‘Album’s made people regret voting for Brexit’
Singer Will Pound tells DAVE FREAK about his celebration of European music
AS the UK prepared to leave the European Union, Warwickshire musician Will Pound decided to mark the event with A Day Will Come – an ambitious album and tour project that set out to highlight both the diversity and community within the remaining EU countries.
“I think really the best way to describe A Day Will Come is as a celebration of the music of Europe,” says Will, who grew up around Warwick and Whitnash, and recently moved to Wales. “I had this idea: there are 27 countries left in the EU, and I wondered if I could learn a tune or a song from each of those countries, meet people and learn about their traditional music.”
In the wake of Brexit, Will states the finished project is not part of any overt Remain campaign. Instead his aim is to encourage debate and nudge listeners to consider the implications of leaving the EU, such as the impact on freedom to travel.
“I’ve had people come who’ve changed their mind on Brexit – because they’ve seen the show!” he exclaims. “After playing Shrewsbury Folk Festival last year I had some messages from people saying ‘we wish we hadn’t voted the way we did’. That wasn’t my aim.
‘‘I think sometimes telling people what you think the right idea is, is not the right idea; it’s about making people think – that’s the whole point. That’s why I wanted to do this – to tell people to think about what they were going to miss. And I think it’s really struck a chord.”
When asked, Will does admit to being personally pro-Europe.
“I guess I am a European, I do think that way, and I make that quite clear with the show,” he explains, stressing the project is not a protest rant. “For me, there are people like Billy Bragg who [write] real protest songs. I didn’t want to go down that route because I think that politics can be more powerful when it’s done more quietly.”
In preparing for the project – which was released as an album in 2020, and is now going on tour after a pandemic delay – Will travelled to the EU, meeting a pipe maker in Malta (where traditional music has been largely lost), and working with a large professional folk orchestra in Bulgaria (an event that was filmed for Bulgarian TV).
“I interviewed people who were really knowledgeable about their traditional music – it was really enriching. I was aware that when I started this project I didn’t know loads about European music. I knew about French music and Belgian music, because I’d been involved in that world a bit, but that was about it. So it was amazing.”
As he learned more about the Swedish polska and Italian tarantella, Irish jigs, French bourées, Spanish jota, rachenistas from Bulgaria and the music of Latvia, Greece, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, Portugal, Finland and more, Will discovered common threads that often surprised him.
“In some ways it was so different to the music I make, and yet also so similar. There were melodies that were quite similar. There was a Czech tune that I used which is basically Polly Put The Kettle On yet I got the tune from a 1920s Czech recording! Where did that come from?” he laughs.
The A Day Will Come tour sees Will – a multi-BBC Folk Award nominated harmonica and melodeon player, and twice FATEA Magazine Instrumentalist Of the Year winner – joined by Scottish musicians Jenn Butterworth (guitar) and Patsy Reid (fiddle), multi-instrumentalist Jude Rees, Warwickshire double-bass player/beatboxer John Parker, and Birmingham-based Polish poet Bohdan Piasecki.
“Bohdan is involved all the way through the show. He does some poetry, some of his own stories and they’re all very powerful, and often very funny too. He’s quite a comedian, and brings the crowd on side,” says Will, who promises a surprising conclusion to the live performances.
“We end with The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba, by Handel, which is not on the album,” he says of the
18th century classical piece, written for string instruments.
“As a folkie it’s been very interesting learning that piece of music. I don’t read music so I play by ear. It was a lockdown challenge for me to learn it on the melodeon. It’s not in a ‘classical’ style, we’ve done it in a French/Canadian Québécois style, so it’s very bouncy.”
Following May’s A Day Will Come dates, Will heads to Denmark for an appearance at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival with guitarist/melodeon player Tim Edey in July.
Returning for a performance at Warwick Folk Festival (where he’s patron) with Jen Butterworth, he then plans to record an album with Jenn, and possibly a collection of Welsh music.
“But I’ve always had the ambition to write a rhapsody for harmonica,” he adds. “I’ve been playing harmonica for 23 years – I’m only 34 – but I want to keep improving, so there’s lots of things to do.”
That’s why I wanted to do this – to tell people to think about what they were going to miss. And I think it’s really struck a chord.
Will Pound’s A Day Will Come is at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on May 11. For tickets and more details see warwickartscentre.co.uk
Will Pound