The Alehouse Sessions

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Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. I want this band to resemble the mentality of a pop group; from my little black book, an extensive collection of songs and dance music – four hours of music – I only announce to the musicians half an hour before we go on stage which ones we are about to perform. The exotic sound-world of Purcell’s 17th century London is brought vividly to life by one the world’s most dynamic and virtuosic performing groups, Barokksolistene, led by Bjarte Eike.

The incredible Barokksolistene musicians perform music by Purcell and Playford, mixed with sea shanties and folk songs – entirely from memory. These “Alehouse Sessions,” in both recorded and live form, are exemplary in their ability to melt the cages of censorship into tenderer weapons of humanity.

drawing its inspiration from the Shakespearian theatre where there was a direct communication between stage and hall", says Bjarte Eike. I realise that this takes a particular kind of musician prepared to enjoy mistakes and turn them into opportunities for humour, to spark new ideas and to improvise.

I must admit that the prospect of a musical recreation of a long boozy session in a seventeenth-century tavern had me on high cringe-alert, but I'm so very glad I gave this a spin - the result somehow manages to feel authentic and contemporary at the same time (and had one of my most curmudgeonly colleagues dancing in his seat when he thought I wasn't looking).Leap forward to those days in December 2022, and we find ourselves sitting around a table, drinking beer, gossiping and playing music at London’s 17th Century George Inn. BBC Four is broadcasting our Alehouse Sessions which filmmaker Dominic Best filmed in Battersea Arts Centre one snowy night in December. A smattering of Purcell, dances from Playford’s Dancing Master, shanties, reels and ballads succumb to a nine-piece ensemble drawing on Baroque, jazz and folk styles for a no holds barred hooley of riotous improvisatory give and take…The result is more gastropub than spit-and-sawdust hostelry, but ‘cheers’ all the same! The film will be available online shortly after broadcast on Sunday 23rd April, 9pm and can be found here. The public house is such an integral part of English culture – its neutral ground, regardless of age or sex – it’s a place to escape reality where chatting and gossiping thrives.

Eike and friends worked the stage like a knotted muscle into relaxation, proving at every turn that their brand of spontaneity could only be born of fierce training. Eike was a beacon of focus throughout, linking his ensemble into a chain of artful exchanges, comic interludes, and audience rapport. Regarded as Norway’s national instrument, the Hardanger fiddle is the product of a long evolution beginning in medieval times. On Sunday 23rd April, BBC Four will broadcast the premiere of the film of Barokksolistene's signature project " The Alehouse Sessions".Of course, all baroque music requires a degree of improvisation – whether secular or ceremonial music.

This is a window into Cromwell’s tumultuous lock-down England where, under a cloak of moral guardianship, the Puritans have closed all playhouses and forced trained musicians to seek refuge in the tavern. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. The Alehouse Sessions” has already enjoyed success in both the US and Europe, and you can get in on the action on September 23 at the Southbank Centre. Directed by award-winning director Dominic Best, the film captures the sound world of rebellious London as musicians and performers sought refuge in teh backrooms of taverns and alehouses.Using their own arrangement of the tunes, these ‘Alehouse Boys’ combine this unique format with humour, an unrivalled virtuosity and flare for improvisation.