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2007
Guardian review
Cambridge Folk Festival, By Colin Irwin
Tuesday July 31 2007
Two Dutchmen in stripey swimsuits
singing YMCA - that's my festival highlight," said the man from the
Classic LPs vinyl stall, selling a mint copy of Pink Floyd's Dark
Side of the Moon to another devoted folkie on the campsite. His
customers were still dazed after spending Saturday evening in
emotional frenzy as rampaging middle-aged Romanian Gypsies - Fanfare
Ciocarlia - threatened death by brass; then Toots & the Maytals
finished off the rest. Sandwiched between them was Joan Baez, the
matron saint of folk music, so stirred by the funky Romanian brass
that she burst among them to dance before calming herself for a set
she might have sung 40 years earlier, ending in an arm-waving
Imagine.
Underlining the ludicrousness of musical classification, the biggest
singalong was the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's Anarchy in
the UK, the promising Newton Faulkner raised the roof with Massive
Attack's Teardrop, and the sublime Rachel Unthank and the Winterset
almost stopped the show with an Antony & the Johnsons cover.
Cambridge wilfully ignores trends, admirably pursuing its own
eclectic mantra and hanging on to most of its traditional values.
The Waterboys set an uplifting tone on Friday night, Mike Scott
rounding up anyone on the bill left standing for a cheesy, yet
moving, ensemble finale of This Land Is Your Land. And with the
likes of Baez, Steve Earle, Bruce Cockburn and Martin Simpson on
angry alert, there was plenty of Bush-baiting to at least doff a cap
to folk's old radical ideals, even if half the audience seemed,
between acts, to be reading the new Harry Potter.
Other 2007 Quotes
“As integral to the English summer as
Test Matches and tennis, the long-running Cambridge Folk Festival
remains a veritable jewel amidst the welter of music events that now
grace the season.” Rock ‘N’ Reel, November/December 2007
“It’s not arguably the best, it is the best music festival going.” Up
Country, September 2007
“This easygoing veteran of the festival scene is dazzlingly well
organised.” The Scotsman, August 2007
“It’s just as wild and just as much fun as the big rock festivals, but
makes less fuss about it, and has much nicer food, drink, people and
music” Radio Times July 2007
“Undoubtedly one of the finest events in the European festival calendar
,,,” MOJO, August 2007
“Cambridge Folk Festival is a gem among festivals.” Songlines, UK
Festivals 2007 Edition
“The Cambridge Folk Festival has slowly carved itself out a reputation
for overwhelming quality.” Going Out, 2007
2006
Guardian review
Cambridge Folk Festival, By John L Walters
Tuesday August 1 2006
The T-shirts tell their own story: Frank Zappa, Judas Priest,
Bauhaus Brewery, South Australia Keg Demolition Team, plus the
festival's own Cool as Folk merchandise. Cambridge seems relaxed about
everything, including the meaning of folk, as long as there's plenty of
beer. A bit like Womad, but on a smaller scale, and with more newspapers
and Panama hats.
On its final day, traditional music is served by artists such as Tim Van
Eyken and Mozaik, whose grizzled veterans explore pan-European roots
with commitment and fire. Hebridean newcomer Julie Fowlis alternates
sweet, nervous laments with jigs and reels. Her bodhran player, Martin
O'Neill, enthrals the audience with a melodic, talking drum-style solo.
Article continues
Nickel Creek's distinctive sound is undermined by less-distinguished,
indie-rock vocals. Rapid, asymmetric jigs evolve into Short People,
which in turn segues into Bach courtesy of mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile.
Fortunately, there's no shortage of good singing elsewhere. Cara
Dillon's assured performance includes the moving There Were Roses, based
on the true story of forbidden love that ended in death. Eddi Reader
keeps the crowd happy with some nicely judged Scots favourites, and
dedicates Perfect (from her Fairground Attraction heyday), to her late
father. Capercaillie's Karen Matheson joins her for Burns's Ae Fond
Kiss.
Emmylou Harris, accompanied by Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy, looks and
sounds as amazing as ever. Highlights include an a cappella version of
Ain't Nobody But the Baby and a sentimental reading of the Teddy Bears'
To Know Him Is to Love Him. What Emmylou announces as "another girly
harmony thing" turns out to be a modified After the Gold Rush: "Look at
mother nature on the run /In the 21st century."
