Roger Watson (5)

Roger Watson has more than four decades of national and international folk music experience as a musician, singer, songwriter and dance caller. He is probably best known for his work with Muckram Wakes and the New Victory Band from 1971 – 81. He was also responsible for melodeon and concertina tutors first published in 1980 (and still selling!) Once a secondary school teacher, he left in 1989 to become the founder and Artistic Director of the erstwhile folk development organisation Traditional Arts Projects (TAPS). Worked freelance to continue the legacy of TAPS, by teaching and performing English traditional songs, music and dances, in a way that acknowledges the processes of tradition and involves people of all backgrounds in owning and individualising material from heritage sources. Roger Watson got into music through the English trad. folk revival in the mid 60s. He was always trying to push the boundaries of things a little bit forward. In 1989 he gave up teaching modern languages and started working as a folk development worker' for the then Southern Arts project (TAPS). It became obvious that to make the music reach a wider audience ­ which is what our brief was ­ and get a wider participant base in the area meant that it had to really include people from other cultural backgrounds. Did a number of projects involving people from other cultures working with English music. "I'd noticed that the early world fusions' in the '60s and '70s such as Indo-jazz fusion and people like Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grapelli always seemed to choose composed music like classical styles for the European component, so I thought lets try offering people from other cultures our own (much older) aural tradition". In 1999 founded the group Boka Halat with Musa Mboob, (who's a former member of Ifang Bondi ) and they spent the last four years experimenting with different combinations of instruments and line-ups. Where he played: Boka Halat (Roger Watson, Rachel McLeod, Musa Mboob) "We obviously do the usual arts centres, plus the festival circuit, and we've done a couple of very rewarding rural touring circuits, playing in village halls. Often in these places, that will be the closest the locals have ever come to anybody who hasn't got a white skin!" We do a lot of education work at all levels from primary school right up to further and higher education, and a lot of community involvement projects. It's mainly in the south of the U.K. but we are spreading it". Four of them have also been to Sweden together and we're planning something for Portugal.