Start with traditional folk music, add a touch of classical and jazz, throw in a bit of pop or music hall and top it off with wry humour and you will have English folk music duo Belshazzar’s Feast.

Paul Sartin and Paul Hutchinson, now in their twenty-third year together, will perform at the upcoming Walthamstow Folk Club event at Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre Pub, in Hoe Street, on May 13.

Paul is a former member of the multi-BBC Radio 2 Award-winning big band Bellowhead and a current member of folk trio Faustus who formed the core band in The Transports, the revival and reworking of Peter Bellamy’s ballad opera playing to full houses across the country.

Consultant and director of the Andover Museum Loft Singers, he is author of Community Choirs Collection – Folk published by Faber Music, an editor of music publications, and a BASCA-nominated composer whose commissions  include works for the Central School of Speech and Drama, the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford, and Streetwise Opera.

His other musical half, Paul, is a founding member of the folk band The Playford Liberation Front. His own folk trio Hoover the Dog has recently morphed into the quartet Pagoda. 

Paul's own compositions were published in 2012 (Food For Thought) and a second volume is in the pipeline. He is the resident accordion tutor at Cecil Sharp House and is a seasoned tutor at Folkworks and Halsway Manor and leads ensemble workshops far and wide.

Belshazzar’s Feast received a coveted nomination for the Best Duo Award at the 2010 BBC Folk Awards and are regulars at folk festivals across the summer, with touring including a popular annual Christmas tour of seasonal songs and tunes. 

They have released a series of albums across their career, the latest being The Whiting’s On The Wall (2014/Unearthed), a live album recorded over the course of two concerts at The Pound in Corsham.

Walthamstow Folk Club, Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre Pub, 53 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, E17 4SA, Sunday May 13. Details: 07740 612 60, walthamstowfolk.co.uk