Concert preview: The Rheingans Sisters at the Greystones

Their folk roots can be traced back to their upbringing in the Peak District.
The Rheingans SistersThe Rheingans Sisters
The Rheingans Sisters

The Rheingans Sisters’ formative years were as part of a Grindleford family surrounded by traditional and other types of music.

These days Rowan and Anna have built their own impressive musical careers, individually and as a duo, and they are back on familiar territory next Monday (October 4), at the Greystones in Sheffield.

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"We're very excited to be back on the road again, touring our fourth album Receiver, which came out in October 2020, but we haven't actually had chance to play it live yet!” says Rowan, who lives in Sheffield.

“Ultimately, our music lives best in rooms with people. And we play better, more adventurously, when people are there too!”

No strangers to the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, the Rheingans Sisters offer folk music with traditional and contemporary twists through their singing and playing of familiar instruments such as the fiddle and banjo and exotically unfamiliar instruments such as the Bearnaise three-holed flute, Pyrenean stringed drum, bansitar and tambourin à cordes.

Both sisters have studied fiddle music in Sweden and Norway, while Anna is an expert in southern French folk music, living and teaching fiddle playing in Toulouse.

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"We grew up in a musical family - both our parents played a lot of music while we were young and our dad is a fiddle-maker, so we have pretty much followed the path we were offered in that respect,” says Rowan.

“But our upbringing was also that of being surrounded by all kinds of music, not only folk music, which I think has had a big impact on how we perceive our musical boundaries. Anyone who comes to see us can hopefully hear many different influences.”

The sisters are relishing the chance to perform again in the area where it all started.

“Sheffield is still a great melting pot of different music and we love how different scenes intermingle and merge in the city too ," says Rowan.

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“The audience is truly as much part of our live show as we are, and the music is elevated in that context. And The Greystones is such a classic Sheffield venue with strong memories for us both so it feels like a homecoming gig we have waited a long time for!"

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