Bristol Festival of Song

An excellent Triple Bill for a Wednesday night as part of the wonderful Bristol Festival of Song brings together, long standing stalwarts and BlokeFest attendees The Gasmen, and also The Filtonaires as we return to Bristol's Colston Hall, scene of one of most epic man-moments early last year.

This time we will be taking stage in the Foyer as part of the many acts performing there.

More info about the whole event can be found at http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk/voices-in-the-hall/ if you scroll down the page a bit.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sounds of the City

And just to round off our record of a lovely evening of song, in the City of Song, as part of the Festival of Song, here is a snap of the Stepford Singers with their charismatic Choir leader Fran about to address the audience as their set draws to a close.

And below you can here their final contribution for the night with a stirring rendition of a piece "Voro Ivanivicki" that was rehearsed separately by the two choirs and together just the once, moments before the show.

The ladies appeared a little nervous coming back onto the stage after the blokes had put in a sterling performance, but they need not have worried.  The combined sound was impressive given the lack of joint rehearsal and is a validation of the knowledge of the respective choir leaders knowing that  it would work, and the talent of the singers making it work.

The power of song - a fitting metaphor for the whole festival - well done, another triumph and we look forward to next year already.

Twitter me Timbers!

Just a quickie posting as a down payment for more stuff to follow about last night's gig as part of the Bristol Festival of Song show with the Stepford Singers.

This is partly because we are still collectively reeling from what turned from a less than awesome soundcheck into really quite special "Magical Man Moment" for us.  

This was the first outing for some of the blokes, so there was a higher level of anxiety than normal, but the delightful ladies of the Stepford Singers sang so enchantingly and actually dedicated a piece to us that quite turned our little heads.

And when we finally made it on to the stage (waiting for lumbering John W who got stuck, yet again, getting into his donkey outfit...) we found an absolutely fabulous audience totally up for it and loving every minute.

As you can see from the "Tweets" we seemed to be a hit on that there social medium thingy.

And we would like to make a special mention of the delightful Hannah who has organized the event.  We hope to have evidence of the Magnificent AK47 mug we presented to her in action very soon - bet you can't wait!

Would you trust this lot with your parrot?

Would you trust this lot with your parrot?

Well, it is a reasonable question to ask given the reputation THE Magnificent AK47 have been building for several years now, what with their carefully manicured public persona (!) and having graced the stages of Chippenham Folk Festival, Colston Hall and alike. . .  

They may have the best array of hats and other props and other prosthetic aids in all the land, but can they actually sing to back it all up?  Again, a question that is often asked (mostly by the blokes themselves) and one you should judge for yourself by listening to the couple of clips recorded at their recent performance in the M-Shed.  In particular, marvel at the cunning and witty way in which they adapt one of their best loved pieces, the homage to male sanctuary, to better suit their location.

Returning to Bristol on Friday night and paired up on an inspired bit of programming to present a great double bill with The Stepford Singers, they will be performing as part of the wonderful Bristol's Festival of Song at St Francis' Church, North St, Bristol, BS3 2AN - see http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk/ticketed-events/ Friday 17th October at 19:30.

Expect the usual mixture of dead pan humour and dead good singing and possibly a stuffed animal or two for good measure.

Still, wouldn't trust them with your parrot, but find out for yourself how good they are by getting along on Friday

Go West!

Hot off the presses is this snap and the early "rushes" from the recordings of our trip to Bristol to play our part in their Festival of Song and in particular the "Song Raids" down in the docks.

A lovely Autumnal afternoon was had by all as the blokes plied their trade singing on The Matthew, on a Steam Train carriage and also generally posing about the place as can be witnessed here with a motley crew haranguing Bristol legend John Cabot.

Some rough and ready recordings of the afternoon can be heard below - watch out for more photos and other stuff, most likely mostly on facebook.

And we return to Bristol's fair city this coming Friday 17th October to perform in St Francis Church with The Stepford Singers.  More in the next posting or two.

