The Alehouse Sessions

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Famous composers like Henry Purcell part-took in these sessions, and composed lots of music for the occasions. This was a different kind of baroque music – the popular ballads, not ceremonial masses, coronations and weddings. It made me explore further books on English drinking establishments and what happened when Cromwell introduced prohibition. I realised that we couldn’t just play English music and not consider where it was performed. The public house is such an integral part of the English culture – it’s neutral ground, regardless of age or sex – it’s a place to escape reality where chatting and gossiping thrive. And so in 2008, when I was engaged as the artist in residence at the Bergen international Festival, one of the programmes I presented was the Alehouse Sessions.

I see the alehouse sessions more as a creative room that I keep refurbishing, rather than a fixed project or concept. It started as a fun, clever musical idea – fitting a festival with an English theme – but has now become something more profound; it’s all about the individuals that contribute on stage, with everyone being outstanding soloists and team-players, and how we have all invested ourselves in the project. It was this idea which acted as the catalyst for creating the Alehouse Sessions, which has now caught the keen eye of filmmaker Dominic Best, who will be bringing us to your screens on BBC4 on Sunday 23 April. The pub has since the earliest of times been the English people’s second home. The establishments can be divided into three categories: the inns, taverns and alehouses (later known as public houses). In these establishments one would meet to eat, drink, and sleep, but, especially after 1660, one would also hold political meetings, feasts, balls, concerts, gambling events, flower shows etc .. and of course, these houses were the main venues for the extreme consumption of alcohol in the 17th century¹. Samuel Pepys is also notoriously known for his fondness of alcohol. In his diaries, he’s listing all kinds of favourite drinks like ale, cider, beer, brandy, all sorts of wines and mixed drinks like posset, butter beer, hippocras etc². You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2. On September 23, visitors to the Southbank Centre will have the chance to live through the elevated status of the tavern, and get a feel for the 17th Century Alehouses through the means of music. Image: Theresa Pewal

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Before classical music became real art music and the composer had all the power, artistic freedom was a lot higher for performers. Musicians were expected to demonstrate improvisational and ornamental skills throughout the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods, but the amount of improvisation and the way in which they responded to the audience would depend on the occasion. For example, there would be a certain amount of ornamentation within the Gloria sung at church, but not any adaptation based on the audience’s response. In a tavern or on the streets, the artistic freedom would naturally be a lot higher as the musicians would be free to respond and change to whatever audience might be at hand. one place in Berkshire, England it has been recorded that between 1611 and 1618 an average of 6 to 8 pints of beer were consumed per person – every day

Some went to the country-side serving as light entertainment for the aristocracy and tutoring their children, some joined the military³ and some church musicians stayed in London to become teachers. Pepys’ telling of his first meeting with orange juice is rather amusing: …and here, which I never did before, I drank a glass, of a pint I believe, at one draught, of the juice of Oranges of whose peel they make comfits; and they drink the juice as wine, with sugar, and it is a very fine drink; but it being new, I was doubtful whether it might not do me hurt.. By 1630 there were registered more than 30.000 alehouses, 2000 Inns and 400 taverns in England and Wales. My masters, are you mad?… Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an ale-house of my lady’s house, that ye squeak your cozier’s catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice?” Civil war/CommonwealthBjarte Eike launched his Alehouse Sessions in company with like-minded musicians 15 years ago. The ensemble comprises a core of regular performers, all of whom have committed to memory a huge setlist of up to four hours of music. Typically they meet a day or so before a concert tour to share a meal and make music together; then next day, re-grouping thirty minutes before the show, they discover Eike’s select-menu for the evening. “That ensures that every show is fresh,” he notes. “I make sure we never repeat the same programme twice. It’s therefore essential to work with people who share my outlook and dare to adventure. We’re into a high-risk sport, with lots of traps and places where the unexpected appears - for good or for ill. And so the audience knows we’re vulnerable. But our skill is seen in how we re-act on the hoof to the unpredictable. That’s authenticity and honesty - and above all it’s a performance that’s genuine.” With the re-instatement of the monarchy and Charles II in 1660, everything changed for the musicians in London. Charles was a music-lover and re-opened theatres. He re-instated church musicians and wanted his own orchestra. But the King constantly had to deal with the never-ending fights between catholic and protestant, Whig and Tory, city and court – and also with the Parliament that kept a very close eye on the country’s economy – so he simply couldn’t afford to offer full-time employment for artists, musicians, dancers, actors etc.