Two guitar-based acts bring the house down: the explosive, jam-band-like
John Butler Trio (from Australia) and Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela,
who quickly have the audience eating out of their very dexterous hands.
Independent review
Cambridge Folk Festival, By Sue Wilson
Tuesday August 4 2006
Of all the birds in the world least easily fazed by the
vagaries of human behaviour, the rare-breed ducks and geese that inhabit
the pond at Cherry Hinton Hall, which has been home to Cambridge Folk
Festival since 1964, must surely be the most blasé. Joan Baez famously
got thrown in the pond by her crew a few years back, and even when the
superstars of folk confine their activities to the main stage arena, a
customarily sun-soaked Cambridge weekend will see children and adults
alike splashing around among the waterfowl.
Cambridge again sold out in record time, and kicked off with a bang when
Thursday's thunderstorms exploded around teatime. Needless to say,
though, the parched East Anglian soil drank up the deluge and the clouds
rumbled away to leave perfect festival conditions: scorching hot but
with a freshened-up breeze.
No climatic distractions, then, from the main order of business:
lounging about on the grass, basking in the rays and listening to a
glittering panoply of international roots talent. Throughout its long
and illustrious history, Cambridge has excelled not only in hand-picking
English and Celtic acts, both traditional and contemporary, but at
sourcing the best in Americana, from blues to bluegrass, country to
Cajun.
Building on this rock-solid foundation, the festival's director, Eddie
Barcan (the successor to the event's founding father, Ken Woollard, who
died in 1993) has significantly expanded its world-music dimension, as
exemplified by the headline presence this year of the Malian hot
properties Amadou and Mariam, together with Mexican compadres Los de
Abajo and Rodrigo y Gabriela. Cambridge's ultra-laid-back vibe - and
state-of-the-art picnicware - can prompt accusations of audience
staidness, but none of these acts will be carrying that story home.
Amadou and Mariam and Los de Abajo closed the main stage on Friday and
Saturday, respectively serving up majestic, joyous Afro-blues and
riotous mestizo punk, while the spectacular duelling- guitars firestorm
that is Rodrigo y Gabriela incited an unprecedented frenzy at the
usually sluggish opening hour of noon on Sunday. Other guitarists who
brought the house down included the veteran Richard Thompson and the
Australian jammers The John Butler Trio.
The former Catatonia front woman Cerys Matthews looked and sounded to be
having a very happy festival debut, too, exercising her gorgeously
elastic voice on material that ranged from gentle, sunny reggae to
melodic power-pop. From the Britfolk brat pack, Seth Lakeman proved that
his star, especially as a singer, is continuing to rise with two
compelling performances, while an exceptionally strong Scottish
contingent took in the veteran folk-pop powerhouse Capercaillie through
Salsa Celtica's tartanised Latin party mix and the captivating Gaelic
vocals of Julie Fowlis to the Highland teenage sensations Bodega, the
current holders of the BBC Young Folk Award.
The mood was mellow but blissed-out by the time Emmylou Harris graced
the stage on Sunday evening. The country diva was flanked by musicians
who played on her mid-Eighties album The Ballad of Sally Rose, including
the vocalists Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy, who, in several
round-the-mike a cappella numbers, adorned her achingly evocative
singing with exquisite gossamer strains of barely-there harmony. A
wide-ranging, quietly commanding set also took in several tracks from
1995's milestone Wrecking Ball album, plus Harris's dreamily melancholic
contribution to Brokeback Mountain, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old",
and a heart-rending version of Neil Young's "Mother Nature". And when
she weighed into the gospel chorus of "We Cried Hallelujah", Harris
surely spoke for everyone in the field.
It may have been just a passing bush telegraph rumour but tickets for this year's 41st Cambridge Folk Festival - face value £80 - were changing hands on eBay for up to £500. Having once again sold out in record time, the event entered fifth decade in fine fettle, an operation graced with all the smoothness of a well-oiled machine.
For the Festival's many annual regulars, stepping on site at Cherry Hinton borrowed for the weekend from its usual role as a suburban park, is like entering a marvellously benign time warp. People have their favourite trees to camp under each year; the beer tent tent, infinite cafe, Japanese noodle bar and lost-children depoistory are reassuringly in their same places. The atmosphere of thoroughly chilled, richly seasoned enjoyment always prevails.
