Sonic Wave - Broken Folk and Bonuru

I crossed cautiously into Suffolk on Saturday night, out onto the Bungay Road and straight into the path of Storm Beloe. Avoiding several fallen trees, I was heading for The Cut at Halesworth, the former maltings buildings, next door to the railway station, which re-opened as an rural arts centre in 2003.

With the rain lashing down, and my windscreen wipers struggling to keep up with the deluge, I arrived at the venue, and found a place to park, just a few rain-soaked minutes away from The Cut. “And all because the lady loves Milk Tray” is, I believe, how the television adverts used to put it.

However, it was not chocolate, but live music, that I was here for. For this was to be the last (for the time being) of a series of Sonic Wave grass roots music nights that have been hosted at The Cut over the past two years by Françoise Lamy and Graham Daniels (from audiovisual artist collective Addictive TV).  And, for those arriving early, there was also a chance to enjoy a spot of supper, and to be welcomed in the café-bar with a selection of songs from the Waveney SHE Choir.

First up, though, in the main auditorium, was Broken Folk, the project of local classical composer and virtuosic pianist Will Ferguson, percussionist Les Chappell. and poet/multi instrumentalist Jason Parr. Tonight it was Jason Parr's spoken word and Fergusson's piano that both challenged and intrigued the audience. With a set that comprised just one, improvised, work, Parr began by creating a verbal image of a town beneath the waves – a striking reference perhaps to Covehithe and Dunwich, once large towns on the Suffolk coast that have long since disappeared into the North Sea? After that, things got a bit weird. Ferguson continued with his noodlings on the piano, pausing briefly to read, in Polish, extracts from Adam Mickiewicz's poetic drama Dziedy, whilst Parr began to muse on the parting of Romanticism, and the dawning of the age of jazz. But, then again, Ferguson also appeared to have a copy of ‘The Bumper Book of Pub Favourites’ sitting on his piano. Probably brilliant, but a bit over my head. A bit like Storm Beloe.