ALL FOLKS
WELCOME
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO FOLK REVIVAL
49 Greek Street
Political discussion and activism has for centuries been a part of Soho’s character. It has existed alongside Soho’s delight in edgy entertainment and it’s taste for the latest rebellious musical style taking the country by storm.
So to 49 Greek Street, -
This was a club which reflected both of these aspects of Soho
Les Cousins was the most influential club of the folk revival.
1974 - MASH is where Les Cousins was - next to L’Escargot the oldest French restaurant in London - Westminster Archives
Les cousins-membership-card-1967
The club card by permission of Diana Matheou
The term folk music originated in the 19th century, to describe music that was generally about cultural or national identity and performed by custom over a long period of time, customs handed down from person to person in an oral tradition
Folk music saw a resurgence in popularity during the 60s’ providing an authentic and acoustic voice embraced by those engaged in civil rights and anti war protest and in the cultural revolutions during that period of rapid change.
Folk fans passed under an image from the same photo shoot that produced this LP cover
Les Cousins, was a tiny basement club, at the centre of this craze.. Run by Greek Cypriot couple Loukas and Margaret Matheou it was their son Andy who made a success of it. Cousins became a destination for artists, writers and musicians to play and socialise.
John Martyn and Andy Matheou
( Ray Stevenson’s photo)
Loukas and Margaret in the kitchen where they fed anyone who was hungry. Diana Matheou
Diana Matheou, singer songwriter, remembers “when Donovan declared in a tabloid interview that he “dug Les Cousins” the place was brought to the public’s attention and the queues started to form”
Donovan ‘Digging’ Cousins permission Diana Matheou
From 1964 singers performed unamplified to attentive audiences late into the night. Women were central to its sound, helping to shape the British folk revival and reinforcing Soho’s role as a space where female voices could be heard on their own terms.
There were many future big names that played here : Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.
Diana Matheou a ‘Cousins’ performer
as was when she met Andy Matheou
Paul Simon at Cousins by kind permission of Diana Matheou
This wonderful film is Diana Matheou’s recollections made with the Soho Society.
Allen Ginsberg and other Beat poets were drawn here too- keen to experience the ‘scene’ of Swinging 60s London.
THE ESTABLISHMENT
Across the road at 18 Greek Street -a different kind of 1960s counter culture was being expressed in Comedian Peter Cook’s satirical comedy club The Establishment.
Which had grown out of Peter Cook’s Beyond the Fringe show.
Famed for putting on edgy political cabaret, the Establishment was financed by people joining it before it even opened- Clive James described it as
“an anti establishment establishment”
The Establishment docu- This is a great watch when you take a break from Shuffling
Let’s get out of the 60s…..and return to the street name, Greek Street
Soho started attracting its first immigrants while it was still being built/; Greeks fleeing persecution from the Turks were followed by very large numbers of French Protestants - the Huguenots - fleeing both before and after the 1688 revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
A survey of St Anne's parish in 1711 found that as much as 40% of the population was French. Soho owes much of its traditions of tolerance and social acceptance to this constantly changing population. Including Russian Jews fleeing the pogroms of Czar Alexander III..
Turning on to Old Compton Street- we might become more aware of the shape of Soho and
the rational grid plan carried out by Frith and Barbon, with Frith street still bearing his name.
Old Compton street as well as Dean Street were named after Henry Compton The Bishop of London -who consecrated St Anne’s Church around 1685.
