Chatterbox with Mel Biggs

Katie Howson, often thought of as a one-row player but these days she plays mainly D/G, is best known as a driving force in a number of significant English ceilidh bands including the Old Hat Dance Band and PolkaWorks, playing melodeon and harmonica. She grew up in the East Anglian tradition, playing alongside legendary musicians such as Oscar Woods and Dolly Curtis, but all along, she has had a very eclectic wider repertoire stretching from south west Ireland to the south west states of America, and north east England to north east Australia. 2026 will be her 50th year playing the melodeon, which will be marked by a solo presentation “Carry on Squeezing” at summer festivals.As well as being a musician and educator, Katie is also a researcher, historian and writer on various aspects of traditional music, song and dance, with several books and websites to her name. She has made various media appearances including film and TV. Together with her late husband John Howson, she founded and ran the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust from 2000 to 2017. During this tenure she produced the annual “Melodeons and More” workshop days which were much-loved events in their day, and organised five melodeon-building courses led by Emmanuel Pariselle. In 2010, she was awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge Award.Katie's Links:Website | Bandcamp | https://www.eatmt.org.uk/ | www.unsunghistories.info | www.eastangliandulcimers.org.ukJoin my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicDerbyshire Makes Festival, Swadlincote Hub Day 25th April 10-4pm with events across the county April-May:https://www.derbyshiremakes.co.uk/whats-onKILNSIDE TICKETS: Cosmos Chocolat bal (28/04) & Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly (29/05):https://melbiggsmusic.co.uk/product-category/live-music-events/Learn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes - Improvers L1 May 23rd:https://stables.org/workshopsVisit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram 

Join Mel this month as she sits down for a long-awaited catch up with Filippo Gambetta since meeting him at Halsway Manor Melodeon Study Week 2023. During that week, Filippo shared stories, videos and field recordings that he had made across several trips to Madagascar. During his time on the island, he has been able to visit different communities, take lessons with native diatonic accordion players with their unique style and application of the instrument, and even be invited to witness and take part in spiritual posession ceremonies. Tune in to find out more about this fascinating traditional culture.Filippo Gambetta (Italy) an accomplished accordionist, clarinetist and mandolinist, has performed hundreds of concerts around the world, performing his music including three tours of major Canadian folk festivals. He has released four solo albums (Stria, Andirivieni, Pria Goaea, Otto Baffi), in addition to the duo and trio albums. In 2016, he won the most prestigious Italian award for traditional music, the "Premio Città di Loano", with his album Otto Baffi.He is currently a member of the groups Choropo and Maestrale, with which he has performed at numerous acoustic music festivals. He has collaborated with leading world music artists, including Riccardo Tesi, Jean Michel Veillon, Nuala Kennedy and Oliver Schroer. He has also composed stage music for the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa and collaborated with dancers and actors such as Fabrizio Matteini, Gioele Dix, and Aline Nari. He has performed live on Italian (RAI), Belgian (La Premièere) Finnish (YLE), Swiss (RSI), Austrian (ORF) and German (WDR) national radio stations. As an accordion teacher he has held courses throughout Europe. Attention to the "balfolk" repertoire and Brazilian and Venezuelan music are his current strong interests.Filippo's Links:WebsiteJoin my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicLearn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes - Improvers L2 Mar 14th:https://stables.org/workshopsTickets on sale for Cosmos Chocolat bal (29/04) AND Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly (29/05) at Kilnside Folk in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire:https://melbiggsmusic.co.uk/product-category/live-music-events/Halsway Manor Melodeon Study Week 2023 Vlog:https://youtu.be/TpjtG0qFoVYVisit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram 

Jo Freya is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and composer based in Nottinghamshire, England. Over an extensive career spanning five decades she has been part of some of the most groundbreaking acts on the British Folk Scene. Her journey started when she was 14 in The Old Swan Band – a band that explored and reaffirmed the joyousness of English traditional music, at a time when most English folk musicians were playing celtic music. From this healthy foundation of tunes and song she was invited to join Blowzabella - and the rest is history.Jo is a prolific writer of songs and tunes, as well as shows. Her music is played across festivals in Europe and she has performed extensively both solo and with groups such as Fraser Sisters, Coope Boyes & Simpson, Narthen, Moirai, Token Women, Freyja, Tanteeka, and Maalstroom. Jo is a busy music educator, having run many schemes including 'Komposit' her young people's composition project . She is currently the artistic director of England's National Youth Folk Ensemble and was recently awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge for outstanding contribution to folk music.Jo and Mel met at a series of music workshops held in Wantage, England, and from there Jo invited Mel to form a band - and Moirai was born. Moirai performed across the UK folk scene for nearly a decade, and recorded 3 albums, including their self-penned 20-track show 'Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story'.Jo's Links:Website | Facebook | YouTube Join my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicLive @ Mel's & ONLINE Airboxes house concert 2nd February 2026:Info & TicketsLearn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes Mar 14th:https://stables.org/workshopsEvesham Melodeon Playgroup & concert Feb 7-8th:https://www.melodeonplaygroup.org/https://www.tickettailor.com/events/fleeceinngrasroots/1942129Visit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram 

