Moniaive Folk Festival It's A Long Way From Woodstock
Home Artists Friday Saturday Sunday Galleries
Sunday
Sunday starts off pretty much the same way as the Saturday, full Scottish breakfast. It has to be said there was a fair range of comprehension amongst the other guests. Some it appeared had been out later than others.
The great thing about festivals is no two people are ever at the same one. There was plenty of banter about who had seen what and almost as importantly who had missed what.
I now recognised one of the guests as Ewan McLennan who had played the open mic and had also joined us on our quest for a session the previous night. Ewan has recently released a selftitled album, which will be reviewed in the main part of the magazine along with other cds picked up during the festival.
As people headed off in various directions, I found a bit of time to type up my thoughts on the Saturday before going out to experience the Sunday morning workshops.
The weather outside was glorious, t-shirt weather. It was hard to believe that this was the same village where everyone was freezing their rocks off the night before. The sun had certainly brought the people back out. The music bus was buzzing, all of it's music workstations in use and a queue of other youngsters waiting patiently for their go.
It was a similar situation for the workshops. An abundance of really good guitarists chipping in meant that the guitar workshops were spread throughout the school and even at the Old Bakery with each group in a nicely manageable size.
The singing and fiddle workshops were also well attended, which was surprising only because so many of those giving and attending the workshops had been at sessions only a few short hours before.
The Sunday is a far more relaxed affair. Apart from the open mic session in the afternoon, the marquee has no formally arranged concerts in it. The Institute and the Green Tea House sort of step up in importance. Sessions rather than formal concerts provide the backbone for the day.
I discover the Applejacks outside the Craigdarroch Arms entertaining a reasonably large crowd in the warm sunshine. It's time to put away the camera and the reviewers head and just enjoy the festival. Moniave has a bigger sense of the community than many places I've visited. I was really impressed with the way everyone mucked in to make this happen.
There's a bluegrass festival and a guitar festival still to come this year. In the past they've held comic conventions. It's a village where things happen and long may that continue. If you're at a loose end next year in May there are worse things you could do.