The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #132798 Message #3006978
Posted By: Lizzie Cornish 1
14-Oct-10 - 02:01 PM
Thread Name: No, really -- what IS NOT folk music?
Subject: RE: No, really -- what IS NOT folk music?
Ooh, did someone mention John Connolly? Now that's got me remembering back to Otley Folk Festival a few years back...I had such a great evening..and of course, The Duncan McFarlane Band were there too...
From the old, now defuncted BBC board..from (cripes) FIVE years back! Not sure who wrote this, but they seemed to have had almost as good a time as I did! ;0)
>>>>Nah then...Otley Folk Festival Messages 1 - 20 of 20 < Previous 1 Next >
So why didn't you all tell me about Otley Festival then? Come on…why have you all been keeping it quiet from me?
I…well….how do I convey to you what Otley Folk Festival is about?
OK…here we go then. Happiness….that's what Otley is about…laughter, twinkly eyes, Yorkshire accents …and friendliness. Oh! Everyone is SO friendly, I've never know anything like it!….and Yorkshire Fish and Chips!
Mmmmmm….do you know they serve you tea as part of your meal in Yorkshire….and the sweet lady who brings it to you, smiles from ear to ear and they charge half of what they charge down here…and your plate is piled high with food.. AND they still have tomato sauce and vinegar in….bottles! Eee champion! No messy bits of plastic wrappers that put your BP up and make you go and not only that but Yorkshire people talk to you in the restaurant! Yup!! Champion champion!! And they laugh and giggle and say things like "Eee you know where you are with fish'n'chips and then everyone chortles together….Oh it was a great meal…great company! Eee…it were champion!
So…Saturday evening started in the wine bar…well…actually I thought it was the wine bar, but it turned out to be…..Otley Folk Club! ME….in a Folk Club! And it wasn't scary…it really wasn't! I think I was told it was a wine bar so I wouldn't run away….
Anyway, we got there at 7.30pm, having driven for nearly 6 hours all the way up from The Isle of Wight… and then…. We were met by a 'House Full' sign! Can you believe it? I mean 6 hours in the car and the ONLY thing that kept me from experiencing Extreme Cabin Fever was the thought of seeing The Duncan McFarlane Electric Band at the end of it….and then a 'House Full' sign appears….but luckily for us four people came out and we were able to go in. This was extremely fortunate as I was about ready to commit some truly dreadful deed, in order to get in, and could see myself spending the next few years in Holloway Prison if we'd been left outside. But The Gods were smiling on us, so we went in and found a small corner to literally squeeze into. Eee…it were reet 'ot in there!
Cont…..Robin Garside and John Connolly were on when we arrived… they were just about to sing' Punch and Judy Man' John was telling us how he wrote it….on his Honeymoon…well…they were at Sidmouth Festival at the time so that was perfectly OK …..and instantly I was home…back in Sidmouth…yet standing in Yorkshire…isn't that weird….and it was a song all about summers from way back ."…Mr Punch and Judy man, time flows like the yellow sand., bring me back the childhood land of summers long ago…." And we were all singing along and then John told us all about…..Cleethorpes…Eee what a reet fine place! I've got to go there one day…apparently they have a Latin Quarter…and haddock and morris men…which all sounds disturbingly exotic to me.
And they sang 'The Banks of Green Willow' and I came over all 'traditional' again….Diane would have been proud of me! And there were songs about Sewage Works, which had us doubled up with giggles…you SO wouldn't believe where that man kept his sandwiches (!) and 'Fiddlers Green' and John was telling us all about how he wrote the song and how many things had been named after it…. Oh…..they were just wonderful….. "…just tell me old shipmates I'm taking a trip mates and I'll see you someday in Fiddlers Green…"
And then Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman were on….all the way from Devon to Yorkshire….same as us, except for our slight diversion via the IOW. Poor things just managed to get on stage in time as they'd shut their keys in the car at the last moment….with all their instruments.still inside. Talk about a stressful way to start a gig, but they did us all proud and Kathryn has such a beautiful voice, rich and expressive…never seen them on their own before and you're really aware of what a great guitarist Sean is when there are just the two of them and of course Kathyrn's a Yorkshire Lass as well. Well…they sang us songs about Joe Peel and William Corder…(he wasn't a nice lad really was he, let's face it) and then 'Rosie Anne' came on and you suddenly realised that perhaps William was quite a splendid chap compared to Rosie's brother John! What is it with all these men? Ay up!.. I'll bet they weren't Yorkshire Men…and The Granite Mill really pounded along with Sean's playing….I'm so glad we got to see them at long last….altogether now…..they were reet….champion!
