GU4

GU4 (Guffaw)

Unaccompanied english traditional song from Pete Burnham, Miggy Campbell, Karen Harris and Bill Wilkes (from left to right in the picture).

"Squint and they look like Abba" - Mike Wilkinson, Dolphin Morris.

Also see Bookings Calendar and hear GU4 on MySpace.

GU4 are four friends in the throes of mid-life crisis who seek solace in each other's company through the singing of unaccompanied traditional folk songs.

Miggy is the songwriter and long suffering technician of the group; the one who understands harmony and can work out a structure for a song. She carefully crafts her harmony lines, continually fine tuning them until they meet her own exacting standards. Oft needing to repeat the process as Pete or Karen will happily steal her first attempt.

Karen is the songbird of the group, the one who usually leads with the melody on GU4's more sensitive songs. She also has an intuitive ability to come up with a good harmony that adds depth and subtlety to GU4's material.

Pete takes the bar room approach to harmony providing enthusiasm and spontaneity that is the very essence of traditional singing.

Bill takes no prisoners - he doesn't even know how to spell the word sutulty. However his deep, rich voice provides the powerhouse for many of GU4's chorus songs and a strong base for the others to harmonise around.

Other links:

The "Sunday name" for the group is "The Grand Union 4", named after the singers club set up by Bill - See Grand Union Folk Club.
Pete and Bill together run some very successful concerts in Leicester, under the banner Wilbur Promotions - See wilbur.org.uk.
Pete also sings with Sheila Mosley (sp.lfd.org.uk), produces the Leicester Folk Diary and maintains an associated web site at lfd.org.uk.

GU4 GU4 GU4 GU4

.Pictures taken by Ed at the Belvoir Castle Folk Weekend, May 2007.

."All singing in my heart, all praying in my brain 'It comes of heat and beer!' - hark how he guffaws plain!"
.Ned Bratts (Robert Browning, 1879)

.Guffaw: A burst of coarse laughter, a loud or boisterous laugh - of scottish origin (see Gaffaw), first recorded 1720.


Contact: Peter Burnham, Tel: 0116 2915720.
Last Updated 5th March, 2008