In early September, my multicultural music group Ensemble Diaspora performed at Sandgate Town Hall, as part of the beloved Music by the Sea series that is held there once a month.

This was the first time I'd ever performed in Sandgate - and was blown away by how enthusiastic the audience was. I was told it was a full house! A concert of Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Celtic folk music might be seen as "niche", but the audience seemed to love every minute of it - calling for an encore at the end!

In addition to our usual Ensemble Diaspora setlist, we broke into duets and trios throughout. Here is a video of Martin Reese and I playing a Galician tune. I don't even know the name of this tune. I heard it played by an Irish musician named Adrian Jeffries at an Irish music session around a decade ago, which I recorded and learnt. Thankfully, Martin somehow knows the chords, so two days before the show, we decided to perform it! (Well, I decided, and Martin was happy to play it, because he is a legend. Between the beautiful acoustics of Sandgate Town Hall, and the talents and care of the wonderful sound technician - I think it sounded rather lovely!

Thanks to Music By The Sea for asking us to perform and for capturing this video.

And, thank-you to our audience at Sandgate It was a blast!