..Well…it was 11pm by now and I'm normally tucked up by this time, but 11pm at Otley Festival was just the beginning of the night….trust me….for at 11pm the Duncan McFarlane Band were introduced and the whole of Otley just lit up without having to use the National Grid!
Straight into The Twohey Step but this time…unlike at Sidmouth….the whole room knew what was going to happen after those first quiet initial bars and the cheers went up when the band exploded into their wild instrumental. And once again, we're all jigging around…I'm right next to a very nice Steward…(A Yorkshire Man!)…and we're bouncing around together…we ended up sharing my apple sweets, so friendly oop North!....Well….the room got hotter and hotter and the music got better and better and boy do they know how to WHOOP OOP there! Champion Whoopers in Yorkshire. Ay! And when Duncan and his band sang 'The Woodshed Boys' everyone knew the words….they were on home ground here and it showed, mind you….those tables should have been taken out…The DMcF Electric Band are like The Oysterband….No Tables Allowed…too much dancing to do…AND there were loads of young people in there too!
I don't know what to say about this band really. I mean they did 23 songs. TWENTY THREE songs! And all of them get you moving around, even if you don't mean to…there were people coming around from the wine bar, once they heard them playing and well…I keep telling you all about this band, but seeing them in Otley was the best thing we ever did! We've never driven so far to see a band before….my friend 'Steward' was most impressed.
Well, this time we got to hear them singing Richard Thompson's 'Misunderstood' and The Oysterband's 'Time Of Her Own'….and we rocked, sorry…folked….to the amazing 'Jigalo' and all the time people trying to get in through the 'No Entry' door, but Steward wasn't 'avin' any of it! So they just had to stay on the other side of the door and listen. A brilliant night….and to think it was all in a folk club!
Sunday in this lovely little Yorkshire town….where they have REAL shops! Individual shops….not just big names like we have down here. Their High Street looks SO different to some down here in The West Country…and everywhere you go people smile right into you…they don't just smile with their mouths, they use their eyes to smile in Otley.
In the Civic Hall a great craft fair going on…and a wonderful place to eat with cakes that you remembered as a child. Home made ones, coconut, raspberry, chocolate to die for….specially if you're diabetic like me…but I was OK because I had thoughts of John Tams to keep me going as everyone around me bit deep into their cakes. AND…Otley is the home of 'Brian Pickles Lawnmowers' made famous by Phil Beer and Deb Sandland who collapse into fits of giggles everytime they tell you about that shop sign at their gigs.
But before John Tams, there was another man that I'd so wanted to see…..his name was George Papavgeris….although some of you Mudcatters may know him as 'El Greko'…..I'd been over to his site before and had found there a modern day poet, a man of great insight and deep thoughtfulness and now…here he was, right in front of us on the stage. And George started right away with a song that literally enveloped us all called 'Friends Like These' …..and then he said "This is my first Northern Festival ever…and I was a bit surprised that in the distance of about 200 yards I collected about 3 'Hellos' and about 4 'How are you's? and I knew then that I was not in London."
You see? It's not just me…Otley is a Magical Place..Yorkshire is a Magical Place. All week-end it was like that, wherever you went, whoever you spoke to. We saw the people from our Fish and Chip meal about four times and each time it was like greeting old friends.
Anyway….back to George. He sang us songs about his father taking him to the fair as a child and you could reach out and touch the happiness that he felt. Then he told us that when his wife suggested he write a song of the sea, but a Greek sea song, he found that there weren't really any 'shanty' songs as such in Greece, but on doing a little research he found out about the Greek 'Sponge Divers'. About 1860 when diving suits were first invented it was a huge boom to the Sponge Divers as they could take their time walking around on the seabed, but what they didn't know was that they were at serious risk from 'the bends' and over the next 50 years half of the Greek Sponge Divers were either killed or seriously maimed from damage due to 'the bends' and the Standard Diving Tables of 1911 are based on the statistics of the Greek Divers. Then George's words came out….a desperate father's words as he begs his son not to go diving…..
"…You're best friend now walks on crutches and his brother cannot not speak and your cousin and my nephew, in the churchyard lies asleep …..and I want my son around me and grandchildren on my knee…Please .Johnny don't go walking with the fishes…jobs on shore are a plenty if you wish it, but this year don't go diving, leave the sponge just where it's meant to be. Johnny don't go walking in the sea……"
I could listen to George for hours and hours. His brand new song 'Any Town' deserves a thread entirely to itself, which I'll do later..Superb! His songs take you to so many places and teach you so much. His voice is strong yet gentle….go and see him and you will be astounded.
