RSVP Gallery

RSVP Ceilidh band

Meet R.S.V.P the Ceilidh Band

Introducing RSVP - Click on the small images to meet each band member.

Alex is the most recent member of RSVP. She started playing the violin aged 7, is classically trained and played in local youth Chamber/Symphony orchestras. Alex has had her current violin for over 20 years. It's believed to have been made in Markneukirchen, Saxony - a town famous for making instruments for over 300 years and is thought to be just under 250 years old.

Originally, Paddy played guitar and sang on the folk club circuit and played melodeon with English dance bands. He became captivated by the music of Central France in the early eighties and brought this interest to R.S.V.P., giving the band a new direction. Paddy's main instrument is the hurdy-gurdy. He has two with him on stage, one in D by Christopher Eaton and the other in G/C by Bernard Kerbeouf. Paddy plays melodeons in D/G by Bertrand Gaillard and the other in G/C by Jean Princival.

Steve - along with Paddy - is a founder member of the band. He is the band’s caller, with a repertoire of dances suitable for all ages and all levels of expertise.
His main instrument is the melodeon, which he first picked up to provide music for Morris. His playing style acts like a rhythm guitar, sitting between the melody instruments and the bass. Having gone through Hohners and Salterelles, he currently plays a 3-row, 18-bass melodeon made by Bernard Loffet.
Steve plays an Epiphone SG in cittern tuning and a conventionally tuned Fender Strat. He also uses Acid Music software to create the percussion backing tracks: a sound that is regularly heard in discos and clubs, but rarely backing hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes.

Sarah is a classically trained oboist who plays the wind instruments in the band. During a visit to the annual music festival at St Chartier, Central France, she bought a beautiful set of French bag-pipes and so began playing the Musette with the band. She has recently extended the instrument collection and now also has a Gaita (Spanish bagpipe) and a saxophone as well.

Phil has been singing and playing guitar in the English folk scene since he was a teenager but he had to learn the bass to join RSVP. This remains his main instrument in the band though he sometimes plays Irish bouzouki and darabouka. He also enjoys French traditional music and dance, which he teaches at monthly sessions in Bury St Edmunds, where he lives.

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