Bringing you the very best in Folk Music, Wilbur Promotions presents:

A Christmas Wassail with Magpie Lane

Saturday 16th December 2006. Y Theatre, Leicester (Near railway station).

20:00 to 22:45. £10:00/£7:50. Ticket Office: 0116 255 7066. No Smoking.

Magpie Lane's music is unmistakably rooted in the English tradition. Ian Giles fronts the band but they all share the spotlight blending melodious solo vocals with powerful harmonies and vigorous dance tunes. Their instrumental line-up is based around that of a 19th century village band, with fiddle, cello, concertina, whistles and percussion to the fore. To this they add guitar and hurdy-gurdy. The resultant sound is evocative of a 'country' celebration that could have come straight from a Thomas Hardy novel.

Magpie Lane's Christmas concerts are a feast of seasonal carols, wassails and ballads, many with their origins in England's rich tradition of 'village' carols. As with all Christmas songs there is plenty of opportunity to join in. The concerts started in Oxford in the 90s and were quickly absorbed into the city's Christmas tradition. They inevitably sell out; people have even queued in the rain in the hope of picking up a return ticket. The Oxford Times described them as 'a great night and a splendid way to begin the countdown to Christmas Day.'

Christmas is steeped in tradition. This concert will leave you infused with the Yuletide spirit.