And then it was time for John Tams and Barry Coope…except this time I didn't know what was in store for me as I don't know their music very well…so I sat there and watched as Barry and John sat down, got comfy with us all….."How grand it is to be here" said John and then we were launched into 'Lay Me Low' which was actually their encore….(well time was precious, loads of acts to see and they wanted to make sure they had one!) and that was it…I was hooked, as Barry sang the words of an old Shaker prayer and John played the harmonica beautifully. It's their humour and gentleness again that contribute so much to their performance. And we had 'Amelia' from The Reckoning which as John explained is a rare sea song from …Switzerland! Go and see him and you'll hear how it came about. Well…he versed us in the chorus and you get the feeling that John enjoys us singing along with him as much as we enjoy the joining in..an absolutely gorgeous man!
And he waffles…he does…he darts from one subject to another and it's so entertaining, he keeps you right in the palm of his hand without seemingly even trying. 'Amelia' is a beautiful song and John's voice just seems to glide right around you and Barry's blends perfectly. Then he told us the story of his family, a mining family, as was Barry's and how he grew up with 11 pits around his village and he sighed as he says that there are probably less then 11 in the entire country now…and he went on to tell us the story behind 'Hearts Of Coal' which is about his Grandad, Harry Stone, who we were told, by the time he'd got to John's age had been dead 20 years. He's full of little throw away lines like that, which at first make you laugh, but later come back to you and bring the awfulness of the situation home. But it's also about the closing down of the mines and the loss of community that went with it. He wrote it whilst in Russia ….distance home etc.'crystallising' his mind….and the strike was going downhill.
My children sat there learning so much from him and they talked about the miners often on the way home…he's a natural teacher, a man who just draws you right in with his stories and his pictures and brings it all to life. Do you know…he said that everytime he buys a new guitar he knows that there is a song inside it…stuck in there somewhere, that he just has to bring out…isn't that lovely! And he talked and sang of friendships and relationships, of miners and wars…of homesickness and the physical pain it causes and he makes you laugh and wipe a tear away. Barry and John are just perfect together.
And then he told us about a new Radio 2 programme coming out in March 2006, which follows in the footsteps of The Radio Ballads of Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker. A team of writers including amongst others, Karine Polwart, Richard Thompson, Kate Rusby and himself, and they are getting together to write new ballads based on interviewing people about their skills, trades and different problems. They cover HIV, the Irish troubles, shipbuilding, fox-hunting and the steel industry to name a few. John sang about 'cobbling' in the steel mills and my children learnt yet more…
And he told us a wonderful poem about war, as he couldn't bear to sing anything from Sharpe at the moment, with everything that was going on in the world right now….and he spoke of dreamers and how important they are at present….and you could feel the sorrow and the frustration coming out from him…..then finally we all sang 'Rolling Home' together…and as we sang more strongly….John and Barry just quietly got up and left the stage and the song to us…..then we got softer, softer…." Rolling home, when we go rolling home...."
…..and I knew I'd found two more performers who care deeply about others
And finally the Duncan McFarlane…Acoustic… Band this time…..upstairs in The Red Lion…in a room that was such a mixture….black ceiling to show off the chandeliers and the sparkling silver' ballroom' ball and around the walls were Andy Warhol prints of Marilyn Monroe in various colours….but it was what was going on inside the room that mattered. All over the settees and the chairs people were jam-packed, but relaxed and we had a gentler, slowed down version of the night before, far more intimate, but every bit as enjoyable…..and once again….the whole room knew all the words and we had such a sing-song, and the DMcF Band know how to draw everyone in, ….and well….it felt like one big family gathering.
When we sang 'The Mist Covered Mountains' well…that just about finished me off completely…it's a swaying song isn't it?...."Ho ro soon shall I see them, see them oh see them…ho ro soon shall I see them, the mist covered mountains of home……" and they sang it so gently…well we all did actually….but suddenly I didn't want to see the mist covered 'mountains' of Sidmouth anymore…..I was away in the 'mist covered 'mountains' of Yorkshire…and I didn't want to go home…..and sitting here now, typing this…and listening to the song again on the 'Acoustic'CD….I'm right back there in that funny little room filled with warmth……
"…..and they'll give me a welcome, the warmest on earth…so loving and kind, full of music and mirth, in the sweet sounding language of home….Ho ro….soon shall I see them….the mist covered mountains of …"….Otley….
So…what does Otley Folk Festival mean to me? Well, I guess it has to be..friendliness…..open arms…real smiles and a real welcome.
Ay up....it's cold oop North!
No…..it's warm, Welcoming And Warm……….Ho Ro…..
Champion!<<<<
Of course, NONE of the above are Folk...Ooh dear me, no... ;0)