大象传媒

The best folk and acoustic music from Britain and beyond.

This week, Ricky Ross talks to Sam Sweeney about his fiddle, which was made in part by a WWI soldier.

Former Bellowhead member Sam bought a violin in Oxford, and noticed an unusual inscription inside it. The violin had recently been built using unfinished parts from the early 20th century. Research revealed those parts had been hand-crafted by a music hall performer in Leeds prior to the Great War.

Soon afterwards, the performer, Richard Howard, joined the Army and died at the Battle of Messines in 1917.

Since uncovering the story, Sam has created a suite of music in tribute to Richard Howard, and even played the instrument at Richard's graveside in Ypres.

Also on this Folk Show, Ricky looks ahead to The Ballads of the Great War Live, which airs on Radio 2 on Friday 9 November at 8pm. The landmark concert will be hosted by Sir Michael Morpurgo and features top UK folk singers backed by the 大象传媒 Philharmonic. Songs will come from Radio 2's Ballads of the Great War series, in which original music was interwoven with archive recordings of real WWI veterans.