Parlour Party

Last Friday I returned to the Parlour party in Harrow. It is run by Mary and Richard from Whirl-y-gig and is an open mic event with a strong leaning towards audience collaboration.

It really is a wonderful night out which feels at times like a Hare’ Krishna festival as everybody bangs tambourines or shake maracas to the different acts on stage. It’s fun, funny and a happy, loving environment.

I had wanted to go for ages as Mary was putting videos and photos of the night on Facebook and it looked right up my street. The music comes from all influences, reggae, classical, rock but there seems to be a good folk music vibe which I love.

I initially attended two months ago, the event is held on the first Friday of the month at Trinity Bar, a late night music venue in Harrow not far from the bus station. As it is run by Mary and Richard the décor has overtones of the Whirly hippie feel. There is a free buffet and entry is free too. The staff are friendly and helpful and all of this makes for a fantastic night.

The first time I went I loved it straight away, the welcome from Mary and Richard was warm and I found it was nice getting to talk to them properly away from the madness and noise of Whirl-y-gig. As well as some Whirly regulars there are lots of new and interesting characters to meet, most of whom take to the stage at some point.

At this, my second visit, I had an equally brilliant time. One lady who played piano was amazing and it was fun laughing at some of the more obscure acts. The music was great, Mary’s set was wonderful and Hasib Sunny’s performance blew us away but the highlight of the evening for me was an amazing lady called Imogen Bliss who created some great world music and folk sounds; incredible!