Camus (band)

Camus are a traditional folk band from Cambridge, England, named after a village in Co. Galway, Ireland. They perform as a fourpiece: Greg Smith on fiddle and viola, Andrew Burn on melodeon, vocals and Northumbrian smallpipes, David Somerville on keyboards and Northumbrian smallpipes, and Brian Cleary on vocals, guitar and bouzouki. Their repertoire fuses influences from Northumbrian, Shetland and Irish music, as well as their own song and tune compositions drawing on Cleary and Burn's backgrounds in Ireland and North East England respectively.

Their recent and current work includes concerts at folk clubs and festivals, including the Sidmouth Folk Festival. They have also run a Northumbrian piping workshop at the Cambridge Folk Festival since 2011. Achievements of band members include national solo, duet and composition championships in Northumbrian piping.

History
Camus was formed by Greg Smith in 1980. The initial lineup with core members Jenny Tabecki (uilleann pipes), Chris McLeod (flute) and Brian Cleary (guitar and bouzouki) was strongly influenced by Irish music. Further lineup changes  saw the addition of Andrew Burn (vocals, guitar, melodeon) and David Somerville (bass, flute, whistle), who had played with Smith in Cambridge band Cobbler's Last. After the arrival and departure of singer Gaynor Griffiths, the band settled to Smith, Burn, Somerville and Cleary, and singer Debbie Patterson-Jones, recording half of the album Then & Now at Spaceward Studios. After Patterson-Jones and Cleary's departure, the album was completed (and released in 2003) with the arrival of Mike Nelson (guitar, mandolin and Northumbrian small pipes). Nelson is also known as an instrument-maker, most notably for the set of pipes used by Kathryn Tickell. This lineup also played as The Great Eastern Ceilidh Company, with the addition of Hazel Smith (hammered dulcimer), playing throughout East Anglia and featuring at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1991. Under the name of the Great Eastern Ceilidh Company, they released the album Cold Fen on CD in 2013. They dissolved as a ceilidh band and song band in 2018, and reformed under the original name of Camus as a trio (Smith, Burn and Somerville). At the St Neots Folk Festival in 2019 they were described by Danny Neill as “a lively traditional three-piece whose jigs and reels instrumentals close Friday night with a bang.” Their 2020 EP Time & Again, launched on Cambridge 105 Radio's Strummers & Dreamers show, was praised by Paul Cowdell in Folk London magazine: “The songs and tunes here have lovely, dynamic arrangements. This is poised and sophisticated stuff. Evoking Lester Simpson’s writing – very much not a criticism – this has kept me coming back. Impressive.” Joined by former band member Brian Cleary in 2022, they recorded the Out on the Spree album, launching it at the Cambridge Folk Club in June 2023. It was described by David Kidman for Folk London as “a polished and attractive collection … consistent musicianship on display.”

Albums

 * Then & Now (CD album, Camus, 2003)
 * Cold Fen (CD album - Great Eastern Ceilidh Company, 2013)
 * Time & Again (digital-only EP, streaming services and Bandcamp, Camus, 2021)
 * Out on the Spree (CD album and digital download, streaming services and Bandcamp, Camus, 2023)

Other projects and collaborations

 * Northumbrian Piping Workshops Piping workshops at the Cambridge Folk Festival, with pipers from London and Northumberland (2011-). In the pandemic, the 2020 festival was cancelled and posted an online video version of the workshop.