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Cambridge Folk Festival - Saturday 2nd August 2008
No rain overnight, though it started as I left for the site. Up early today as I needed to go to the Folknet Café to post some photos- all very civilised, with tea, cooked breakfasts, coffee and cakes! Made it over to the Club tent for a singing workshop with Karine Polwart; this is how every morning should start, in my opinion. Karine is a great teacher, not fazed by a tentful of woolly sounding adults; she got us singing 5 part harmonies, as well as interesting little details to stop us from apparently falling asleep! Fat chance with Karine singing- she has such a beautiful voice, and a well developed sense of humour too. We sang songs by Chris Wood and Kirsty McGee, and a lullaby by Karine, and all in all it was a very happy start to my Saturday!
The main stage opened with a performance by Orkney eight piece The Chair. Winning the prize for the most performances at Cambridge this year [four- Karine coming a close second with three] these young boys sound a bit Peatbog/ Shoogles like, and with two of them wearing Led Zeppelin/ System of a Down t shirts you can tell they're not all trad. No pipes, but great percussion and strings, and had everyone's feet tapping even this early in the morning.
Lunchtime on Saturday is always Brian McNeill's time, and anyone who's anyone plays in his session. Today I was able to sit back and enjoy The Chair [who ran over from the other stage] Wheeler Street, Beoga and 6 Day Riot- all of them joining on stage for the grand finale.
Lisa Knapp, the Tooting songstress was next- so I watched a bit out of South London loyalty; she sang songs with a traditional twist, in a quiet intense way, and after a while I crept away to join in the dancing to Altan over in Stage 1. Traditional to the core, Altan play great dance music, jigs and reels coming as naturally to them as breathing.
6 Day Riot were next; probably best described as gypsy folk/pop. People seemed a bit unsure at first, but Tamara [dressed in black and pink with her hat at a jaunty angle] sang sublimely and looked so utterly thrilled to be at Cambridge that the crowd were won over, and sang along to 'YaDaDa' and new single 'Go Canada'. Good stuff!
I stayed put to listen to Irish band Beoga - fairly traditional stuff with a bit of sing-a long-a-Steely-Dan thrown in for good measure. Beoga are a very relaxed entertaining band- maybe as a result of the Comholtas tradition they grew up with; forming as the result of a meeting at the All Ireland Fleadh.
I last saw Tim O'Brien exceptionally late one night at Celtic Connections, and very entertaining he was. Quieter today, but still full of stories and songs, and joined by Altan's Dermot Byrne [another one who'd run from one stage to another!] Arty McGlynn and the extremely popular John McCusker; this gig oozed quality.
I stopped for tea in the sunshine [had to go back to the extremely good vege stall again!], an informal chat with Billy Bragg, and a listen to Martha Wainwright, before being lured into Stage 1 by the hard funky jazz sounds I could hear. It was Alan Toussaint - the guy who wrote 'Working in a Coalmine'. Professional and slick - Alan in bow tie and jacket playing a grand Steinman, and accompanied by just by saxophone, drums and bass, this was good stuff. One song slid effortlessly into the next, with just an occasional brief chat, the whole crowd getting down!kd lang was next- this woman being such a star that everyone remembers her name is always in lower case! Think of her what you may- how it took ages for the stage to be set, how she works the audience- but this woman has an amazing voice. Just amazing. Powerful, emotional and moving. When she sang Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujuh' the tent was silent. Five thousand people just standing listening- even the people that couldn't see a thing because they were so far back.
The finale of the evening, in every sense of the word, was the Imagined Village. This is a project about how folk has progressed, where our roots are, and what kind of people live in today's multicultural society. Apologies if I forget anyone's names, or if I've miscounted, but at one point there were sixteen performers on stage; Eliza and Martin Carthy, Simon Emmerson, Billy Bragg, Johnny Kalsi, Sheila Chandra, Benjamin Zephaniah, Chris Wood, the Young Coppers- these were just some of the performers. It was a jewel of a performance, a real showcase, and I felt very privileged to have been there. My only slight niggle was that there was so much going on I kept feeling I'd missed something - I'd love to see the show again, but maybe in a big seated auditorium where I can fully see and appreciate every element of this impressive act!
Three days down and one to go, but I left feeling sad, as I'd be off to a different festival in the morning - so last time on the festival bus back to the campsite for me.
No rain overnight, though it started as I left for the site. Up early today as I needed to go to the Folknet Café to post some photos- all very civilised, with tea, cooked breakfasts, coffee and cakes! Made it over to the Club tent for a singing workshop with Karine Polwart; this is how every morning should start, in my opinion. Karine is a great teacher, not fazed by a tentful of woolly sounding adults; she got us singing 5 part harmonies, as well as interesting little details to stop us from apparently falling asleep! Fat chance with Karine singing- she has such a beautiful voice, 
and a well developed sense of humour too. We sang songs by Chris Wood and Kirsty McGee, and a lullaby by Karine, and all in all it was a very happy start to my Saturday! 
Lunchtime on Saturday is always Brian McNeill's time, and anyone who's anyone plays in his session. Today I was able to sit back and enjoy The Chair [who ran over from the other stage] Wheeler Street, Beoga and 6 Day Riot- all of them joining on stage for the grand finale.
6 Day Riot were next; probably best described as gypsy folk/pop. People seemed a bit unsure at first, but Tamara [dressed in black and pink with her hat at a jaunty angle] sang sublimely and looked so utterly thrilled to be at Cambridge that the crowd were won over, and sang along to 'YaDaDa' and new single 'Go Canada'. Good stuff! 
kd lang was next- this woman being such a star that everyone remembers her name is always in lower case! Think of her what you may- how it took ages for the stage to be set, how she works the audience- but this woman has an amazing voice. Just amazing. Powerful, emotional and moving. When she sang Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujuh' the tent was silent. Five thousand people just standing listening- even the people that couldn't see a thing because they were so far back. 
The finale of the evening, in every sense of the word, was the Imagined Village. This is a project about how folk has progressed, where our roots are, and what kind of people live in today's multicultural society. Apologies if I forget anyone's names, or if I've miscounted, but at one point there were sixteen performers on stage; Eliza and Martin Carthy, Simon Emmerson, Billy Bragg, Johnny Kalsi, Sheila Chandra, Benjamin Zephaniah, Chris Wood, the Young Coppers- these were just some of the performers. It was a jewel of a performance, a real showcase, and I felt very privileged to have been there. My only slight niggle was that there was so much going on I kept feeling I'd missed something - I'd love to see the show again, but maybe in a big seated auditorium where I can fully see and appreciate every element of this impressive act!
