Martin Carthy- Desert Island Discs

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Rory.:
One of the best gigs I've ever been to was about ten years ago, probably more, it was Norma and Martin with Chris Parkinson on accordion, in the old folk club that Vic and Tina Smith used to run in Lewes.

It's difficult to describe the totality of that night, the musicianship, the scale of the songs they were performing, the warmth and love from the audience, the stark perfection of the venue, it was just one of those magical evenings that I will always remember.

Norma sang with open arms and we all embraced her, I'll never forget that bond she made between the three of them and all of us.

I've seen MC with Swarb, astounding is the best word for that.

Martin Carthy on a solo gig floored an audience like I've never seen before, he did it armed only with a small bodied Martin guitar, no Les Pauls and Marshall stacks needed, no pressure wave flapping your shirt from the pa, just him and a song, albeit a long song with a body count.

davidmjs:
Not worth starting a new thread for, but on FB just now Colin Harper has just written this. One of two might have a few jewels in their collection that could help him?

In the early 20th century, folk music enthusiasts went bumbling around Suffolk looking for people of a certain age who might have held on to old songs... In the early 21st century, the equivalent (in this case, me) go bumbling around social media looking for people who may have held on to old cassettes of Martin Carthy BBC broadcasts...
Yes, a 'Martin Carthy at the BBC' box set is in the very earliest of stages - expressions of interest from artist and label, but nothing more than that as yet. So expect Sue Grey's report first... The chicken/egg aspect of this is to establish 'what's there'. I've already roughed out five discs of off-air material from three online sources, and I anticipate a list of BBC-held material in the next few days.
From experience of working on several similar sets, anything from roughly 2005 on is likely to be retained at the BBC; anything prior to that is a lottery. For instance, Martin's 1976 Peel session definitely survives at source, given its occasional rebroadcasts, but it's unlikely that the other eight do (some or all of five of the other eight certainly survive in off-air form).
Where I'm hoping people around here might be able to help is with Martin's 'Folk on Two' appearances. There were 12 studio sessions and broadcasts from clubs/festivals between 1981-90, for instance. 'Folk on Two' stuff never seems to appear in the BBC database of audio survivals... but lots of people taped episodes off-air at the time and these cassettes might well be in your loft. Have a rummage - let's see if we can crowd-source a sensational tribute to the great man! 🙂

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