Allan Wilkinson Goes Walkabout
Friday
Cambridge woke up on Friday morning to the sound of Brian McNeill's fiddle workshop over in the Club Tent. Unlike previous workshops at the festival, such as Tim O'Brien's mandolin and fiddle workshop or Eric Bibb's blues guitar workshop, both of which were to all intents and purposes, mere demonstrations, Brian conducted a real workshop, where budding fiddlers were invited to open their violin cases immediately and to put aside their inhibitions for the next hour or so. Those of us who were empty handed, were told that we were by no means 'civilians' in this and that we were urged to sing, and you don't argue with the big man.
Colin Irwin was at the helm of the annual Mojo Interview this year, inviting on to the Club Tent stage, five of the key players in the story of one of the most revered folk music labels in this country. The current managing director of Topic Records Tony Engle was joined by Martin Simpson and three members of the same family, Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson and daughter Eliza Carthy. In his introduction, Irwin said "as long as we've got the Test Match special, the omnibus edition of The Archers and Topic Records at the festival, all is well with the world".
The interview was informative and gave an insight into how important Topic Records has been over the last 70 years, with lucid recollections from each of the contributors, particularly Engle whose work with the label cannot be underestimated.
Kicking off Friday afternoon on Stage One was Quebec's Genticorum, whose energetic foot stomping traditional music provided a wake up call for all those who preferred to snooze through the Topic Records interview. The all male Genticorum were followed in quick succession by the supremely more attractive all female sextet The Shee, whose combination of colourful presentation and musical dexterity proved to be a hit with the audience. Their live mixture of Scottish traditional folk, Gaelic song and American bluegrass proved their credentials for a rightful nomination for this year's BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award in February and it was good to see them perform during the afternoon to an enthusiastic crowd on Stage One.
Continuing throughout the afternoon with a specific dance theme, we saw the welcome return of Edward II, whose blend of old English Morris tunes and Jamaican reggae, ensured bums were off canvas seats momentarily, as the infectious rhythms flooded the Cherry Hinton grounds, bringing a bit of sunshine once again to Cambridge. Little wonder the band have been hailed as "the most danceable band on the planet".
I think that only time will tell what a privileged moment it was for those of us who attended The Waterson Family's set on Friday afternoon at this years festival. Two members of this remarkable family on stage today were on the bill of the very first 'Cambridge Folk Music Festival' back in 1965, an astonishing 44 years ago, probably to the day. There wasn't so much the nonesense of being privy to some sort of ancient bygone ritual on this hallowed ground of English folk song, but more a celebration of a family united in the sheer fun of singing together. It wasn't all traditional folk song steeped in a tradition of a far distant past either, otherwise Jerry Garcia's "Black Muddy River" wouldn't have been in there, nor the absolutely gorgeous "Some Old Salty", one of the songs from the pen of the late and much missed Lal Waterson. The family would have been complete with Lal's presence, and no one would have welcomed that more than those nine family members gathered on stage. Original members Norma and Mike Waterson who took centre stage were joined by their respective partners Martin Carthy and Ann Waterson and a whole bunch of the next generation of Watersons including Olly (Knight), Rachel (Waterson), Maria (Gilhooley), Eliza (Carthy) and Eleanor (Waterson), each and every one providing an utterly memorable Cambridge moment.
With a good helping of hard rocking blues and soul, the Massachusetts born singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi made her Cambridge Festival debut on Friday evening up on Stage One. With a tight band behind her, Tedeschi played her only UK Festival appearance of the year, tearing it up with some extraordinarily fluid guitar playing, reminiscent of a young Bonnie Raitt. With a selection of songs from her four albums, including the most recent 'Hope and desire', the grammy nominated artist played with confidence and assurance, through a set that had the audience literally bouncing.
Over in the Club Tent, the stage was prepared for either a trio of young female Cambridge folk performers or a visiting Maharishi. Twenty year-old button accordion player Bryony Lemon insisted from the start that the audience get up on their feet for the dual purpose of enjoying the set more appropriately and to let more people into the marquee, namely those patiently waiting in the wings. Before we all start being impressed by the musical prowess of such a young and gifted musician, let's not forget that the astonishingly brilliant uillean piper, sister Grace is but 14 years-old and the fiddler Alex Patterson not much older at mere 16. If Mumford and Sons made me feel old on Thursday night, then by this point, they were positively knocking the nails in.
So impressed was I with the youngsters that I chose to miss the beginning of Buffy Sainte-Marie's set on Stage One. When I did eventually reach the stage, the Canadian singer was playing some sort of weird, presumably Piapot Cree Indian mouth instrument, based on a primitive hunting bow. Those with a very large attention span may recall our heroine performing the same song "Going Up Cripple Creek" with a little help from a donkey called Fred on Sesame Street in 1977. I wish I didn't have to remember these things.
Jon Boden's mad professor stage presence appears to becoming more and more eccentric and I always thought it was John Spiers who was the weird one! Bellowhead have more than proved themselves as a top notch British live folk act over the last five years and their place on the bill of this years festival was almost a given. The set was as sprightly as ever as the eleven-piece ensemble stormed through an energetic and vibrant hour of complex rhythms and consummate daftness, with Boden's trademark pink tie and matching tambourine.
One of the most anticipated performances of the festival was Rupa and The April Fishes, who played the penultimate spot on Stage Two on Friday night. Raised in both India and France but returning to her birthplace of San Francisco, Rupa Marya now juggles with two professions, that of being both a doctor and a musician. The band's multicultural influences blend together styles as diverse as French Chanson, Gypsy swing, Latin and tango as well as Indian music, all with a tangible spirited feel. The songs, mostly sung in either French or Spanish, brought a taste of the exotic to Cambridge and the entire Stage Two marquee felt like it had been visited by the spirit of the Moulin Rouge.
One of the highlights at the festival for me was the enthralling Demon Barbers set, featuring part of the famed roadshow, whose energetic dance routines contributed in no small measure towards the band's nomination and subsequent victory at this years BBC Folk Awards picking up the much deserved Best Live Act award. Kicking off with "The Good Old Days", the energetic band featuring Damien Barber, Bryony Griffith, Will Hanson, Lee Sykes and Ben Griffin, rounded off Friday night with a spectacular performance that quite possibly should've been saved for the last act on Sunday night's Main Stage One slot. The absence of the rapper section of the show was made up for by a stunningly good set by the band, great and confident singing by Bryony Griffith and some spectacular clogging by the enigmatic dancers.