Despite a rival organ's advance sneer at the event as 'a resolutely style-free bastion of earthiness and real ale', Cambridge's style is endlessly eclectic: sartorial trends this time ranged from the baggy and black favoured by the Idlewild contingent - who were treated to a compelling Sunday acoustic set from the Scottish five piece - to a number of men in frocks.
Idlewild clearly weren't worried about their standing in the stakes being compromised, and neither was Mercury-nominated Cambridge debutante KT Tunstall. 'It's totally absolutely marvelous to be here', was her verdict, during a categorically stellar performance. 'I've wanted to play this Festival for ever because you all listen.'
As well as hot alternative properties like Tunstall and Idlewild, the choice of sounds encompassed everything from barn-storming Scottish folk orchestra The Unusual Suspects to the Latin/hip-hop grooves of The Cat Empire.
In between were American legends as diverse as The Blind Boys of Alabama, country-blues veteran Rodney Crowell, and soul/gospel princess Mavis Staples.
Also prominent were The Proclaimers, whose triumphant Friday night set - in the words of one observer - 'left every Scotsman in the fields crying', and the multi-award-winning singer songwriter Karine Polwart, previewing some excellent new tracks for her second album. The all-instrumental powerhouse that is Blazin' Fiddles, meanwhile, fitted in two thoroughly exhilarating shows around the small matter of a prior Saturday night engagement at the Albert Hall, headlining Fiddle Day at the Proms.
Christy Moore worked his customary magic in Sunday's headline slot, commanding pin-drop silence one minute, whipping up a riotous sing-along the next. Other highlights included the adventurous roots-funk of Spanish bagpiper Xose Manuel Budino, and the bruised, brooding lyricism of Louisiana songstress Mary Gauthier, but the true star attraction was the Festival's own signature brand of quirky artistic intelligence and Swiss-watch logistical prowess.
There was a moment on Sunday evening when it seemed that this was the best spot on the planet. Tinariwen, from Mali, were playing their slinky seser blues on one stage, Kate Rusby was singing on the other, and Ireland's greatest singer Christy Moore, was about to come on.
The Cambridge Folk Festival may be 41 years old but has flourished by constantly widening its scope; this year, it included music from Americana (country, pop, blues and gospel), Scotland and Ireland, Mali, Canada and, of course, the latest English folk revival.
Kate Rusby's new album, out next month, shows her development as a songwriter, and for this preview she was joined by a band that included fiddle and accordion, and a brass section from the Coldstream Guards. Their sturdy, tuneful treatment of the pop standard You Belong To Me was matched with the new but traditional-sounding Elfin Knight, or old favourites like Botany Bay, all treated with her exquisite, cool vocals.
There was more experimental fusion of brass and the English tradition from Bellowhead, in which John Spiers and Jon Boden were joined by brass, percussion, cello, guitar and fiddles in an entertaining, theatrical 11-piece band that veered between dance tunes, music hall and experimental jazz settings. Their performances were exuberant, if sometimes over-ambitious, but they could develop into a great folk dance band.
The US contingent included veteran songwriter Jimmy Webb, who sat at the grand piano telling stories about Richard Harris or Harry Nilsson, who said 'There's only one thing wrong with your voice - it stinks'.
Unfortunately, Harry had a point. The composer of everything from MacArthur Park to By The Time I Get To Phoenix and Wichita Lineman proceeded to murder his own material. More reliable, US styles included gospel from the Blind Boys Of Alabama, old style R&B from the exuberant Shemekia Copeland, and a rousing, powerful country rock set from Rodney Crowell.
As for this year's singer-songwriter discovery, it was Mary Gauthier from Louisiana. She's had a genuinely tough life (drink, drugs and jail) but emerged to write powerful, well-observed songs, from the personal Long Way to Fall to the ecological and social disasters of her home state in Sugar Cane. Next time round, she deserves to be a headliner.
The finest performance came from Christy Moore, with subtle backing from electric slide guitarist Declan Sinnott. He was soulful, thoughtful, funny, angry and his political songs included a timely and powerful version of North and South, his plea for a change of direction in Ireland. A classic Cambridge.
Music Festival don't come any better organised or relaxed than the 41st Cambridge Folk Festival. Of the 12,000 tickets sold this year, about 2000 were for children, and many of the adults have been coming since they were children themselves. This made for a welcome air of family bustle and leisurely bonhomie.
