Georgian Singing Master Class with Malkhaz Erkvanidze and The Magnificent AK47

We are very proud to announce that we are organizing a "Master Class with Malkhaz Erkvanidze", one of the top people in the world of Georgian singing who has been at the forefront of the revival of Georgian folk and medieval sacred music for the past 25 years.

The event will be held on Thursday 6th March in the Ashton Keynes School Hall, opening around 19:15 and starting around 19:45.  Tickets for this special one off Master Class cost of £10 per bloke, £5 per Mini-Bloke (kid).  Non-blokes are welcome to attend but because of the nature of our all bloke group we have asked that he focus on pieces more suitable for our range, so please bear that in mind.

This should be viewed as an unmissable opportunity to learn from one of the greats of this genre so to book your place, email themagnificentak47@gmail.com and we will sort out the details.

More about MALKHAZ ERKVANIDZE

He is one of the world's foremost authorities on traditional Georgian folk and sacred music. Born in the central mountainous region of Imereti, Malkhaz grew up singing folk music in his family and with a local master-singer named Benia Mikadze. 

His unique background growing up in a family singing tradition allowed Malkhaz the opportunity to develop an ear for indigenous Caucasus tuning systems. A graduate of the Tbilisi State Conservatory, he has spent much of his professional life rescuing traditional Georgian orthodox chants suppressed under Soviet communism. 

His seven books of Georgian hymns and folk songs have been published with CDs,and he has written many articles about the distinctive musical structure of Georgian polyphony. In 1988 Malkhaz founded the Anchiskhati Choir, dedicated to preserving the authentic Georgian tuning system and traditional singing styles. Malkhaz currently teaches at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and consults for and directs numerous choirs, including Sakhioba Ensemble, with whom he has produced five albums

Cranking things back into action with a vengeance!

Listen up!  Lots to let you know about, so we will be brief, if not a little terse.

This Thursday 15th August 2013 we will be holding a special gathering in The White Hart, Ashton Keynes, from 19:30 which will cover:

- a welcome back to our Choirmeister Chris Samuel from the land of the Spooky Men's Chorale

- a mini workshop to try to remember a few old pieces and start re-learning the new ones from BlokeFest

- a mini launch of our CD "A Taste of The Magnificent AK47"

- an interview and photo shoot with a French journalist!

All part of the (ir)regular goings on in the the wonderful world of The Magnificent AK47 . . .

Info about Practice pieces can be found on our Links page.

If you want to order some food then contact The White Hart directly to book. Click here to visit their website for details

Three Sleeps till we meet again

A further reminder that our next Workshop is this coming Sunday 14th April at 17:00 till 19:00 in the back room of The White Hart, Ashton Keynes pub, Ashton Keynes.  

All blokes very welcome to come along and find out what all the fuss is about.  

Practice Material can be practiced by listening to it from these links

All material (20+ pieces in all, including the full mix of "Shed")
https://soundcloud.com/the-magnificent-ak47/sets/practice1 for pieces beginning with A - L
https://soundcloud.com/the-magnificent-ak47/sets/practice2 for M - Z pieces

The newer, hot material https://soundcloud.com/the-magnificent-ak47/sets/hotties

But don't be daunted by this, you only need to learn one part at a time!

All other pieces (all 60+, including the Yuletide ones) can be found at
https://soundcloud.com/the-magnificent-ak47/sets/yuletide-set

Any questions, email themagnificentak47@gmail.com and look forward to seeing you all there.

Workshop ON despite the weather

The current plan is that today's Workshop is STILL ON.  We will send a final update at 15:00 today if there is any change to this plan.

The roads coming to AK are more than passable, but inside the village they are not great if on foot but cars are making their way round ok and the weather forecast is only for light snow for the rest of the day (see http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/cricklade)

Obviously be sensible about trekking over here and let us know if you can't make it but what's the worst that could happen?  You get snowed in . . .  in a pub?!

Press ganging new recruits

Unlock your Inner Minstrel
We are having possibly the last call (for a while) for gentlemen to come forward and become a new recruit for our merry singing troupe.


