Saturday
Annoyingly the person I've headed off to meet isn't
there. The sun is definitely over the yardarm so it's time to crack open a
really cold beer.
Suitably refreshed it's time to go back to the Radio Two
Stage to catch this year's Young Tradition winners, Bodega.
I immediately
recognise one of the band from Ruairidh Macmillan band in the session and Laurie
McKever from earlier in the same event. The stage is end to end traditional
instruments including pipes, fiddle, harp and guitar. A guitar string goes
almost as the first note is struck, the band are totally unphased by
this.
One thing Cambridge has shown this year is that there is a whole
generation of new young artists looking to break through in the next year or so
as well as a number of older acts that have wisdom of the years behind
them.
Bodega easily falls into the earlier category. They are an immensely
talented band and they show why the Young Tradition Award is so
coveted.
Before the festival I made a promise to Isambarde that I would catch
their set, so it's time to wander to the Club Tent and deliver on
that.
Isambarde have just released their album, "Barnstorming" they got
fifteen minutes to run through three or four songs and plug the album.
The
band wisely picks songs that show that they are at home with both contemporary
and traditional folk.
A three piece they add oboe to the more familiar guitar and
fiddle combo. It provides them with a distinctive sound and makes them that bit
more memorable. The set is over almost 
before it starts but they exceeded on
their objectives. They entertained, they plugged their album, they had fun and
so did I. A promise made a promise kept.
I check out the acts for Stages one
and two. Salsa Celtica are on tomorrow and I saw Tift Merritt yesterday and
thought to give her a second spin. Then Lisa Fitzgibbon gives me a copy of her
cd and asks me to stay for her set and I agree to stay.
There's an added
bonus, it means I'm here for Grammy award winner Amrit Sond.
Amrit is an
artist that views the guitar as much as a percussion instrument as a stringed
one. During the course of his set I think he either hit, stroked or strummed
every square inch of his guitar. At one point one hand was beating the neck of
his guitar as the other picked at the strings.
The sound is decidedly
hypnotic, definitely not conventional. I hadn't known what to expect before
Amrit started, certainly not this and yet as the last note fades I miss it
already.
CD pusher Lisa Fitzgibbon and her power folk trio that includes Van
Eyken's bass player. She reminds me of another good Aussie singer/songwriter
that I blagged a cd off a few years back, Penelope Swales.
Lisa sings a song
about a town back home where it hadn't rained for seven years and when it did it
frightened all the children that had never experienced it before. If only we'd
been there on Thursday.
Australia produces different life experiences and its own style of delivery. It
gives something a little bit special.