GIG: Pipes & Gurdies

Join us for perhaps the most vibrant gig of the year at Halsway Manor. More pipes and gurdies than you can shake a stick at! Tutors of international reknown are coming to Halsway to lead the popular Pipes and Gurdies weekend. You can experience their magic at this concert performance.

Our International tutor team includes gurdy players Aline Pilon, Sébastien Tron and Scott Marshall and pipers Sébastien Brebion and David Faulkner.

Aline Pilon (Fr) Intermediate/Advance Hurdy-Gurdy started playing the hurdy-gurdy around the age of 12. At the time Aline was dancing in a folk group where she was able to learn the main standards of the Nivernais / Morvan / Berry / Bourbonnais repertoire. She immediately experienced the pleasure of playing for dancers, a pleasure that is still as intense today! Aline’s favourite group is T.O.G. (The Old Guard), we play ball and concert music. She teaches the hurdy-gurdy, in its traditional Central France repertoire, and emphasises the personalisation of each musician's playing: there is no question of training clones! The idea is that she shares her musical toolbox, so that you can take it and / or be inspired by it.

Sébastien Tron (Fr) is a French artist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, arranger, sound designer, artistic director, and cultural facilitator. He is particularly known for the originality of his creations and his ability to generate enveloping sonic images, poetically blending instrument and voice. He exhibits an atypical hurdy-gurdy style, influenced by the phrasing and space of Pat Metheny's synth-guitar, the sonic cosmopolitanism of Bill Frisell, and the explorations of trumpeter Jon Hassell.

Sébastien discovered participatory creations and popular education at an early age. Traditional European dances, classical piano, jazz improvisation, hurdy-gurdy, and percussion in the polyrhythms of West Africa were the cornerstones of his youth.

He founded and was co-artistic director of the multidisciplinary company Antiquarks and Coin Coin Productions from 2004 to 2022. During this prolific period (more than 800 artistic intervention in France, Europe and around the world), he worked in particular with the Native American blues singer Pura Fé and the Senegalese lyricist Souleymane Faye (Xalam), as well as with numerous African choreographers and musicians (Jahkasa, Sayouba Sigué, Famoudou Konaté, Monique Séka, M’Bemba Camara, etc.).

Since 2002, he has collaborated with accordionist Stéphane Milleret in the Mustradem collective (Djal, Illa). They co-produced two comic book concerts with Vocal 26 (Groenland Manhattan, 2015, and Le Fils de l’Ursari, 2022), stories of forced exile inspired by true events.

In 2018, with the help of Barnaby Walters (English luthier and computer scientist), he brought his hurdy-gurdy into the world of polyphonic instruments and created an augmented instrument that combines acoustic, electroacoustic, and digital (MIDI) functions.

Scott Marshall (UK) beginner hurdy-gurdy has been playing hurdy-gurdy since 2005. He has been a regular festival and workshop tutor for the last decade. In 2017 he recorded his first solo album Gurdymania, followed in 2018 by Gurdymania 2, using multiple hurdy-gurdies and effects units. He is currently recording the third and final Gurdymania album before moving onto new folk and metal projects. He will be teaching the beginners class at Halsway focusing on good habits, solid playing skills and creating musical exercises for practice.

Sébastien Brebion (fr) started his formation at the music academy of Calais in the jazz guitar class before discovering the traditional music from the center of France. He then started learning bagpipes with Michel Lebreton and Renaud Hibon to become a teacher himself in another music school in Hauts de France. In parallel, he continued his guitar formation until his graduation in classical guitar. His encounters with musicians from different musical universes made him open to multiple styles and aesthetics. He played in several bands from traditional music from Ireland, Scotland and Berry to medieval music and jazz.

David Faulkner has been playing English Border Pipes for over 30 years. He has played with groups such as Jon Swayne’s Zephyrus and the Eel Grinders. David has toured in Europe, America and Canada. Highlights would be playing at the William Kennedy Piping Festival, the Saint Chartier Festival and the Newcastle Piping Festival. David runs piping courses and teaches pipes regularly. He also runs three community folk orchestras and conducts a mandolin orchestra!