Thursday

Time to head back to the media caravan to see what's happening. It turned out to be a Roddy Frame interview. Roddy's a great guy, relaxed and easy to talk to. Cat and me get down to doing the interview, but more of that elsewhere on the site.
Interview in the can, there's just about enough time to nip and catch the inappropriately named Boo Hewerdine Trio. The thing is with trios is that traditionally there's three people in one. That's two less than the number that actually took the stage. But, as Boo played my all time favourite song of his "Bell Book & Candle", I'm prepared to forgive his poor maths.
As expected Boo and co delivered a thoughtful set that was a rich in lyric as it was in tune. It was a scintillating contrast to the set that preceded it. The trio added Rosalie Deighton and a name I missed to the usual line up of Boo, Graham Henderson and X
The combination worked well bringing with it a richness of sound that really complimented the lyric. Boo Hewerdine is one of those artists that you can listen to all day; because you know he can entertain you all day. It also means that when a 45 minute set comes to an end you want more.
Back stage I bump into Anna and Ben from Uiscedwr, there's time for a quick word. Apparently they're going into Kate Rusby's studio once they've finished the festival season so maybe October. Whilst I'm there Andy Kershaw pops over. A quick bit of smoozing sees cards being exchanged and the possibility of a Radio 3 session is briefly discussed.
The conversation breaks up as everyone splits to catch the next set on the Radio Two Stage, The Angel Brothers & Satnam Singh.
In a night of contrasts, we are treated to a multi instrument act with a multicultural flavour. The sound ranges through folk and bhangra with some Iraqi poetry thrown in for good measure.
The result was both interesting and evocative. Whilst it didn't exactly blow the roof of it was highly entertaining. Music is a universal language and this was the sort of sound that reached out to the emotions without the need to understand the words.
Some of the percussion displayed on stage ranks alongside the best I've heard played at Cambridge. Where people found the space to dance, they did just that. To be honest it's been a while since I remember hearing a band with this much Asian style at Cambridge. It went down well and hopefully is a good portent for the future.