We can help you carry out those New Year’s Resolutions to change your ways for the better!  We are here to help you fill those pledges to yourself and your better halves to: 

1. Get out more and do interesting things (whilst hardly spending any money)
2. Meet new people and make new friends (you will certainly do this with us)
3. Exercise more and keep the brain active (singing is GREAT for this)
4. Lose weight (we can’t guarantee this but you’ll enjoy yourself all the same)

If you are a Bloke who might like to join in the mixture of heartfelt lyrics, (intentionally) “tricky” harmonies, occasional beer and magnificent silliness, tremendous bonhomie, then we have THE opportunity for you.

In the first half of 2013 we plan to consolidate and hone rather than extend our repertoire so anyone considering joining, this would be the ideal time to join in as we will be practically re-learning the songs anew.

We ask but 3 things of our troupe

1. the member can hold a tune to a level appropriate for the rest of the group (eg not a “growler” or  not so good they get frustrated with our eccentricities!)

2. is a decent bloke and fits in with the rest of the Group and does not do anything untoward (like not buying his round!)

3. pays any subscriptions as may be required, all subscriptions being payable on demand and within a reasonable time frame (even allowing for poor memories and general financial incompetence).  

Consider joining us for singing and performing as well as many other experiences including a “Wold Tour” in May and recording in a proper studio, most likely in June, as well as BlokeFest and much more.  The first tasters session is free then Workshops are pro rata per term, first half of the year term fee is £50, second half after the summer recess is £40, which works out at about a maximum cost of £1.75 per hour of fun* according to our tame statistician*!  What a bargain!

* based on some statistically dubious algorithm that prove being in The Magnificent AK47 is more cost effective fun than having Sky TV or other brain numbing activities.

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!)

Keep calm and just do it

Where do you do it? And how often?  Do you do it with others or most likely by yourself?  If so, do you do it when others are present or do you do it somewhere private?  

As the graphic asks, where do you do it?  What apparatus do you use to help you do it?  And are you getting any better at doing it?

These are the sort of eternal ponderings that we love to, er, ponder.  We go that extra mile to ask these thought provoking and challenging questions, nay we question these very conundrums and challenge YOU to tell us where you do it and how often.  

Let us know by leaving a comment so we can share with the rest of mankind the little secrets to perhaps realise that others are doing it less frequently than they would like to think, are not doing it for as long as they would like and are perhaps subsequently not enjoying life quite as much as they could.  But we all have the power to change the world, or at least our little bit.

Go on. . . 

Let us know where you practice before coming to Workshop rehearsals!

A little bit of Mr T magic in AK

Hands up anyone who would like to transform a regular Thursday evening into a magical moment in time?  Ah, ok, so that's everyone would like to  . . .  well all right then, you are in the right place at the right time!

And that place was the beautiful Holy Cross Church in our very own village of Ashton Keynes, and the moment was when the remarkable Mr Stephen Taberner presided over "A very Ashton Keynes Evening" by running a singing workshop for what turned out to be quite a crowd.  

We had hoped that maybe 20 or so souls might be tempted along to the experience but in the end we had over 50 in total.  Serendipitously the pews at the end of the Church had been removed which gave us just about enough room for everyone to form a large circle then mingle around as we sang the pieces Stephen taught us.  There was a large contingent of The Magnificent AK47 crew which gave a very pleasing bottom end to the sound which was complimented by the higher tones of the very many ladies who joined the throng.

One of highlights was the warm up exercise with the Count of 4 "Hoo's" and the Count of 3 "Ha's" battling out in a wonderfully comic confrontational manner - you'll know what we mean had you been there.

The evening was a huge success with everyone appearing to enjoy the unusual Thursday night experience and chance to share a moment in time with neighbours and friends in ways you would not have previously imagined.

More pictures can be found on our Facebook page, thanks to the lovely Gilly R for her camera work.

Were you there?  Maybe you would like to email us your thoughts about the evening to themagnificentak47@gmail.com or post a comment to this blog entry?

"A very Ashton Keynes" Evening with Stephen Taberner

Well, there have a few emails, a bit of whispering, some rumour, much pondering and now the very strong likelihood that on Thursday 20th September there will be an Evening with Stephen Taberner, the Spookmeister, in Ashton Keynes, so we thought we better tip you the wink, so to speak.

