Phillip
Henry and Hannah Martin can be heard in ‘Acoustic Roots’
on Friday
21 March. They have been playing together as a duo for
more than seven
years. Last month they were the winners of the
2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in the category ‘best folk duo’.
Originally,
Hannah replaced Phillip Henry as the musical partner of Tobias Ben
Jacob. The reason being that Phillip Henry was going to India to study
slide guitar with the virtuoso Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya (see www.debashishbhattacharya.com).
On his return, Phillip Henry, Tobias Ben Jacob and Hannah Martin formed
a trio.
That ended after a while and Phillip and Hannah continued
as a duo.  Personal sound
Phillip and Hannah have de-
veloped an entirely personal sound, not only
as a result of their instrumental and vocal talents, but also because
of
their wonderful texts and beautiful arrangements.
Their second CD,
‘Mynd’, lets
us hear the results of this musical chemistry.
The way in which Phillip plays slide guitar, dobro and the Indian chatturangui
is founded on a solid musical basis. Add Hannah’s violin, viola,
tenor guitaar and banjo and you get a wonderful com-
bination. But it is
particularly Hannah’s voice that makes their sound so special,
although their voices also harmonise very well.
Original and modern
The
studio is full of instruments during their performance in ‘Acoustic
Roots’ , and they use them all as well. In a traditional song such as
‘The Nailmakers’ Strike’ they let us hear how original and modern their
approach is. This song about the 1862 protest march by the  Bromsgrove
Nailmakers is given a new lease of life by the duo. Phillip plays an intro on the harmonica, and at the same time he is a beatbox
establishing a rhythmic basis with the chorus of
‘Declaration
of Rights’ by the Abyssinians,
a classic roots reggae
number from the seventies.
‘Silbury Hill’ tells us
about a walk that Phillip and Hannah made to this West
Kennet Long Burrow, and the feeling that they had of going 5000 years
back in time.
All the songs that they perform during the
programme are from the CD ‘Mynd, Dragonfly Roots Devon’.
The broadcast can be listend to on 21 March from 21:00 to 22:00.
Phillip and Hannah can also be heard on YouTube.
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