Shiver your timbers!

Lock up your drinks cabinets and prepare your lug'oles for a sonic spectacle and your peep'oles for a visual feast of Pirate finery and much more at The Magnificent AK47 lumber into the big city to play their part in the Song Raids for Bristol Festival of Song down in the historic docklands.

Sunday 12th October - Harbourside & City Song Raids

Song Raids are a Gathering Voices speciality! In the style of the contemporary flash mob, in locations across the city centre and harbourside - look out for for some of the city's (and surrounding area's) finest acappella talent (and us!) offering intimate performances, just for you...

The blokes can be seen in action 
Aboard "Matthew" at 12:30 - that should be something to see - Pirates in their element!!
Harbour Trains around 12:50
Millennium Square for 13:10
"M Shed" at 13:50

Gathering Voices featuring us!

Look at us - featured on one of the prime pages on the main site for the Bristol Festival of Song in all our Gringo splendour!  The picture is taken from last year's gig at the wonderful St George's Hall where we have been privileged to perform three years running as part of the day long multi-choir event.

This year we will be sharing an evening with another unusual act, The Stepford Singers, on Friday 17th October and more details plus ticketing info can be found at http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk/ticketed-events.

Song Raids ahoy!

It is that time of year again when a whole city starts singing and us blokes from this tiny little village not so far away are lucky enough to be invited to play a small part.

And whilst our part is small, but perfectly formed (you can see some of us lurking in the photo below the singers in red), we are particularly lucky this year to have been asked to perform not once, but FIVE times!

Our first four of those are on Sunday 12th October as part of the Bristol "Song Raids" taking place in and around Bristol's historic dock area and adding to our already large number of unusual places we have sung, from concert halls and pubs to tunnels and hill tops, Steam Engine sheds to Breweries.  We are very excited that we will be kicking off in the World Famous ship the "Matthew" at 12:30.

We will then be moving on swiftly to the Harbour Trains around 12:50 then across the water to Millennium Square for 13:10 then finally at the "M Shed" at 13:50 - a busy old schedule and we will certainly need to be swift with getting around.

Just to recap locations and timings:
"Matthew" at 12:30
Harbour Trains around 12:50
Millennium Square for 13:10
"M Shed" at 13:50

Much more information about this phenomenal series of events can be found at http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk and more info coming about other gigs.  

Review of St George's performance

We recently(ish) received a tip off about a rather lovely review of our performance at the Festival of Song at St George's in Bristol back in October.

It starts off with the intriguing opening "With as many costume changes as key changes, it is clear that the Magnificent AK 47 are not your traditional male voice choir", and goes on to state that we may be "more than a little silly but it would be a mistake to dismiss them as mere merry pranksters."

The rest of the piece is well worth a read so pop over to the website in question  at http://thespoonsterspouts.com/music/magnificent-ak-47-bristol-festival-song-2013/ and judge for yourself.

St Georges Gathering Voices

A fantastic photo of the blokes in action last weekend at the very, very special Gathering Voices event as part of the Festival of Song in the Singing City of Bristol (© Bristol Festival of Song).

Congratulations to all the organizers who put together a remarkable series of events and were kind enough to invite us back to perform to a very discerning audience.  More soon.

Headlining at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Hot on the heels of a well earned "weekend off" to reacquaint ourselves with family and friends after quite a bit of activity on the Magnificent front, we are back in action on Sunday night.

Evenings out on school nights can be a little tricky for those of us who have to get up on Mondays and need our beauty sleep but we'll manage somehow.

Recently the blokes have been in fine singing voice and equally good hat wearing form and who knows what might be adoring their head come Sunday.

Easily the best way to find out will be to actually be at the gig in this prestigious venue in Bristol.

We might manage some posing by the S.S. Great Britain earlier in the afternoon so watch out if you are about for blokes in black T-Shirts sporting Stove pipe Top hats, but probably not smoking cigars, they have to look after their larynx!

