Jim Moray
Of all the people that I've interviewed in more than twenty years of running Fatea, two of the most interesting conversations I've had have been with Jim Moray. Jim approaches folk music on both an intellectual level and an emotional one. Folk has a meaning as both a living art form and a traditional record. Sometimes those two entities mean too much to one side or another and it occasionally brings the folk world into conflict. Jim Moray has thought about all sides and angles of the debate. He has a sense of what's probably right.
The same definitely applies to his music. He was nominated for best traditional song, best original song and best album for his "Low Culture" and various tracks on it. He was previously described as the most important leap forward in folk music for thirty years. Not bad for an artist that has been on the planet for a mere twenty six years.
There is a charisma about Jim Moray. He's the bloke in the room that doesn't say much, but when he opens his mouth everyone stops to listen. The same pretty much applies to his music.
He's a visionary as far as that is concerned. There are tracks on his album where the musicians that collaborated on them weren't in the same studio. Jim has plans to take that a stage further, calling on talent around the world to create an album truly global in concept.
Jim will be one of the hardest working artists at Cambridge so there'll be several opportunities to see his sets, there will be some people that will be at them all.