Robb Johnson
with Miranda Sykes and Saskia Tomkins
Peter Scott-Presland
with Rachel Rose Reid and David Harrod
and your host Des de Moor

A diverse but splendidly stimulating and provocative bill of English-language songwriting hits the Vortex stage tonight with welcome returns for two Pirate Jenny stalwarts.

ROBB JOHNSON's pithy, literate and moving songs place him in a category far removed from the comfortable cliche of the acoustic singer-songwriter. He's powerfully political without being preachy or simplistic, with an intensity and humanity borrowed from the French-language artists like Jacques Brel, whose songs Robb has also translated. Robb's work is represented on a string of albums, the most recent being 2002's masterful The Triumph of Hope Over Experience (Irregular); it includes a major song cycle Gentle Men, commissioned for the peace concerts at Passendale (Passchendaele), Belgium, and also performed at the Albert Hall. He's also a key figure in the small but highly creative English Chanson movement, putting together numerous live shows featuring the genre's leading practitioners. Tonight's set features a mix of old songs and new material in the peerless company of MIRANDA SYKES (bass) and SASKIA TOMKINS (cello, viola, violin).

"The finest songwriter to emerge from these isles in the last decade." Rock 'n' Reel
"One of Britain's most challenging songwriters."Daily Telegraph
"Probably the most astute political songwriter in Britain." Morning Star

Sterling support is provided by another returning favourite, PETER SCOTT-PRESLAND, best known under his previous name Eric Presland as a gay theatre and cabaret stalwart and passionate researcher and advocate of the works of such figures as Kurt Weill, Francis Poulenc and Boris Vian. His critically acclaimed Somebody Bin Usin' That Thing at the Rosemary Branch in 2002 documented in astonishing style the hidden history of sexual alternatives in English-language song, and he's turned out a number of fine songs himself. Tonight he's joined by first-class cabaret singer RACHEL REID and chanson and cabaret piano maestro DAVID HARROD for a set of chansons from the shows, unveiling the pithier material that lurks behind the glitz of Broadway and Shaftesbury Avenue.

David also joins Pirate Jenny's host and resident performer DES DE MOOR for a mini-set of unique and dramatic performance combining moving and witty originals and classic European songs.

www.robbjohnson.co.uk

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See also

Des de Moor's gigs page for a complete list of his forthcoming performances.