Join Belshazzar's Feast of festive folk and hedonism in Uffington and Nettlebed

King Belshazzar was a merry old soul – and his last feast was a bacchanalian knees-up of epic proportions.

So the decadent Coregent of Babylon, and his hedonistic final repast, is the perfect inspiration for an almost equally fun-loving celebration of the finer things in life.

Formed by fiddle and oboe player Paul Sartin and accordionist Paul Hutchinson, Belshazzar’s Feast play the kind of folk music which forces you onto your feet and makes it impossible not to break into a broad grin.

And that makes them the perfect band to ease us into the festive season.

Now celebrating their 20th anniversary, the pair are heading back to Oxfordshire for a couple of shows with a Yuletide twist – both in suitably rural surrounds: In Uffington on Wednesday and Nettlebed on December 21.

“It’s very light hearted,” laughs Paul, who is perhaps better known as a member of folk supergroup Bellowhead. “We draw on traditional music but not exactly. There are some serious numbers but we make entertaining.

“No one wants to be preached at with folk music; they want to have a fun night out. We don’t take things too seriously.”

So, while the starting point is traditional folk, there are flashes of classical, jazz, pop and music hall, and cracking banter. It all makes for a lively and, at times, very funny show – which is why the pair were nominated for the Best Duo Award at the 2010 BBC Folk Awards.

It’s not all light-hearted though, with songs dealing in more sombre material, such as the First World War.

“We do songs that make people laugh and make people cry,” says Paul. “We are in the tradition of the old troubadours, who would go around entertaining people – but also making them sob.”

And the name? “It also refers to a piece of music by Walton, but Paul Hutchinson used to be a church organist, and we just wanted something that sounded Biblical. It’s very colourful, sums up the idea of hedonism, and, because people have trouble pronouncing it, it makes it easier to remember!”

It’s all a different world to Bellowhead, as a member of which, he found himself hoisted from intimate folk sessions to Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall.

The 11-piece avant-folk band, which formed 12 years ago as a hastily assembled collective to play the Oxford Folk Festival, went on to redefine folk. Their five studio albums have sold more than 250,000 copies, while their third LP, Hedonism, was recorded at Abbey Road studios and is the highest selling independently released folk album of all time. Their trophy cabinet includes two silver discs, and eight BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Belshazzar’s Feast’s winter tour comes as Bellowhead bow out; the band ending it where it all started, at Oxford Town Hall on May 1.

“There are mixed feelings,” says Paul, who lives with his family in rural Hampshire.

“It has been absolutely amazing, and it has come as a bit of a shock to everyone. In some ways, though, it’s quite a relief that it’s all going to be over as it is exhausting. And sleeping on tour buses for two years is not my idea of fun.

“It’s the right time to bow out on a high, rather than outstaying our welcome. A break is needed for all sorts of reasons. It’s a logistical nightmare and it tends to take precedence over other things. But we have all got other projects and always have done. We will all be able to keep the wolf from the door.”

Yet, he hints, it may not quite be the end, with a suggestion of a comeback. “I’m not discounting anything,” he chuckles. “There may well be something at some point.”

Like Bellowhead, Belshazzar’s Feast has its roots in Oxfordshire, the seeds for the band planted while playing a session with a now-defunct folk group in a trailer in Cumnor – owned by Oxford sound engineer and former owner of the Zodiac club (now the O2 Academy) Nick Moorbath.

It was there he met Paul Hutchinson, whose own credits include Hoover the Dog, Karen Tweed, The Playford Liberation Front and the Pagoda Project.

• Knees-up: Belshazzar’s Feast, with Paul Sartin, left, and Paul Hutchinson

Sartin’s Oxford roots go deep. In the early 90s he took up a Choral Scholarship at Magdalen College – appearing on the CS Lewis biopic Shadowlands. He balanced that with classical oboe, close-harmony singing with the ensemble Men Only, and rather more beer-soaked folk sessions at the Bullingdon Arms and The Elm Tree, in Cowley Road.

After picking up his degree he signed up as a Lay Clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, staying for five years. His singing took him to Lebanon, Brazil and Japan, and saw him record with the composer Howard Goodall on the themes music for Mr Bean and The Vicar of Dibley.

He has also performed in Tim Healey’s old-music group Magpie Lane, recorded an album of Dickensian music, sung with acapella quartet Mouth and Trousers, and quartet Faustus.

On top of that, he has a Masters in Traditional Music, edited Bellowhead’s songbook for Faber Music, continues to work on old manuscripts and has passed on his knowledge to the next generation of musicians at St Edward’s School in Woodstock Road, north Oxford.

His own composition for Streetwise Opera, The Hartlepool Monkey, was nominated for a British Composer Award. More unexpected his contribution to the world of rock – working with Ride’s Loz Colbert and, more recently, the rock band Enter Shikari.

“My street cred with the kids went up no end with that,” he says, proudly.

While most commonly seen wielding a fiddle and singing, Paul says his first instrument was the oboe.

“You can’t accompany yourself while you’re playing the oboe, though,” he laughs. “The biggest change from Bellowhead, though, is not being part of an 11-piece where I could hide if needs be. Here there are just two of us – and that comes as a bit of a jolt!”

He goes on: “This has been our fourth tour in four months. It has been absolutely mental, so I am looking forward to getting back for Christmas.”

Before that there is the rest of the tour, though. He says: “We love playing Uffington, which is a great venue. And Nettlebed is where Paul and I traditionally have our company Christmas lunch.

“There are only two of us though, and Paul doesn’t drink. It’ll still be fun though. It always is.”

Where and when
Uffington: Wednesday, December 9, Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall.  Doors 7.30pm Show 8.15pm Tickets £14 Tel. 01367 820282

Nettlebed: Monday, December 21, Nettlebed Folk Club. Show 8pm Tickets £13 Tel. 01628 636620 www.nettelbedfolkclub.co.uk