Mel Biggs is a Morris dancer, musician, and highly-renowned melodeon tutor based in Derbyshire, England.In her professional career, Mel has risen from the EFDSS Aspire program with Andy Cutting to form Moirai with Jo Freya and Sarah Matthews. Together they created 3 albums and toured the UK and Europe, culminating in their self-penned show Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story telling a true story of a Derbyshire woman. Mel was recently seen on stage as an actor-musician in the 2022-2023 UK & Canada tour of Fisherman's Friend's: The Musical. Mel has been involved in several recurrent Arts Council England funded projects. These include Jo Freya’s Komposit Young Composers (with Annie Whitehead, Judith Weir CBE and Chris Woods), and cross-cultural theatre shows such as Priya Sundar’s Morris:Natyam, and Kate Flatt and Adriano Adewale’s The Oss & The Ox. Mel is currently working on the second iteration of her folk music camp for women and marginalised genders FolkUnbound: The Gathering with co-founder Lucy Huzzard, a new course at Halsway Manor Practice Smarter, Play Happier with Judy Minot, coordinating several community arts projects in her hometown of Swadlincote, and squiring her newly-revived heritage-obsessed Border Morris side Wilkes’ Gob.Mel's Links:Website | Facebook | YouTube | Patreon | Instagram Join my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicLive @ Mel's & ONLINE Airboxes house concert 2nd February 2026:Info & TicketsLearn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes Jan 18th:https://stables.org/workshopsEvesham Melodeon Playgroup & concert Feb 7-8th:https://www.melodeonplaygroup.org/Visit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram 

Roger Watson has been playing melodeon for 55 of his 78 years. Known for his work as a member of Muckram Wakes and The New Victory Band in the 1970s, he published a tutor method in 1980: the Handbook for Melodeon, on behalf of Hohner. Later he worked as Artistic Director of TAPS, a folk development organisation, where he used his melodeon and knowledge of English traditional music to create projects involving players from many different music genres and cultural backgrounds, including Boka Halat. Retired for health reasons in 2010, he has returned to playing and workshop leading in recent years. Roger's Links:Facebook | YouTubeJoin my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicLive @ Mel's & ONLINE Double duo house concert 9th December 2025:Info & TicketsLearn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes Jan 18th:https://stables.org/workshopsEvesham Melodeon Playgroup & concert Feb 7-8th:https://www.melodeonplaygroup.org/Visit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram 

Sophie Cavez is a self-taught diatonic accordionist and electric bassist from Belgium. She has firmly established herself in the world of button accordion music, leading her own projects and offering her talent to others in the worlds of concert, balfolk, theatre and storytelling. She has spread a new diatonic sound across the Belgian and international stages, combining power, charm, and sensitivity.Her career spans many collaborations across multiple different European countries and cultures. Her current projects include her own group KV EXPRESS which offers a repertoire consisting solely of her personal compositions in a drum’n bass n’accordeon trio. DUO MONTANARO/CAVEZ, with the French violinist Baltazar Montanaro, with numerous concerts around the world and already a great reputation after 15 years on stage. • SIRUS project with 2 Swedish musicians, Josefina Paulson and Jonas Akerlund. DUO PAULSON/CAVEZ born from the meeting within the Sirus Quartet project, CD 'Murmures' recorded in 2023. SARAÏ with the fantastic Occitan singer Juliette Minvielle and Baltazar Montanaro, the trio was born in 2022 and now tours in concert format and in folk ball format with a repertoire of poems in Occitan set to music by the trio. With a first CD in 2023. Duo project with her partner, JULIEN PADOVANI, pianist from Poitiers. And most recently with FLUENCIA QUARTET - an encounter between the worlds of flamenco, Swedish traditional music and Belgian accordion.Sophie's Links:website | Facebook | Tunebooks & CDsJoin my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinar tutorials & learning resource archive:www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusicLearn DG melodeon with Mel at The Stables, Milton Keynes Nov 25/Jan 26:https://stables.org/workshopsLive @ Mel's & ONLINE Double duo house concert 9th December 2025:Info & TicketsVisit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:www.melbiggsmusic.co.ukIntro & outro music:'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.comGet in touch: chatterbox@melbiggsmusic.co.ukDon't forget to like/subscribe/follow:YouTube | Instagram