness) to the rebel-mystic Margery of Lynn; from Freeborn John in our English Civil War sequence (which includes a comic rendering of the half forgotten Siege of Lynn in 1643) to our Ely City Council-commissioned homage to the Littleport Bread Rioters of 1816.
Not to mention our warm up audience participation pieces - the moment from the 1816 Littleport Riots where the Magistrate reads the Riot Act while the crowd chants "Beer or Blood' or our lively rap celebrating Lynn's civic hero Badass King John.
Website: Discography: Videos of The Phezants performing live: Hereward the Wake comes home Freeborn John The Ballad of Susan Nobes Phezants in Fenland - 3 Fen stories Audio- Album sampler Living The Dream album sampler Got Live If You Want It - Ely Folk Festival Highlights Gaz at the Wolf Folk Club