WELCOME TO THE 2009 FROME FESTIVAL

The ninth Frome Festival launched in style as glorious sunshine drew several thousand people to the annual World Food Feast on the opening Saturday.

As the festival gears up for the finale weekend, more mouth-watering acts lay in store.

Straight from performing at Glastonbury Festival’s Acoustic Tent, Dublin’s Imelda May brings her rockabilly show to the Cheese & Grain on Thursday (9 July).

Her stella rise from London’s burlesque clubs followed an appearance on Later With Jools Holland alongside Elbow, Roots Manuva, and Jeff Beck. Elbow later asked her to support them on tour.

Thursday also sees Margaret Obank, editor of Arabic literary magazine Banipal, interview three authors from the Middle East about the role of Islam in world politics at Trinity Hall.

The panel also includes Jonathan Taylor, adminstrator of the Man Booker prize and the International Prize for Arabic Literature, which he helped set up with Frome’s Peter Clark, a world authority on Arabic writing.

The same night, Merlin Theatre’s open air ECOS stage presents a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, weather permitting.

Friday (July 10) welcomes Mark McGann to the Frome Festival for the first time. The actor, who lives in Frome, reads the poems of Siefried Sassooon at Mells Church, where the First World War poet is buried. The Amati String Quartet also perform Elgar’s Serenade and String Quartet.

Elsewhere, Eddie Martin headlines the Cheese & Grain on Friday. Described by one reviewer as “the best Blues guitarist the UK has produced since Eric Clapton”, the London-born Bluesman boasts an international following.

Meanwhile, one of the world’s greatest trumpet players joins Bath Philharmonia at St John’s Church on Saturday (July 11). Crispin Steele Perkins has played on the most significant recordings of Baroque music made in the past three decades.

The same night, Adrian Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds play folk versions of old punk classics at the Cheese & Grain.
Edmondson played punk rock student Vyvyan in the eighties comedy series, The Young Ones. His band includes Andy Dinan, twice-winner of the All-Ireland fiddle championships.

Over the weekend, Hidden Gardens unlocks the treasures of Frome’s secret groves, while artists let in the public on the Open Studios trail.

Pick up a bargain at Art Car Boot, or join a Giant Teddy Bear Picnic in Victoria Park on Sunday (12 July). Jazz In The Garden sees John Law, Steve Watts and Asaf Sirkis at the Garden Cafe, Holy Trintiy Church welcomes Bath Community Gospel Choir, and the Masonic Hall hosts Alan Clayson In Concert.

But what better way to close the festival than with one of the UK’s greatest shows. Voted best music event at Brighton Festival 2008, Pee Wee Ellis’s Still Black Still Proud collective rock the Cheese & Grain on Sunday night.
 
The event welcomes the legendary Mahotella Queens from South Africa, London-based Ghanaian rapper Ty, who received a nomination at this year’s Mercury Music Awards, and vocalist Ola Onabule.

Saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, who lives near Frome, co-wrote 26 songs with James Brown, including Say It Loud I’m Black And I’m Proud.

The band’s horn section includes two rising jazz stars from Somerset. Josh Arcoleo plays tenor saxophone, and James Morton saxophone. Arcoleo, from Frome, is studying jazz at the Royal Academy of Music. Morton is a firebrand talent from Cheddar.
 
The 13-piece band also includes Bristol’s Dan Moore on keyboard, Gido May on drums and the ex-Joe Zawinul Band bass player Linley Marthe.

Elsewhere, festival founder Martin Bax launches Festival on Tour, with ten drama productions in ten villages near Frome, including Pretty Good Girl Dance Theatre’s Elvis Still My Heart.

This year’s charity film preview is Pixar’s latest children’s thriller, UP, which opened Cannes Film Festival 2009. Click here for more details.

Other attractions include festival cream teas, star-gazing, Mongolian throat singing, a 40th anniversary tribute to rock opera Tommy, Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night, and the burlesque carnival of Caberet Sans Frontieres.

The old favourites are back, too. Visit Hidden Gardens, Open Studios, Art Car Boot, Writers & Publishers Day, the Green Fair, and Blue House Sculpture Garden.

Finally, this year’s festival pays a special tribute to Benjamin Baker, the Frome engineer who designed the Forth Bridge, in a series of talks, exhibitions, and a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 39 Steps.

The festival has also launched a campaign to restore a disused town bridge in Baker’s honour.

Tickets from the box office on 01373 455420.