Page 8 - Jigsaw March 2021

Community news..............................................................................
Balloon animals prove to be the making of a A Major Oddity...
Several years ago, two local dads from Thrapston met at a children’s party. Craig had been asked to help out at the party,
and my husband Andrew and I had brought our children along. While our children were playing, Andrew spotted a long line of children waiting for balloon animals which Craig was doing. He then offered his support and this is how they met.
A year went by and Andrew volunteered to replace me helping out at St Johns Ambulance, where Craig was running the Badgers group. Andrew took our daughter Belle to participate in the group and the friendship was forged from then.
Fast forward another year and they both decided to try to learn the ukulele together. Craig was an accomplished guitar player and Andrew had a Brass band background. They had found a common interest in music and wanted a new challenge. The two of them learnt the ukulele from watching videos on YouTube, playing together on a weekly basis.
As they became more proficient, they decided to record a couple of original songs under the name ‘A Major Oddity’, the first of which was a song to help save Thrapston’s library, followed by a few Brexit ditties. When Corona hit, the two of them decided to do a ‘Boredom Song’ a week while they were in Lockdown to help raise people’s spirits and pass the time. And so the challenge was set; from late March through to Christmas the pair wrote, recorded and produced an
original song and music video a week. The songs were released every weekend on their YouTube Channel called ‘A Major Oddity’.
They released a variety of weird and wonderful songs relating to anything
from the time of the year to International Women’s Day, Halloween, a song about clouds, Donald Trump, the English weather, camping, pigeons, washing hands, healthy eating, mental health, hedgehogs, quizzes, April Fools Day, so something for everyone to enjoy. They also wrote a jingle for the local toy shop in Thrapston Jollys.
At Christmas they released a single on Spotify called ‘Santa’s Song’. The duo were then featured in the Evening Telegraph and also on the Bernie Keith show on BBC Radio Northampton. The pair had a 20 minute slot to talk to Bernie about their journey and to play the song which you can listen to on their Facebook page.
Even after Christmas Andrew and Craig are carrying on their challenge to release a song a week. The new additions feature a song, about Christmas leftovers, a New Year song and a January resolution track. The pair are still going strong with many more in the pipeline including a Valentine’s Day song, a Mother’s Day number and a Pancake tune coming up soon.
You can catch all of their 59 songs on their YouTube channel or by visiting their website amajoroddity.com where you can also play games and get jingles made. Please drop them a message to let them know you’ve visited, they will enjoy that!
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