Crowders

Bagas Crowd, Cornish for fiddle group, also known as the Crowders, was set up in 2001 by fiddle teacher and workshop leader Frances Bennett who wanted her students to get together to arrange and perform Cornish Celtic music.

The group began meeting in Threemilestone Methodist Church Hall in 2002 when they became too numerous to fit into Frances' front room! The group has gone from strength to strength, performing all over Cornwall from the Eden Project to Pendennis Castle and from the Minack Theatre to Calstock, including Camborne's Trevithick Day, Redruth's Murdoch Day and the Golowan Festival in Penzance. Bagas Crowd provide entertainment at fêtes, weddings, parties and Cornish evenings, and also enjoy playing for Cornish dancing.

Musicians of all ages and abilities have flocked to join the group, some travelling as many as 50 miles to attend rehearsals on alternate Saturday mornings at Threemilestone Methodist Church near Truro. We coincide with the weekly Church coffee morning so refreshments & home baking provide a welcome break!

The line-up is fiddle-based but can include crowdy crawn, hurdy-gurdy, cello and double bass. Tunes are learned by ear and the approach is a mixture of rehearsal and workshop, where everyone is encouraged to be creative and suggest their own ideas for arrangements.

The group have twice participated in the Breizh-Kernow festival in Brandivy, Brittany, and in 2004 Bagas Crowd were guests of the Blackford Fiddle Group, Perthshire, Scotland, for their annual concert and ceili. As a community Noze Looan band, Bagas Crowd are experiencing the excitement of the new wave of Cornish music and dance and welcome any new fiddle or other string players who'd like to join them!

"Frances, thank you for all the Bagas Crowd/workshop/AberFest stuff. All went very well, and a number of Bretons enthused about your magical "Bagas Crowd" music technique."