New Rope Burns

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New Rope Burns
New Rope String Band

The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter;
And aye the ale was growing better:…

As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure:

After the show A Wee Home from Home we had a Burns’ Night party with a Northern twist. Burns’ night is a great excuse for a life-affirming celebration. To really make the evening go with a swing, brilliant Newcastle folk-comedy phenomenon, The New Rope String Band and some special guests, were the hosts for the evening, keeping the music, dancing and fun flowing.

Inspired by some great front-room Burns’ nights, they were encouraging spontaneous renditions of people’s favourite poems and songs. People brought one along (it didn't have to be Burns) and won great praise and a great prize. As well as some ceilidh dances, plenty of tunes, a Scottish jig played on drainpipes and an exciting new performance of the great Tam O’Shanter, we played some games around a giant map to see where the North really began and found the most Northern person in the room.

As if this wasn’t enough, there was also a brand new commission - Totie Blether by Paula Penman and Laura Lindow.

And of course there was food! Haggis canapés and deep-fried Mars bar anyone? (Read the fantastic and funny 'Ode to the Deep-fried Mars bar' from The New Rope String Band's Tim Dalling here.)

The New Rope String Band started in Dec 2005 continuing the tradition established by the Old Rope String Band of combining traditional music on fiddles, guitar and accordion with bizarre visual and verbal clowning. Fiddler Pete Challoner and accordionist Tim Dalling are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and have been since the Old Ropes began in the late 80s. In the New Ropes, they combined forces with guitarist Vera Van Heeringen and fiddler Jock Tyldesley, both renowned players of old-time, Cajun and bluegrass music. They live in Llansilin, North Wales. The band is always busy, performing everywhere from Gringley-on-the-hill Village hall to the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival in Borneo.