The Candleford Ceilidh Band has been playing the best English, Scottish and Irish barndance music for over twenty years in the South East of England and sometimes overseas. We are an experienced and reliable collection of musicians that pride ourselves on being inventive and sensitive to any occasion. We come with our own "Caller" (dance director) - he provides a unique light-hearted patter to guide you through the dances and will dazzle you with his humour (and gaudy waistcoats)! The band has evolved into the perfect mixture of traditional soloists like mandolin, fiddle and flute with a solid 'backline' of guitar, bass and drums which is guaranteed to entice everyone to dance.
For further information, including music samples, testimonials and contact numbers/email addresses, please visit our main website at www.candleford.com
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Welcome to the Candleford Ceilidh Band's alternative website... Here's a summary of who we are and what we do:-
We SPECIALISE in doing weddings and private parties (many bands don't or don't like doing them)...
Our focus is very much towards ENTERTAINMENT, trying to ensure everyone has FUN...
We don't insist on the dances being done correctly or running complex dances which no-one can remember...
We just try to help everybody ENJOY the experience...
Most of our bookings come via recommendation and up to 80% of our bookings each year are at weddings...
We play tunes from all over the British Isles and the dances called are equally drawn from the various national 'archives'...
Our music, although clearly folk-based, has a very strong contemporary feel...
With a typical 'rock' backline of guitar, bass, drums and 3 lead instrumentalists playing (a mixture of) fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, piccolo, recorder, sax — we play 'Folk with Poke!'
The musicians also inject a selection of instantly recognisable snippets (at any and all available opportunities)...
...snippets of Stones to Abba ... Quo to Monkees... ...Clapton, Free, Thin Lizzy, Lou Reed, Rainbow et al...
Additionally and most importantly, the band features the ebullient Martin Lindridge as resident Caller/MC...
This man is DYNAMITE as an entertainer/MC — it's a job suppressing Martin's enthusiasm for ... anything!
We provide the show with full PA and incidental music for breaks/intervals...
We also use PAT-compliant equipment and have public-liability insurance etc...
A typical gig duration is 4 hours and would include a half-hour break around midway... ...but we are flexible should you have different requirements.
We always recommend people try and see us in action beforehand... ...as listening to MP3s, WAVs or demo tapes only tells half the story!
We have gained a solid reputation over the last twenty years... ...with a 100% reliability record and we intend to keep it that way!
