When 17th Century England went into lockdown and the Puritans closed playhouses and theatres, musicians and performers sought refuge in backrooms of taverns and alehouses to vent their anarchy. Some four centuries later, the Barokksolistene created the Alehouse Sessions, a project in which they perform folk melodies, sea-shanties, bawdy ballads and cheeky ditties alongside ayres and dances by Purcell and Playford in homage to the sonic world of 17th century English tavern music.
On 23 April, BBC4 brings The Ale House Sessions to screens in a new film directed by Dominic Best, capturing the sound world of rebellious London under Oliver Cromwell’s draconian laws.
In this interview, Bjarte Eike, artistic director of the Barokksolistene, talks about the genesis of The Alehouse Sessions.