storywheel
'mix Middle East music with the English folk tradition and it really really works'
storywheel is oud (Arab lute) player and singer Keith Clouston.
storywheel was originally formed in 2013 by oud players and singer-songwriters Keith Clouston and Patricia de Mayo. Keith had taught English in Algeria and Tunisia and while living in Tunis had taken a few oud lessons at the Rachidia Music Institute. Later, in London, he decided to study oud more seriously. He took lessons firstly with the late Palestinian maestro Adel Salameh, and then with Baghdad Music Institute alumnus Ehsan el-Emam.
Munich-born Patricia de Mayo had also studied oud with Ehsan who introduced her to Keith. The two of them quickly discovered that, in addition to oud playing, they shared a mutual love of the traditional music of Britain and Ireland. Over the next eighteen months they explored how to combine these apparently disparate musical styles. The end result was a unique fusion, seamlessly incorporating elements of North African and Middle Eastern musics with British and Irish folk melodies and their own original songs.
storywheel's debut EP, I crossed the sea - produced by Mercury Music Prize nominee Gerry Diver - was released on iTunes in September 2015 and received extensive airplay on folk radio while garnering some great reviews:-
'I really like that... it's got a great feel to it'
Mike Harding, Mike Harding Folk Show
'unusual fusion of the English song tradition and Middle-Eastern rhythms'
Shelley Rainey, Bright Young Folk
'storywheel succeeds in blending diverse influences into a cohesive sound full of character'
Mike Nacey, Unicorn Magazine
'storywheel mix Middle East music with the English folk tradition and it really really works'
Rick Stuart, Roots And Fusion, Pure FM
Online folk magazine FATEA included a storywheel EP track, an arrangement of traditional folksong The Welcome Sailor, on its 2015-16 Winter Showcase Session featuring 'acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.'
Up to the end of 2016, storywheel had played well received sets at the 2015 Leigh Folk Festival, (listen to 'One Day Soon' from the Leigh Festival 2015 CD 'Rivers, Rushes, Rodents & Regicide'), The Goose Is Out, Artree, The Glad and New Roots at the Winemakers as well as headline sets at Loughton & Redbourn Folk Clubs. Patricia then left to pursue a solo path (completing her album Artichokes & Cauliflowers in 2017) with Keith retaining the name storywheel.
2017 till now
Hearing Catherine Earnshaw sing at Sharp's Folk Club, Cecil Sharp House, London NW1 in early 2017, only her second public performance, Keith invited her to perform with him. They have been regular collaborators since - see Gigs - and as 'Catherine Earnshaw & storywheel' they have made a number of audio recordings: listen to Audio.
RADIO/PODCASTS
Early in 2018, Catherine and Keith recorded a live 2 hour internet radio session for the Invisible Folk Club (listen to session here (Pt 1) and here (Pt 2). Then, in June, after performing at the Nest Collective's Unamplifire 2018, they played a live session on the Nest Collective Radio Hour : listen to 'The Welcome Sailor' at 11' 30" and 'I am stretched on your grave' at 34' 01" .
Most recently, their version of the traditional song 'Pretty Saro' was played on the EFDSS Classic Folk show in November 2018,. Their arrangement was directly inspired by a version on the album 'Folk Roots, New Routes', (1964), a collaboration between Shirley Collins and the late Davey Graham, legendary guitarist and occasional oud player (see From DADGAD to Baghdad). This album, fusing folk, blues, jazz and Middle Eastern music, inspired many folk musicians in the mid to late 1960s British Folk Revival.
Individual songs from the Invisible Folk Club session continue to be included in Invisible Folk Club podcasts at regular intervals since the 2018 session. The latest was in September 2021 featuring a version of Anne Briggs' 'Go Your Way': go to Mixcloud 12th September and play from 32'50".
'mix Middle East music with the English folk tradition and it really really works'
storywheel is oud (Arab lute) player and singer Keith Clouston.
storywheel was originally formed in 2013 by oud players and singer-songwriters Keith Clouston and Patricia de Mayo. Keith had taught English in Algeria and Tunisia and while living in Tunis had taken a few oud lessons at the Rachidia Music Institute. Later, in London, he decided to study oud more seriously. He took lessons firstly with the late Palestinian maestro Adel Salameh, and then with Baghdad Music Institute alumnus Ehsan el-Emam.
Munich-born Patricia de Mayo had also studied oud with Ehsan who introduced her to Keith. The two of them quickly discovered that, in addition to oud playing, they shared a mutual love of the traditional music of Britain and Ireland. Over the next eighteen months they explored how to combine these apparently disparate musical styles. The end result was a unique fusion, seamlessly incorporating elements of North African and Middle Eastern musics with British and Irish folk melodies and their own original songs.
storywheel's debut EP, I crossed the sea - produced by Mercury Music Prize nominee Gerry Diver - was released on iTunes in September 2015 and received extensive airplay on folk radio while garnering some great reviews:-
'I really like that... it's got a great feel to it'
Mike Harding, Mike Harding Folk Show
'unusual fusion of the English song tradition and Middle-Eastern rhythms'
Shelley Rainey, Bright Young Folk
'storywheel succeeds in blending diverse influences into a cohesive sound full of character'
Mike Nacey, Unicorn Magazine
'storywheel mix Middle East music with the English folk tradition and it really really works'
Rick Stuart, Roots And Fusion, Pure FM
Online folk magazine FATEA included a storywheel EP track, an arrangement of traditional folksong The Welcome Sailor, on its 2015-16 Winter Showcase Session featuring 'acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.'
Up to the end of 2016, storywheel had played well received sets at the 2015 Leigh Folk Festival, (listen to 'One Day Soon' from the Leigh Festival 2015 CD 'Rivers, Rushes, Rodents & Regicide'), The Goose Is Out, Artree, The Glad and New Roots at the Winemakers as well as headline sets at Loughton & Redbourn Folk Clubs. Patricia then left to pursue a solo path (completing her album Artichokes & Cauliflowers in 2017) with Keith retaining the name storywheel.
2017 till now
Hearing Catherine Earnshaw sing at Sharp's Folk Club, Cecil Sharp House, London NW1 in early 2017, only her second public performance, Keith invited her to perform with him. They have been regular collaborators since - see Gigs - and as 'Catherine Earnshaw & storywheel' they have made a number of audio recordings: listen to Audio.
RADIO/PODCASTS
Early in 2018, Catherine and Keith recorded a live 2 hour internet radio session for the Invisible Folk Club (listen to session here (Pt 1) and here (Pt 2). Then, in June, after performing at the Nest Collective's Unamplifire 2018, they played a live session on the Nest Collective Radio Hour : listen to 'The Welcome Sailor' at 11' 30" and 'I am stretched on your grave' at 34' 01" .
Most recently, their version of the traditional song 'Pretty Saro' was played on the EFDSS Classic Folk show in November 2018,. Their arrangement was directly inspired by a version on the album 'Folk Roots, New Routes', (1964), a collaboration between Shirley Collins and the late Davey Graham, legendary guitarist and occasional oud player (see From DADGAD to Baghdad). This album, fusing folk, blues, jazz and Middle Eastern music, inspired many folk musicians in the mid to late 1960s British Folk Revival.
Individual songs from the Invisible Folk Club session continue to be included in Invisible Folk Club podcasts at regular intervals since the 2018 session. The latest was in September 2021 featuring a version of Anne Briggs' 'Go Your Way': go to Mixcloud 12th September and play from 32'50".
