Folksangere TV: A Danish TV documentary on the London folk scene of 1966/67.

Bert Jansch

“… It’s no surprise that in 1967, when a team from Denmark’s Folksangere TV programme arrived in London looking for the epicentre of the folk guitar explosion, they were swiftly sent to see Bert (Jansch) and John (Renbourn). The resulting footage has survived and the passing years have only conspired to make it seem more amazing. We see John, making light work of I Know My Babe from his second album Another Monday. Then we get to see a little history being made. Bert and John face each other and work out – possibly even improvise – a new composition. If you had everything they’d recorded at that point, you wouldn’t have recognised it. Between them, on the settee, John’s then-wife Judy is immersed in the Telegraph crossword, indifferent to what’s going on around her. You can’t help but be impressed by her show of insouciance. In 1967, most people would never have even seen a camera crew, let alone been the object in focus. The song being improvised was given a name, as was the band. Bells resurfaced a few months later, as the second track on Pentangle’s eponymous debut album. Even with just the two of them playing, it isn’t hard to see that, whatever adventure they embark upon next, no existing genre parameters will truly be able to contain it. And so it came to be. Writing to a friend in Australia, John enthused: ‘I’m not doing many folky clubs these days as Bert and I have formed a group called Pentangle which has got Alexis Korner’s old bass and drums and a lady called Jacquie [sic] who sings and looks moody. It’s a weird sound, a cross between Albert Ayler and Tommy Steel [sic] but the crowd love it. We have a club [The Horseshoe] which we play at every week in Tottenham Ct Road, which gets packed solid and five people proceed to get well out of their minds and turn up every available amplifier and the fun begins.’ …”
Guardian – John Renbourn: ceaseless explorer of song – appreciation (Video)
YouTube: Folksangere 1967    22:30

Davy Graham