Devil’s Violin Blog Post
By Poppy Wilgress Lost Voices Project Intern
In January and February 2023 we partnered up with the storytelling music production company Devil’s Violin. During this time Devil’s Violin offered storytelling and music workshops to the young people during our weekly Tuesday and Thursday session. During these sessions, the young people were exposed to a variety of stories and folktales, told by writer and performer Daniel Morden. In the sessions with Daniel, the young people learnt about what makes powerful storytelling and how to engage the audience in a variety of different ways. The young people were also given an opportunity to experiment with music with the guidance of talented musicians Oliver Wilson-Dickson and Sarah Moody. They introduced the young people to new forms of sound and music, as well as guiding those who already had musical experience. Sarah and Oliver showed the young people how music can be incorporated into storytelling, whilst not taking over anyone’s performance, but instead working together in storytelling harmony.
All the skills and ideas from the sessions came together on the 14th February with Devil’s Violin performance of ‘The Beast Within Me’, wherein some of the young people from Mess Up The Mess took part in a curtain raiser sharing. During the performance, one of the young people performed their version of ‘Butterfly Soul’, a story about perspective and change. Some of the other young people accompanied this performance with music, using a variety of instruments such a piano, guitar, xylophone and ukulele. The pre-show performance by our young people was met with a positive response, as friends, family and the local community came together to watch. This was then followed by a performance of Devils Violin ‘The Beast Within Me’, which was incredibly engaging and entertaining. It captured the art of storytelling and paid homage to Wales’s long cultural history of folklore and fables. We were honoured to be part of this process and performance and would be delighted to work with Devil’s Violin again in the future.
Link to Devil’s Violin website and tour dates: https://www.thedevilsviolin.co.uk/