Author Terry Pratchett writes that “Peter Knight can spin the world on his Bow”. Music Journalist, Phil Widdows, writing for the Lancashire Post suggests that Peter Knight is the “Jimi Hendrix of the fiddle world”.
The truth is that Steeleye Span’s iconic fiddle player/virtuoso violinist is a true shape shifter, one who can seamlessly embrace any number of styles with skill, grace and most vitally, heart tugging emotion.
It is this that sets Knight apart from the crowd, resulting in him being viewed by some as something of a maverick.
It is within the context of Gigspanner, Knight’s own trio, that concert goers get to experience the very best of what he has to offer.
Peter is joined by Guitarist Roger Flack, and Percussionist Vincent Salzfaas, two extraordinary and powerful musicians in their own right.
Gigspanner’s material has its roots very firmly in the traditional music of the British Isles. But it also references Eastern European, African, French and even Aboriginal sources in the show stopping ‘Sharp goes Walkabout’, one of Knight’s own compositions, now a firm favourite with The Feast of Fiddles ensemble. To quote Phil Widdows again, a Gigspanner show is “a blistering pace of a musical world.
Whatever your musical leanings, there is something here to nurture your soul. In the words of Julian Cowley writing for The Wire “The music reverberates with Anglo-Celtic lilt and melancholy, robust Balkan accents, Middle Eastern and African intricacy and exuberance, Western classical poise and mainstream jazz balladry. It is Intelligent, multi-lingual music making”
Exceptional stuff, and not to be missed.
Peter Knight’s Gigspanner appear on Monday 23rd April
Tickets: £10 (doors open 19:30)
The Kitchen Garden Cafe
17 York Road
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 7SA