Actually, there was something going on everywhere you turned. Having opened the day's proceedings on the main stage, the Appalachian busking band Old Crow Medicine Show put on a superb impromptu performance in a wooded glade for a television show presented by Mark Radcliffe, the Radio 2 DJ.
Radcliffe could later be found singing and playing guitar in the Mojo tent with his group the Family Mahone, a remarkably capable performance which, although leavened with northern humour, was certainly no joke.
Over on Stage two, a succesion of exciting new groups including the Cat Empire, from Australia, the Duhkls, from Canada and the English ten-piece ensemble Bellowhead skillfully imported influences from every point on the popular music compass: funk, rock, soul, jazz, calypso, brass band - you name it. On this evidence, folk music has rarely been in a more vibrant condition, even if it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify.
But whatever it now sounds like, folk is still about telling stories and for most performers this meant adding a tall tale or two between numbers. Jimmy Webb took this practice to new extremes, with several narrative 'introductions' that seemed to go on longer than the songs themselves.
One thing he didn't have to explain was why he continues to be more admired as a song writer than as a performer. Leaden, cabaret versions of his classic compositions By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Wichita Lineman and others, said it all.
Kate Rusby, whose group was augmented by a horn section recruited from the Coldstream Guards, provided a cheerful English folk experience, while Karine Polwart with her band dressed in kilts added a bonny Scottish touch, briefly converting the main stage audience into a vast singing workshop.
Sadly Lucinda Williams had pulled out due to ill health. Her replacement, the Nashville-raised singer Laura Cantrell, supplied an enjoyable set cut from old-school country and western cloth. But it was Mary Gauthier, from Louisiana, who most closely resembled Williams and who was the revelation of the day.
Bluesy and severe, she conjured feelings of intense heartache and images of Southern apocalypse in Sugar Cane, before ending with a rousing Wheel Inside the Wheel.
“Cool as Folk” said the T-shirts, and bizarrely for those of us saddled with outdated preconceptions of folkies with beards listening to endless dirges about Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Cambridge Folk Festival is becoming rather fashionable, with a new generation of musicians dragging the genre jigging and screaming into the modern world.
Seth Lakeman, for example, is a young man in a hurry, playing numbers from a forthcoming album that sounds hugely promising. Like an angry Nick Drake, he sings surrealist songs about shooting his girlfriend whom he mistook for a swan.
I can only echo Radio 2 DJ Mark Harding’s assessment of 18-year-old fiddle player Lauren MacColl’s evocative performance as “the most beautiful playing of a slow air I have ever heard”, while Scottish singer-songwriter Karine Polwart has come from nothing in the past year to produce an album, Flautlines, that suggests a major new song writing talent in the making. Polwart had degrees in philosophy and has undertaken tough social-work jobs: both experiences seem to have fed into her gritty, intelligent and heartfelt songs.
On the main stage, another songwriter KT Tunstall is already in the pop charts with her engaging and intense songs and was one of the hits of the festival.
But, while the festival was inspiring in its highlighting of new British talent, bands such as Tinariwen, an earthy desert blues band from Mali, added a global dimension. There was also a strong North American presence, including Rodney Crowell, who, having been a purveyor of mainstream country hits, produced a wonderful, edgy autobiographical album The Huston Kid a few years ago.
It was hard to resist Mavis Staples Memphis-style damaged soul voice, which veered from sub bass growls to a mid-range tone of sandpaper and molasses backed by a first-rate, world-weary band. And there was a strong buzz about the debut European gig by the Canadian band the Duhks, who mixed soul, folk and bluegrass.
With all this cutting-edge newness going on, it was almost a relief to catch classic acts such as Altan, whose Donegal-based music swings with the same intensity as it has for more than 20 years, and who still provoke audience delirium. Blazin’ Fiddles – who also played the proms on Saturday-flew the flag for Scotland, playing assorted arrangements of Highland and Shetland music, with an unusual line-up of fiddles, piano and guitar.
Now in his 40th year of gigging, Christy Moore was another folk legend who has lost none of his passion and charisma, even if some of his political ballads seem dated. And Kate Rusby, by now something of a veteran, confirmed her status as the brightest star of English folk music with her evocative set.
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