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The Carnival Band are: five musical explorers, five voices, twenty-five instruments, five dozen styles of music and five hundred fresh ideas for music-making, combining music from across the centuries with sounds from around the world in an irreverently joyous mix!
 But why Carnival? For them, Carnival is the universal spirit of celebration which overthrows convention. It has its roots in the pre-Lenten street festivals of Medieval Europe which gave communities licence to 'turn the world upside down'. They do just that with their music - they've invented 'Macedonian Reggae', turned a renaissance chanson into a Piaf-inspired drag act, paired Noel Coward with James Brown, flavoured a traditional English carol with Cajun spice - the list goes on. They’ve even been called 'Henry VIII's Rock 'n Roll Band'!
Their cornucopia of instruments includes the historical, the exotic and the familiar. For example, leader Andy Watts plays the clarinet; both he and Giles Lewin the shawm and bagpipes; Giles also plays the fiddle as does Steve Banks, who also plays the djembe; Steno Vitale is on guitar and mandolin; Jub Davis is the double bass player.
Most members of the band are classically trained musicians and they play in renowned orchestras and early music groups. But when it comes to The Carnival Band, they play strictly for fun! Their ability to communicate with an audience probably stems from their origins as the theatre band for The Medieval Players, one of Britain’s best-loved touring companies in the eighties. They are far from serious, but that doesn’t mean they don’t play brilliantly. Like all very talented performers who look as though they are enjoying themselves on stage, they always get a rapturous response.
www.carnivalband.com
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