Description

?The Unthanks are capable of such beauty that sometimes I can hardly bear to listen to them.? Martin Freeman

We are delighted to be hosting a warm-up gig for The Unthanks as they return to live touring after two years off the road. The rich and colourful sound of their eleven-piece ensemble showcases their forthcoming new album Sorrows Away, alongside favourites such as Magpie, The King Of Rome, and Mount The Air.

Folk music can commonly and affectionately be defined as low culture, but The Unthanks aspire to prove that the beauty and truth present in the oral history of the people, is anything but common.

Since the release of the technicolour BBC Folk Album of the Year, Mount The Air, in 2015, The Unthanks have both scaled up to symphonic levels with Charles Hazelwood and the BBC Proms, and stripped down to the unaccompanied singing they grew up with for Diversions Vol 5. They?ve written six scarecrow soundtracks for Mackenzie Crook?s beautiful adaptation of Worzel Gummidge, while finding time to interpret the work of female writers including Emily Bronte, Molly Drake and Maxine Peake. But projects and diversions aside, Sorrows Away is the long-anticipated follow-up to Mount The Air, and as the title suggests, promises to be a blues-buster and a step into the light for a band known more for melancholy and well, sorrow!

?They run from the very root of folk music to the very tip of the branch.? Elvis Costello

At the nucleus of a constantly evolving unit is the traditional upbringing of Tyneside sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, and the arrangements and writing of composer, pianist, producer and Yorkshireman Adrian McNally. Using the traditional music of the North East of England as a starting point, they add in influences from Miles Davis to Tom Waits to King Crimson, earning a Mercury Music Prize nomination and international acclaim along the way. Their approach to storytelling makes easy bedfellows of tradition and adventure, direct social commentary and sophisticated harmony, heart-breaking empathy and glacial minimalism, earning them an army of writer and performer admirers.

?It hits you in your soul rather than your head. I love them.? Adrian Edmondson

Description

Masham Town Hall is an imposing, Grade II listed stone building built in 1912 and opened in May 1913. Set up by a legacy from the 2nd Lord Masham, the Town Hall is at the heart of the busy, beautiful ansd historic market town of Masham in the Yorkshire Dales.

Providing recreational, cultural and educational events and meeting spaces for the residents of Mashamshire and our visitors, the Town Hall celebrated its centenary year in 2013 and is now running its busiest ever programme of events and activities.

The building contains an imposing Main Hall with a large raised stage on the first Floor, with a Small Hall, Committee / History Room, and kitchen facilities on the Ground Floor.

We host a busy programme of performances, films, meetings and classes, craft fairs and coffee mornings, and private hires from conferences to band practice. From nursery sessions through the Youth Club to Indoor Bowls, the Town Hall hosts events of interest to everybody in the Masham community.

The Town Hall is the perfect venue for your wedding reception, affordable and charming. Children's parties are bookable at a special rate for local families.

The entire building is accessible (upstairs via a lift) with induction loop facilities in the Main Hall and Small Hall.

The Town Hall would not still be here without decades of support from the Masham Steam Rally, which has gone from strength to strength since the 50th Rally in 2015 and is now acclaimed as the finest in the North.

Little Market Place,

Masham,

North Yorkshire,

England,

HG4 4DY.

01765 689702