Everyone who attends and contributes will help raise funds for a great cause to get people singing at the fabulous Bristol Festival of Song, who have been great supporters of us, so we are delighted to be helping them.

Go to the Tobacco Factory Website by clicking here to book your tickets now!

Optional hat wearing for the audience members.

St George's Bristol Sunday 21st October 2012

Well done to the valiant crew who performed on Sunday night at the prestigious St George's Hall, Bristol - another great night!

Whilst one or two numbers suffered somewhat from impromptu collective amnesia (!) the overall performance was quite outstanding.  It was a pretty packed auditorium that greeted us once we emerged from the catacombs and various secret staircases to a slightly unsuspecting and initially bewildered audience.  

At first they thought we were a somewhat serious proposition what with our manliness and deep Georgian singing and a fine rendition of Mraval Jamier.  We soon put that misapprehension right with an "intermittent" version of Turnip Hoer where we covered up one or two gaps in recollection of the words with just such a brilliant performance with various blokes turning themselves into Yokels before you could say "Joe Wanstrow"!

The first performance of "Shed" went superbly well, especially given the debacle in the snatched run through earlier in the evening, worthy of a World Premier - Roger would be proud.  Duct Tape got a great reception, as did Dry Stone Waller's song and Delilah fair near brought the house down.  We then thought we had run out of time but the audience loved us so much, and the next act wasn't quite ready, so we were asked to do an "encore" at which we gave possibly the best rendition so far of "And I love her".  This was followed by more demands for an encore so we had a team huddle and finally decided to give Concrete a bash.  Well, we got it right at the 2nd attempt but by then we had sung our hearts out and given the very appreciative crowd great entertainment.


Match Report
Chris S lead The following blokes 

Chris A, Peter B, Bob B, Ken B, Neil B, Nick B, Brian D, Mark F, John G, Mike G, Stuart H, Martin H, Trevor H, Bill H, Alan H, John  M, Mike P, Darren S, David T, Mark T, Angus V, Ade W, John  W

Who sang the following songs

Mraval

Turnip Hoer's

Shed

Duct Tape

Dry stone waller's

Delilah

John Kanaka

Encore(!)

And I love her

and 2nd Encore (!!!)

Concrete Takes 1 and 2

El Gordo! Festival of Song at St Georges, Bristol

Yes, that is a photo of us on the website advertising the gig! 

It is with great excitement that we look forward to the highlight (so far) of our Autumn Season with a return visit to the prestigious St George's Hall in Bristol as part of the inspired Bristol Festival of Song.

We have practically a whole new set of material to showcase and some pieces will be receiving their world premier from us so it is all VERY EXCITING!!  

Hopefully after the months of intensive rehearsing and drilling of the troupe by our ever diligent Choirmeister everyone will remember their positions, dance steps, props, words and who knows, the right notes at the right time.  Even more importantly, hopefully most people will remember to turn up and actually find the place in time to get on stage . . . We live in hope!

Just in case, here are some links.
The Event http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk/ticketed-events/
The Location The venue can be found here 
Parking around there can be very challenging - check for car parks.

Just look what else is on and you will get an idea of the hallowed company we are keeping.

 

Sing Like a Bloke Workshop at Bristol's Festival of Song

SING LIKE A BLOKE AS PART OF BRISTOL'S FESTIVAL OF SONG

A sprinkling of our merry troubadours will be making their way to Bristol for the workshop that our glorious ChoirMeister is leading as part of the Bristol Festival of Song.

If you fancy joining them the details are:

Sunday 14th October 2.00 - 4.30pm

FaithSPACE Stackpool Road, Bristol, BS3 1NW 

Tickets:  Full - £5

Concession - £3
16 & under - Free 

Box Office:  tickets@festivalofsong.org.uk or call 07980 765947 

More info http://www.festivalofsong.org.uk/workshops/

Men Only - sorry ladies (and false beards will be found!)