The Clifford Movement

The Clifford Movement are a four-piece band. June Swift and Gwen Bainbridge, daughters of an Eden Valley farmer, were inspired by the tenacious character of Lady Anne Clifford (hence the name), and her gumption, in her rather male-orientated world and by the diaries of their paternal Grandmother, Nana Bainbridge, spanning many farm years.

They invited Rich Evans and Peter Michael Rowan, to add the magic of their musical talents, to create a very rich sound, writing songs, researching their own heritage, bringing it to life with music and dialect banter.

In their performance, the band bring you stories, songs, poems and visual projections, celebrating, above all, the lives and landscape of the Eden Valley, with some interjections of more far-flung tales. Harmonies are central to their sound, be they haunting, or perhaps more raucous. The combined instrumentation, just like Nana Bainbridge’s recipe book, the raw materials meet in a melting pot, to entice the ears. Foot-tapping melodies, in such genres as Americana, Trad Jazz, dark Cabaret and Balkan tunes, to name but a few, alongside their signature layered up voices, in their own home-grown songs.

There may be tears alongside laughter and music, mixed with a large dollop of witty tales. The Clifford Movement strive to create innovative ways to tell the tales of folk from the past who lived, loved, worked and played in Cumbria. Travel back in time with them as they unravel the mysteries of the forgotten heroes of our green and pleasant land.

CONTACT GWEN

gwenbceramics@gmail.com