International Pipe and Tabor Festival coming to Grantham House and St Wulfram’s Church this weekend
A festival celebrating a historic instrument will be held in Grantham over the weekend.
Fans of the pipe and tabor will converge on the town from tomorrow until Sunday (September 15 to 17) to celebrate the pipe and tabor.
Taking place at Grantham House and St.Wulfram’s Church, the International Pipe and Tabor Festival will feature a symposium, workshops, and public performances.
The highlight of the weekend will be a public concert in St. Wulfram’s church on Saturday evening.
Comprising a one-handed whistle and drum, the pipe and tabor is the “original one man band”.
Popular throughout medieval and renaissance periods, the pipe and tabor only just survived into the twentieth century in England as music for morris dancing.
The Taborers’ Society was founded in 2005 to promote performance, research, and understanding of the little-known instruments. The annual festival is an integral part of the society’s activities.
On Friday morning, Gillian and Rob Guest will lead a guided tour of medieval iconography featuring pipe and tabors, visiting churches at Ancaster, Brant Broughton and Heckington.
Later in the afternoon, there will be a symposium in Grantham House with papers inspired by Grantham’s Francis Trigge chained library.
After workshops for society members in the morning, on Saturday afternoon the massed taborers will tour the town accompanied by historic dance group, Grantham Danserye, and the Lincoln & Micklebarrow Morris Men.
On Saturday evening, members of the society will give a public concert in St. Wulfram’s Church, starting at 7:30pm.
Entitled “Celebrating Pipe and Tabor”, the concert will feature special guest Gaby Bultmann from Berlin. Admission is just £5, payable on the door. A licensed bar will be available.
The weekend concludes on Sunday morning with further workshops for society members.
You can buy your own tabor pipe for £10 on the society website, with beginners’ workshops also on offer via Zoom.
Email chair@pipeandtabor.org for more details.
