Will Varley - Weddings and Wars. Frome Tree House. 24/02/2023

Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry.

I just finished reading Night Boat To Tangier by Kevin Barry this evening, so I thought I’d write a quick little review while it is still fresh in my mind. My copy is a very attractive signed hardback first edition that I bought in Topping & Company of Bath a few weeks ago. I hadn’t heard of the author Kevin Barry before, but when the book caught my eye, I saw that Roddy Doyle had described it as ‘brilliant’, and when I saw that Kevin was Irish, Born in Limerick and now living in County Sligo I decided to buy it. When I began reading the book I found it quite hard work at first because of the style. It seemed like Kevin was trying to reinvent novel writing. There were no inverted commas to denote speech, and the paragraphs were short and spaced. It looked like a script for a play or film. Once I got used to this format and got immersed in the story I enjoyed the book immensely.

Most of the story takes place in the Spanish port of Algeciras in October 2018 where two ageing Irish gangsters Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearn are waiting for the Tangier ferry to either arrive or depart. They are searching for Maurice’s daughter Dilly aged 23 who they haven’t seen for three years. They believe she may be travelling with a gang of hippy types who they describe as ‘Crusties’. This struck a chord with me because I remember passing through that ferry port myself in 1974 on our way to Morocco, and I was quite crusty in those days 😊. And even crustier on the way home!. Maurice only has one eye and Charlie walks with a limp. I won’t ruin the story by telling you how they acquired these afflictions. I think it is quite deliberate of the author to invite comparisons to Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett. 

Large tracts of the book are conversations between the two main protagonists while they are waiting. They both know each other so well that they know what the other is thinking, so they might as well talk to themselves. In that respect the book is a testament to friendships forged in youth that can last a lifetime, even though the friends might do terrible things to each other. There is a huge amount of humour in the story and the author writes descriptively, lyrically, and poetically. Bob Dylan would be proud of some of the imagery that Kevin Barry conjures up. The humour is often punctuated by bursts of extreme violence, paranoia, and psychosis. Bad luck seems to follow the two of them and there are elements of Celtic mysticism and witchcraft. The lads make a fortune by importing tons of Moroccan hashish into Ireland. They try to legitimise the money by building housing projects, but are cursed by disturbing a fairy fort. 

In Spain Maurice meets the mysterious Karima who seems to have dark powers. I won’t tell you much more in case you want to read this book, but one of my favourite scenes takes place in a Shebeen called ‘The Judas Iscariot All Night Drinking Club’. The denizens of this place are like characters from medieval times and they are watching and listening to the two characters intently, knowing that something terrible is going to explode at any minute. Although the book is about two ruthless criminals, by the end of the story you can’t help sympathising with them. It isn’t really a gangster novel at all. It is a story about friendship and love and loss. All these emotions can leave people feeling bewildered, empty, and not knowing what to do with their lives. The relationship between Maurice and the love of his life Cynthia ends in tragedy, and is Dilly really Maurice’s daughter? I think I have said more than enough now, but I enjoyed this book very much indeed. Kevin Barry is a great Irish writer who I highly recommend.

Fairport Convention. Banks Of The Sweet Primroses.

Seeing Fairport Convention at Bath Forum 2023

I felt a bit restless on Saturday and wanted to get out and about and do something. I looked online to see what was on locally, and lo and behold found out that Fairport Convention were playing at Bath Forum that very evening, so I bought myself a ticket. I have seen them several times over the last ten years on their annual Winter tour. The most memorable time was four years ago when their guests at this same venue were Robert Plant & Saving Grace. Saturday’s concert didn’t reach those heights but was still a very pleasant evening. I arrived at the Forum too early as usual and had a browse on the merchandise stall which was being manned by Dave Pegg and his wife. 

Dave has been the bass player with Fairport since 1969 and was also in Jethro Tull for about fifteen years. I have met Dave and other members of the band previously at gigs. We had a bit of a chat, and I took a photo and bought a book Gonna See All My Friends, A People’s History of Fairport Convention and a CD Full House For Sale which is a live performance of the 1970 album Full House recorded at last summer’s Cropredy festival. Peggy signed both of these items for me. Then it was time to take my seat for the support act Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage. I had never heard of them before, but I thought they were excellent. They are a folk duo from Cambridge who both sing and play guitars. I would describe their music as Americana.

 Hannah has a wonderful voice which reminded me at certain moments of Joni Mitchell, and the delicate guitar accompaniment compliments it perfectly. I can’t remember all their songs but was very impressed with the first song which I think was called Come All You Fair, others might be called I Gave My Love A Cherry and Polly Oh Polly. I will certainly listen to their music in the future. Fairport joined them on stage for their final song which was Reynardine. As you know Fairport included this song on their classic Liege & Lief album in 1969. Hannah and Ben then left the stage and Fairport performed Walk Awhile which they have opened their show with every time I have seen them.

Peggy.

As well as the usual suspects of Dave Pegg, Simon Nicol, Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie I was very pleased to see Dave Mattacks has returned on drums (and occasional keyboards) Dave was the drummer in the band’s glory days of the late 60s early 70s when Fairport were inventing the genre of English folk-rock. He returned to the group in the mid-80s until 1998 when he moved to the USA where he is one of the most sought-after session drummers, so it was great to see him again. I can’t tell you about every single song because I didn’t recognise all of them, but this is what I can remember. They performed Polly On The Shore from the Fairport 9 album which I believe Peggy wrote the music for. Then a song which I think was called The Year Of 59 and had a kind of doo-wop sound to it. In between the songs Ric Sanders was still telling the same old jokes from the last time I saw them, such as, 'if you can't decide what psychedelics to take, go to Trip Advisor'. He is a virtuoso on the violin though. Before the interval they played a great version of Sloth which was written by the late Dave Swarbrick for the Full House album. 

The lyrics seemed very pertinent to today’s world with the war in Ukraine dragging on. In the second half of the show I really enjoyed Banks Of The Sweet Primroses which Swarb learned from the famous Copper Family from Sussex. It was the lyrics of this song which gave Laurie Lee the inspiration for his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer's Morning. Simon then played a lively instrumental that Peggy wrote which I think was called Bankruptured. Chris Leslie then introduced a song which he wrote about the astronaut Michael Collins called Moondust and Solitude. It was brilliant and even incorporated an actual recording of Michael Collins speaking to mission control while his colleagues explored the moon’s surface. Another highlight for me was the Richard Thompson/ Dave Swarbrick composition Doctor Of Physick. Simon sang the lead vocals on The Hiring Fair, a great song given to the band by their friend Ralph McTell. I saw Ralph perform that song himself at last year’s Glastonbury. 

Matty Groves was the last song I heard because I had to rush off for my train. I missed the encore which I’m sure Hannah & Ben would have returned for which would have been Meet On The Ledge. Thank you very much Hannah Sanders, Ben Savage, & Fairport Convention for a very enjoyable evening in Bath.