WOMAD

Eliza Carthy

From United Kingdom

Biography by Andy Morgan, 2003:If you’re looking for murder, sex, rape, gang warfare, crime, violence and skulduggery then forget all those lightweights like Eminem, 50 Cent and So Solid Crew and cop a load of some traditional English music. The truly shocking and magnetic appeal of Albion’s musical roots has long been known to a select sub-culture of folk enthusiasts who have celebrated their common obsession in the cultural closet of folk clubs and folk fests like Cambridge and Sidmouth etc. It needed someone like Eliza Carthy to ‘out’ this scintillating heritage and open the door for a whole ‘nu-breed’ of young, sexy traditionalists like Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, John Spiers and Jon Bowden etc. Admittedly Carthy was well placed for the job. First, but perhaps most irrelevantly, she is the daughter of two of the greatest names in the modern history of English Folk; singer-songwriter Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson of The Watersons and Steeleye Span fame. Secondly she plays a mean fiddle, sings a tender tune and changes the colour of her hair on a regular basis, which, considering folk music’s long suffered image problem is perhaps more relevant than you might think. Thirdly she’s young…only 26. When her album ‘ Red Rice’ was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize a few years ago she was unfeasibly young. The album was also unfeasibly good which is perhaps why Carthy has gone on to share stages with artists as diverse as Joan Baez, Cerys Matthews, Byran Ferry, Elvis Costello and Van Dyke Parks, as well as appearing on ‘Later with Jools Holland’ and in several TV documentaries. Armed with Topic Records’ phenomenal 20 volume ‘Voice of the People’ collection of traditional British music, Carthy has recently recorded another gem called ‘Anglicana’ which the Guardian succinctly described as “magnificent”. Style, youth, wit and virtuosity aren’t always absolutely necessary for a successful career in showbiz but when it comes to English folk, damn can they make a difference!2000 biographyby Andy Morgan'Folk' is a four letter word and someone has just coshed the censor. It's almost as if all those faint hearts who for years ran leagues from any hint of beards, sawdust, pewter mugs, real ale and grown men with bells round their ankles skipping down dingly dell, have at last found an excuse to say "I think folk is quite cool really" to all their mates down the pub. That excuse is a young sassy, sexy, hyper-talented singer songwriter and violinist with a hair-do the colour of Prince's little red Corvette who goes by the name of Eliza Carthy. Since the release of her groundbreaking solo albums, Heat, Light & Sound and Red Rice, Carthy has been riding a wave of adulation. The quality of those albums and the obvious yearning of their creator to throw a completely new light on 300 years or more of traditional English music quickly snuffs out any cynical thoughts that Carthy owes her success only to the status of her parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, both 'royalty' to fans of British Folk music. Although Carthy can sing an old ballad like 'The Americans Have Stolen My True Love Away' with a tender forceful simplicity that will have you melting into the ground, it was the tantalizing glimpses on the Red Rice album of a brave new world in which folk music can share a bed with drum and bass, techno and rave culture in general and make healthy babies that has made the heart of many a closet folkie beat faster. In a enlightened world Carthy would be racked right next to Pulp, Asian Dub Foundation and Beth Orton rather than Ewan McColl, Fairport Convention and The Albion Band. All in all, she has imbued that hoary old quip "lie back and think of England" with a whole new meaning.Official website: www.elizacarthy.com