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Folk East

Venue: Glemham Hall
County: Suffolk
Date: 21-23/8/14
Website: http://www.folkeast.co.uk/

Whisper it quietly but East Anglia is starting to lay claim to being the folk capitol of the country, well, certainly from a festival perspective. Cambridge turned 50 this year, and by all accounts showed little sign of slowing down. Ely has been packing them in for 30 years, and has found a new sense of maturity, while Folk on the Pier entered its 17th year, threw away the L plates and is considering the next step in its education all delivered from the charming setting of the end of the pier and around the town of Cromer. Folk East meanwhile is in its infancy, and still only 3 years old. Residing in the grand surroundings of Glemham hall this new addition to the folk family is already being cherished and looked upon lovingly and has been visited by members of the Folk royalty who all have great things to say about this nipper of a festival that looks like it could grow and grow. It has been well documented (a film entitled The Road To Glemham Hall is in the process of being made) that organisers John and Becky Marshall-Potter have re-mortgaged their house to help to pay for the development of their fledgling festival, and hope that many people will travel, as they will for the aforementioned festivals, eastwards again after visiting the other 3, and frankly folk fans as you will discover it is a date that you should keep free in 2015.

Arriving at Folk East early Friday evening after negotiating a narrow country lane I am greeted by the welcoming sight of hordes of friendly folkies, an incredibly grand and ornate hall, and last but by no means least and old friend Mr Andy Cutting, here for the first time, and pre his set with Blowzabella.

A swift catch up, much smiling (its rare not to see him smiling), and promises to catch up over the weekend (sadly we never did) post tent assembling it is their set that provides the opening act of what will go on to be a packed, entertaining, frantic but frankly marvellous weekend. Opening their set with a couple of upbeat tunes from the pen of Mr Cutting entitled 'The Long Drive' couldn't have been more appropriate for many who would have spent hours wondering where the motorways are in attempting to reach the rump area of the country, but would have realised that it had all been worthwhile in the end. In what must be about their 35th year, and still led by bagpipe players and saxophonists Paul James and Jon Swayne, Blowzabella still command a devoted audience hanging on to their every note, or dancing each step with accuracy to their cheery, swift traditional often morris derived tunes or original compositions from within the band. Punctuating jigs and reels are traditional songs sung with aplomb by Jo Freya, (most notably ' The Blacksmith' ), who equally acts as the bands caller on ceilidh tunes leading the devotees into a merry dance. This was the perfect way to open the weekend, and they would no doubt have been at some point an inspiration upon the band who were to follow them on the main stage namely Bellowhead. Perhaps not since the days of Fairport Convention has a folk band made the crossover into the mainstream so successfully as they have. Selling out large venues right across the country, making the top 20 album charts, and headlining non folk based festivals to paraphrase the nautical theme of many of the songs that they have updated and revamped their ship has well and truly come in.

An abundance of energy this football team sized outfit always put on a magnificent show, this one largely dominated by exuberant new album 'Revival'. Indeed album and set opener the souped up sea shanty 'Let Her Run' and the Royal Navy derived 'Gosport Nancy' offer a nautical blueprint for much of what is to come, full on frenetic brass and string driven folk rock par excellence. Towering above most of the band, and audience, front man Jon Boden settled into the central role within the band with ease from the bands inception, and while his rapport with the audience usually extends to a brief background or synopsis of the song he always delivers it with warmth, humour, and panache, warning us when to cover the children's ears during the bawdy songs, and when to get them to explain the wonders of the modern day to us. An alien landing in Glemham might well have deduced that most traditional songs are based around the sea, sex, death and alcohol, and it is the latter that imbues 'Let Union Be' with its opening line of 'Come my lads, let us be jolly, drive away the melancholy' which could so easily be the band's motto for life seeing them sashaying across the stage, which is no mean feat when you have got a tuba wrapped around your midriff. Nods to their past came and went with 'London Town' complete with its audience participation dancing to the ' Up to the jigs, down to the rigs' refrain, and the display of individual expert instrumentalists on the 'Sloe Gin Set' showing off their individual abilities nicely. The much deserved encore of 'New York Girls' (cover the children's ears again ) brought the audience to their feet and exercised their vocal chords en masse both during the song and after it as we bellowed out for Bellowhead in what was both a spectacle and musical treat. Marvellous indeed.

In between the 2 bands on the main sunset stage I ventured over to the Broad Roots stage to catch veteran singer songwriter Charlie Dore accompanied by Julian Littman on guitars and mandolins mixing poignant songs about becoming like her parents the older she gets, to her pop classic from the past 'Pilot of the Airwaves' hoping and praying that the DJ will play her song. Thankfully in the past many did, but sadly all too few do now, hence the fact that while many name artists have recorded her songs, she remains on the fringes of fine folk songwriters. Seek her out, for on the strength of this set she has much to say and offer. The night concluded with a stroll across the vast open space of land into he magical woodland setting of the soapbox stage to witness fantastic Suffolk based European Folk inspired outfit Kiss The Mistress complete with their kooky onstage antics ( puppet marsupial throwing and catching during particularly tricky sections of tunes), and banter, in between what would normally seem impossible or improbable time signatures ( did anyone else play a tune in 26/8 time that weekend I wonder?). The newly expanded 6 piece line up featuring 2 percussionists, and guitar augmenting the ever present trio of John on Accordion and Melodeon, Ginny on Cello and vocals, and Ellie on whistles and flutes. From the dramatic Hebridean walking songs through to interpretations of Irish jigs courtesy of Brian Finnegan, through Bulgarian tunes leading into Andalucian tunes there is a verve, and dynamic as well as an eclectic appeal about this band that makes them so special. Oh yes, I forgot to mention they somehow make the odd and bizarre time signatures look and seem easy, and while your feet move and the instinct is to dance it is when your head tries to work out the beats to the bar that you start to feel dizzy and fall over. Clever, yet equally compelling. Music for the head, and feet.

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