Click on the link here for Audio Player – Dando Shaft in session on Top Of The Pops – circa August, 1970 – BBC Radio 1
Admittedly, Dando Shaft were a band most people on this side of the Atlantic have never heard of, and a band only together for a very short period of time to those who have heard of them. But in that time they paved the way for what became the Progressive Folk Movement in the UK in the early 1970s.
Started in 1968 and pretty much over by the 1972, Dando Shaft were at the forefront of those bands who explored different areas of the Folk genre. They tapped into the rich vein of Bulgarian folk music and incorporated it into their own work, branching out from the more traditional avenues, and tapped into new and adventuresome styles. Styles which were quickly absorbed by other bands on the scene at the time. Sadly, with a career spanning three albums and a handful of singles, Dando Shaft failed to gain wider attention, and only one of their albums, their second, was issued briefly in the U.S. It’s a pity because, listening to these two session tracks, the energy is high and the virtuosity is pronounced and there was no reason for them not to do substantially better than they did on a worldwide basis.
They recorded this session for Top Of The Pops in mid-1970, around the time of their debut release An Evening With Dando Shaft.
Another case of what might’ve been.
