Any gig that gives you a new portmanteau word is a good one and BFC Presents first gig of 2025 added 'flooping' to the lexicon. Flooping is the rare art of adding flute into layered instrumental loops. That the artist giving us the word, is Eliza Marshall, flaustist with Ranagri, should come as a surprise to no one.
This was a rare solo outing for Eliza who is in for a very busy year, EP and new album, just for her solo material as well as a number of other projects, bringing with it an interesting combination of instruments to the stage. A large variety of flutes and whistles was a given, drum and guitar, not unexpected, but it's been a while since I've seen one this close up. Finally add, literally into the mix, a bit of electronic wizardry from Roland to the looper, all the makings for an evening's entertainment are there.
The evening actually started, appropriately, with a poem penned by Thomas Hardy "The Tree:An Old Man's Story", which had been brought to Eliza's attention when she had mentioned visiting her Grandfather's grave in Dorset and discovered an oak growing there. This was made more poignant by her explaining how holding one of the trees branches brought her close to her late grandfather as she imaged him reaching out to her through the tree.
That very much set the theme for the evening, the circle of life, the struggles and the rewards. Eliza has spent a lot of time in Africa and playing with African musicians, particularly percussionists and has been influenced by not only the rhythm but the nuances that percussion, particularly tuned percussion can bring, with the balafon, doing a lot of the lifting work, particularly at the bass end. In fact the guitar didn't even make an appearance in her first set.
Eliza, played her guitar sat down on flight case, which put her, briefly out of sight of some of the audience, but also allowed to her to build a cocoon around her and lose herself in the moment as she built the guitar pieces, it also added a very different dynamic to those pieces.
Across the two sets the circle of life was definitely explored in music, poetry and Eliza taking us on and explaining where parts of the journey had come from, inspirations and the need to explore and inspire back. The final piece was very much the end cycle and whilst Eliza did return to the stage, it was only to acknowledge the well deserved applause.
Sound on the night was provided by Steve RMV, who got a really warm and heartfelt accolade from the stage for a job whilst done.