The welcome return of Clarke Camilleri to the Carrington Triangle proved to be a delightful evening.

Clarke actually joined the club in 2016 and became a regular performer here, where, with a background in the blues, he was introduced to British traditional music.  Since then he has travelled widely, both as a solo artist and with other musicians, including Angeline Morrison’s band.  He features on her award-winning album, The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience.
Clarke has returned as an experienced and charismatic performer, very much at ease with the audience, who responded warmly to his excellent musicianship, stories and humour, even enjoying the times he interrupted himself with bursts of laughter during a couple of his songs! We were delighted to welcome him back.
He brought with him two guitars, a banjo and a harmonium.  He began the evening with Anji on guitar, followed by Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, an anti-war song by Ed McCurdy. Worried Man’s Blues came next, a traditional song recorded in 1930 by the Carter Family, based on the post-Civil War era when plantation owners, still on the lookout for cheap labour, were keen to get black men arrested for the slightest offence to work in chain-gangs.
Clarke performed several British folk songs, a couple by Cyril Tawney, and MacColl’s ‘Shoals of Herring’.  He also included a Beatles, and a Dylan song.  Before he sang Bert Jansch’s arrangement of Blackwaterside, he told us that he first heard it played here by a regular performer Phil Harrison, who was also in attendance that night.

At one point in the evening, he brought onto the stage Jinda Biant, a blues/folk musician and a ‘best mate’ who accompanied him in a song called Nice to meet you Syrilla, a very lively and fun experience, seemingly, for both of them, and also for us!
I haven’t yet mentioned Clarke’s original songs. Several that he sang are on his 2020 album, The Rollin’ Hills of Home. The title song is about his walks in the Peak District with his mother and brother. The Spirit is an inspiring song about not allowing the establishment to crush us. The spirit will always rise again! Keep the World Singing Round reminds us that no matter what awful things are happening in the world, singing can help bring people together in solidarity.
In conclusion, I found Clarke’s performance entertaining, joyful, and full of messages in relation to justice and fairness, and a desire to make the world a better, kinder place for us all.

Maureen McGuinness, on behalf of Carrington Triangle folk club

Our next guest is Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne on 16 July