Will Pound at the Tree House Bookshop

And now for something completely different! Kenilworth’s new-look Arts Festival, in association with the town’s most intimate of venues, the Tree House Bookshop, played host to the remarkable Will Pound last Saturday.  This young man’s achievement are notable.  As patron and performer at Warwick Folk Festival he gives the festival, at its new site, a new focus; as CD recording artist with Dame Evelyn Glennie he broadens his skill set encouraging him to take part in the reimagining of Holst’s Planets Suite   with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in July.  On a much smaller scale he is happy with the intimacy of the Bookshop where he continued to delight a very full house with his inimitable offerings of his entrancing diatonic accordian and harmonica playing. There is no doubt he is one of the finest and most versatile harmonica players in the world today.

His choice of music from across Europe began in Ireland with Maurice Lennon’s The Golden Stud Reel, playing both harmonica and diatonic accordion at the same time! It’s not long before Will reminds his audience of his long association with the world of Morris teams with a rousing rendition of the Nutting Girl Jig, associated with Cotswold Morris. His own compositions include All Roads Lead to Caernavon, reflecting his recent years spent in Gwynedd, followed by a most attractive French bourrée full of ‘acoustic trance music’.

As a tribute to Hazel, who provided welcome accomodation in Leek Wootton during the pandemic, Will composed a plaintive melody, Wootton Hymn. He soon returned to Cotswold Morris and a tribute to the villages of Longborough and Bampton with his version of Princess Royal.  His European travels to Sweden, Bulgaria, France and Italy permitted the delivery of a wild folk dances ‘sbrando’ and ‘tarantella’. He continues to demonstrate his talent for innovation adding the attraction of a 3D printed concertina, the ‘green machine’. Yes,  a 3D printed concertina!!

Inevitably, Will produced his party piece, the jaunty The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba before completing the extremely sunny event with a reminder of happy times and Monty Python’s ‘Flying Circus’  theme, The Liberty Bell.