The Alehouse Sessions

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On September 23, visitors to the Southbank Centre will have the chance to live through the elevated status of the tavern, and get a feel for the 17th Century Alehouses through the means of music. On Sunday 23rd April, BBC Four will broadcast the premiere of the film of Barokksolistene's signature project " The Alehouse Sessions". Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. Using their own arrangement of the tunes, these ‘Alehouse Boys’ combine this unique format with humour, an unrivalled virtuosity and flare for improvisation.

They also brought great humor to their presentation, interrupting their opening number, for instance, to play out a drunken brawl in slow motion. At the time, Puritans had closed theaters under cloak of moral guardianship, in the process displacing highly trained musicians into the alternate reality of the tavern, where they filled the air with intoxicating sounds as patrons intoxicated themselves.Inspired by the music-making of Commonwealth England, when theatres were closed and music forced underground into taverns, brothels and alehouses, their Alehouse Sessions create their own mongrel genre, combining 17th-century classical music with dances, sea shanties and folk songs from around the world. Although Charles II would lift the ban, by then tavern music had grown into something of a genre, in which the vagaries of quotidian life rubbed elbows with mythologies in the making. Regarded as Norway’s national instrument, the Hardanger fiddle is the product of a long evolution beginning in medieval times. The Boys, otherwise known as Barokksolistene, provide the entertainment, playing music by Purcell and Playford, as well as sea shanties and folk songs – all from memory.

It shines light onto this tumultuous period through Purcell overtures, English sea shanties and Scandinavian folk songs, thrown in for good measure, brilliantly evoking the atmosphere of a raucous port pub in the 1690s. Some four centuries later, the Barokksolistene created the Alehouse Sessions, a project in which they perform folk melodies, sea-shanties, bawdy ballads and cheeky ditties alongside ayres and dances by Purcelland Playford in homage to the sonic world of 17th century tavern music. Barokksolistene’s signature project “The Alehouse Sessions”, devised and curated by Bjarte Eike, has been made into a film for television. Hans Knut Sveen plays anything from harpsichord to harmonium; Frederik Bock plays any kind of continuo – guitar, lute, theorbo and any style up to blue grass; Johannes Lundberg’s roots are in jazz; Milos Valent is one of the greatest Slovak folk string players; Per Buhre is a countertenor and cider-maker extraordinaire; Helge Andreas Norbakken plays all sorts of percussion and drives steam locomotives; Tom Guthrie is a stage director and vocal entrepreneur; Steven Player is our unstoppable pony-tailed dancing Romeo; and I have found a new thrill in jumping out of aeroplanes and teaching yoga. Since 2007 he and his Barokksolistene ensemble have taken over venues from London’s Middle Temple Hall to a motorcycle club outside Oslo (the bikers moved their Harleys out on to the street to make room).There was the percussive backbone of Fredrik Bock on charango and the dancing of Steven Player, the equally rhythmic core of Buhre and Guthrie on their backing strings, the lively bassing of Johannes Lundberg, the rustic vivacity of viol(in)ist Milos Valent, and the harmonium of Hans Knut Sveen. 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. This was the popular music of the streets and taverns where artistic freedom was paramount so that musicians would be free to respond and change to whatever audience might be at hand. Part two is The Alehouse Sessions, where the action moves to the ‘tavern’ (a role played this evening by the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer).

The Alehouse Sessions aims to capture the atmosphere and sounds of London at a time where the theatres were closed, due to Oliver Cromwell’s prohibition in the 17th century. 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. Shot on location at one of London’s oldest taverns, The George Inn, Southwark, and Battersea Arts Centre. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s. BBC Four is broadcasting our Alehouse Sessions which filmmaker Dominic Best filmed in Battersea Arts Centre one snowy night in December.

Then, it’s time for the Alehouse Sessions to begin at 10:30pm, with Eike and his “Alehouse Boys”, also known as Barokksolistene, putting on a wide-ranging performance entirely from memory, and you can expect plenty of humour to be thrown in among the fervent show. Of course, all baroque music requires a degree of improvisation – whether secular or ceremonial music. 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. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing. These sessions have already been hailed as ‘irresistible’ [The Times], ‘superb’ [The Scotsman] and ‘fabulously unrestrained’ [The Guardian], and they have diverted away from the traditional concert model by ‘creating the effect of a late night jamming session’ [BBC Music Magazine].