Wednesday 23 December 2015

Centenary up for a Magnificent year


It has been a truly Magnificent year, even by our modest standards, and one which we would now like to celebrate through the medium of words and pictures.

Early on in the year we ventured through the dark of a January day up to "The London" for the first gathering of choirs for the "Voices Now" Festival at the very, very famous London Roundhouse.  We ventured back there for the main shows several months later and in our humble opinion (and others...), stole a large part of the Saturday and Sunday night shows whilst wandering around Camden market and having a blast of a time.

Here are some photos to prove it.  If you click on them you will get a slightly larger format to see more of the dark details.  

From top left then snaking left in the middle then right on the last row, DR Sweeney acts as our tour guide, a view of the assembled choirs in the Roundhouse, on stage with the amazing Sam Burns of Gurt Lush, the blokes waiting around to go on Radio 3's The Choir program and sing live, blokes posing in a fancy dress shop, another view of the Roundhouse all lit up, the big banner on the outside, then more blokes posing, armbands to prove it did happen, even if it was all too much for some!



Another major highlight was our very first Tour to amazingly sunny Cornwall, and what a great time was had by all - the loudest complaint was by a certain individual that he had nothing to complain about apart from having too good a time!

A very BIG THANKS to all our friends down there who made it possible and the organizers who, er, organized it all so amazingly well, even the weather.

From top left snaking to the bottom, blokes assemble at AK Village Hall, Mr Samuel quite literally leads the choir from the pulpit, blokes test their (alcohol impaired) skills back at the Barn, Little Chris and Big Alan, the blokes warm up at St Mabyn, Little Chris and Big Banner in tour van, Cyril and Percy the other gnomes who survived the trip, packing our pirate pants + ear plugs, the blokes in the evening in the barn with Judge John holding court, and blokes on a Cornish cliff top walk over looking Tintagel.



And a few other things happened during the rest of the year, from top left weaving round, blokes get a big hand at one of our many sell out shows, many assemble for the Axis of Spook at Bristol's Colston Hall, the CartoonMeister emerges to unleash his inner cartoonist, Blokes from across the country bump into each other at gigs and buy each other pints, Bill the arch ArtMeister gets his very own beer, best ever BlokeFest!, we release our second CD the rather good "Monumental" with stunning artwork, Bill strikes again with a re-vamped website, further proof that we went to Stonehenge, and sang in a tipi, and were a hit with the ladies in dingy pubs across the land! 


Re-live other dates here and here or just browse back through the pages of this blog.

So that was 2015 summed up, and here's to 2016 which is starting to shape up nicely but still with a few free slots if you want to engage us - but book early as you can see from our Upcoming Dates page http://themagnificentak47.blogspot.co.uk/p/upcoming-dates.html.

A great BIG THANKS to all who make it possible, especially those who beaver around in the background making it all happen.  We know who they are and value them very greatly.

P.S.  And well done to the BlogMeister for managing to squeeze in ONE HUNDRED posts in a single year.  An indication of all the great stuff that surrounds this quite remarkable group.

MAGNIFICENT!


Saturday 19 December 2015

Beer & Carols 2015 great success


A very BIG THANKS to all who came and sang their little Santa Hats off on Thursday.  

The pub was well and truly throng with carolers and a merry time was had by all.  More evidence can be found on our facebook page if you do that sort of thing.

Special thanks to Shirley Danby for being persuaded to do it again and for Neil B for much of the nudging in the background, to Chris Samuel our belovéd ChoirMeister and to Ashton Keynes Village Choir and their leaders on the night for adding so much musicality to the event, and everyone who came and made it such a great community event.

Roll on next year!  But in the meantime enjoy the Yuletide and we look forward to activities in 2016!


Thursday 17 December 2015

Rosie Hood and Alfred Williams on the Radio


It was with great pleasure and to much excitement within Magnificent circles that we heard a local voice on the radio talking about a local hero we much admire.  

Rosie Hood is a very up and coming young folk singer who grew up in our neighbouring village of Minety and was on Radio 4's Front Row program last night speaking about her various projects with particular reference to Alfred Williams.

As long term readers will know we have been admirers of Mr Williams for a good while (see 
http://themagnificentak47.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=alfred+williams) and to hear her singing his praises and songs is a great pleasure.

Check out the clip from the program at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03c7t71 and find out more about Rose from http://www.rosiehood.co.uk/ and watch this space for more news...



Saturday 12 December 2015

More Carolling about


For those of you still in the mood for some carolling, or yet to get fully into the swing of things, then be very encouraged to join the throng down (or up depending how you approach that hill) at The Prince Albert, Rodborough on the outskirts of P.R. Stroud.

The gathering features a notably strong Magnificent presence with many blokes venturing from far and wide to join the throng and partake of the good ale, hearty singing and great company that devour pieces from the "Gallery Carols" tradition.

Much more information can be garnered from the rather excellent http://www.albertcarols.uk/ which has been lovingly put together by a certain Bill H and is a treasure trove about the event and the sub-genre and is well worth a read.  You can find all the materials you need to get all the carols so you can go fully prepared.

Here is some blurb shamelessly lifted directly from the site "The Prince Albert Carol Consort (PACC) came out of discussions in the pub during 2001 among a group of regulars who’d a fondness for singing but no shared repertoire. We described ourselves then, and still do, as drinkers with a singing problem. Some among us are knowledgeable English music singers and instrumentalists and they talked of the surviving traditions of village carols in Yorkshire, especially around Sheffield, and parts of N. Derbyshire and Cornwall. Singing and drinking ticked the essential boxes for us so we resolved to learn some village carols and sing them in the Albert at Christmas."

It is a fabulous resource for a fabulous endeavour and another shining example of a triumph of enthusiasm over the odds that has built many years of special shared moments and lasting friendships.  Rather like The Magnificent AK47...



Saturday 5 December 2015

What a talented bunch of blokes

Not only can the blokes of The Magnificent AK47 sing (and increasingly well it has been commented), but some of them can squeeze musical making bellows whilst singing, and can even stretch their talents to proper acting!

One such bloke is the immensely talented and (not so) secretly rather good musician, one Mr D Watt, who tonight will be treading the boards along with fellow thespians in a production of an intriguing sounding play, Pyrenees, about a middle-aged man is found unconscious in the snow and the plot deepens from there...

Your last chance to see it is at the Beacon Hall in Painswick tonight.

More information from http://painswickcentre.com/whats/events/
and https://www.facebook.com/Hexagon-Theatre-Company-145140584441/.


Tuesday 1 December 2015

Seasonal Salutations - NOW you can mention the "C" Word


"Carols"!  'Tis the season to be jolly and full of the joys of song.  

So join us for some Beer and Carols at The White Hart, Ashton Keynes this coming Thursday 17th December, from 19:30 with the singing starting up in earnest around 20:00.

And thank you to our ArtMeister and WebMeister supremo who has been at it again and you can see his handy work in full animation at our primary website at http://www.themagnificentak47.com/ - watch what happens to the robin and watch out for the owl!