So, Ashton Keynes Parrish Church Council in cahoots with The Magnificent AK47 are presenting

"A very Ashton Keynes" Evening with Stephen Taberner, Leader of the Spooky Men's Chorale of Australia, Inspiration for The Magnificent AK47.

He will be giving a A Singing Workshop for ALL, NOT just blokes, onThursday 20th September starting at 7:30pm in Holy Cross Church, Ashton Keynes, Supported by Holy Cross PCC.

Tickets £8 and £5 Students, OAPs, Concessions and are Available from Village Shop, Sahara, The White Hart, PCC, emailing tmak47tickets@gmail.com.


But that's not all, there will then be free concert, Man + Voice + Double Bass at The White Hart pub starting at around 9:45pm which will be a solo show from this highly entertaining performer, as seen at big festivals this summer.



The White Hart are also likely to be offering a special "meal deal" before the event, more info from the pub, call 01285 861247, and say we sent you!

 Don’t miss this unique evening – book now and see you there.

Post Pow Wow 2012

And so, after weeks of anticipation, days of preparation and minutes of firkling around setting up, there we all were, at our 2nd Magnificent AK47 Pow Wow, aka Annual General meeting in layperson's speak.

As you can just about make out from the photo it was exceptionally well attended with around 75% regulars turning up and 2 or 3 familiar faces from BlokeFest popping along to find out more and meet up with the rest of the blokes.

We covered a number of topics including a Financial report from Angus V, delivered by a nearly "look-a-like" Peter B, a long rant by Big Chief Neil B yarning on about what a great year it had been, outlining all the terrific events that are lined up before the end of the year and even talking about the "Wold Tour" and mooted proper recording in the new year.  After a bit of debate about ethos, direction and the need to adjust the subscriptions we toasted the various sections of the agenda as they were passed and got on with a mini-workshop lead by our esteemed ChoirMeister the sunshine in the pub garden, followed by a BYO BBQ and social. 

A great way to finish off the first "half" of the year and launch into the second part.

Previously - First half 2012

What a busy year we have had!  Here's a list of gatherings that we have enjoyed over the course of 2012 and there is much more to come.  

Maybe someone will get round to writing up some highlights (hint, hint, cough, cough!) but for now, here's a quick list of everything.

Sun 22/01/2012    Workshop   Ashton Keynes, The White Hart

Sun 19/02/2012    Workshop   Ashton Keynes, The White Hart
Sat 25/02/2012    Gig                Marlborough Singing For Laughs

Sat 03/03/2012    Gig                Bristol, St Christophers

Sun 22/04/2012    Workshop   Ashton Keynes, The White Hart

Sun 03/06/2012    Gig               Ashton Keynes Jubilee
Sun 03/06/2012    Gig               Chippenham Festival
Sun 17/06/2012    Workshop    Ashton Keynes, The White Hart
Sat 23/06/2012    Gig                BlokeFest

Sun 01/07/2012    Gig                Wiltshire Wailers
Sun 29/07/2012    Gig                Tunnel Inn

Watch out for more announcements.

Singing with Chris Samuel and Daughter

It has been mentioned before but we thought you'd like to be reminded that Chris and Jessica (father & daughter) are running 4 workshops in July, where they will be teaching songs from modern musicals, accompanied by fabulous backing tracks. Both are experienced teachers and all songs will be taught by ear, so no need to read music - the emphasis will be firmly on having a great time.

The nearest workshop to you is probably The Pilgrim Centre, Swindon on Weds 25th July, 7 - 9.30pm, but other dates and locations are on offer. Details are also on their website www.singingwithattitude.com - click on Modern Musicals or just Click here.

Whilst not quite our regular repertoire, a number of AK's have attended similar workshops before and they have been great fun so come highly recommended.

If you'd like to reserve a place, send £10 (cheques to VoxBox) to: 10, St Margaret's Villas, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire BA15 1DU, with an email address if possible and they'll contact you to confirm your booking or just turn up on the night.