Beverley Folk Festival
Beverley Folk Festival 2011
Friday June 17th - Sunday June 19th
Multiple Venues
Beverley Yorkshire
Friday - Saturday - Sunday - Gallery
Beverley Folk Festival - Sunday
I move across the site to catch another traditionally based singer, Fay Hield, performing here as the Fay Hield Trio, alongside Sam Sweeney and Rob Harbron. I first saw Fay live at Cambridge where she opened up with an unaccompanied number, something I regularly finds gets the neck hair twitching as you've got to be supremely confident of you vocal ability to even consider that one.
Likewise her album, "Looking Glass" drew fabulous reviews from music fans and critics alike and saw Fay nominated for a number of awards. As I look across the stage during the opening number, I notice another instrument that I've not seen in a while, the Nyckelharpa, a sort of medieval cross between a fiddle and keyboard, resplendent with drone strings on some models, in the hands of Sam Sweeney, looks like a festival for strange instruments.
Fay Hield is an artist very much steeped in the tradition. Researching and hearing different regional variations of the same song have allowed her to really get under the essence of what makes a song and whilst over analysis can make some songs seem flat, almost staid, Fay seems to find the dna of the song and has developed a real understanding of what makes it tick.
In Sam and Rob, she seems to have found two excellent musicians with souls suited for wandering folk's highways and byways. There's a lot of folk music that tends towards the darkside, lets be honest, it can make the Goths seem positively cheerful, and that gives Fay a brooding presence when she really inhabits and song. It also gives her one of the warmest smiles in the genre when she finds and excuse to open up her light side.
The between song banter is also a history lesson. I really can't think of another genre of music that pays this level of respect to its past. All in all The Fay Hield Trio seem to make the time vanish and I can't believe that it's over already.
I take advantage of the stage change to pop back out to the village and am delighted to discover that the dance square has been replaced by a maypole. I've got enough time to squeeze in a pint and watch a good English tradition being passed onto the next generation as well as members of current generations, there is a real family feel in the village at the moment.
I'm aware of maypole dancing and I've probably seen more of it this year than I have in the last five or six years combined, which has to be a good thing. Like Morris, there are plenty of regional variations in both dances and how the ribbons end up decorating the pole.
The weather is overcast and warm and there's a real mellow feel to the festival site. Looking across the campsite now has distinct gaps as people strike tents ready for a later departure, making good use of the better weather.
Batteries metaphorically recharged, it's time to head back to the main to catch Mr Fay Hield better known as Jon Boden and his musical partner, John Spiers.
I'm far more used to seeing Spiers and Boden playing the smaller venues, in my mind, I associate Bellowhead and Jon Boden The Remnant Kings as being the bigger venue combos with the duo being a far more intimate set up. Not that there is any doubt that they can make this cavernous sports hall feel like an intimate venue.
Once again the lack of external light adds to the atmosphere, people genuinely listen to music in different ways depending on the setting so giving Spiers and Boden an evening feel, enhances enjoyment of the set, even if it is playing havoc with the body clock.
Boden does most of the inter-relating to the crowd between the sets of tunes, but the real communication is when they just pick up their instruments and let them do the talking. What the notes say and as importantly don't say is what really drives the emotions. Most people that know me, know that I'm a song man, I like lyrics and the poetry, but often it's the instruments that give songs the emotion and this duo know how to push you to the raw edge.
Just two and occasionally one instrument need to be absolutely spot on to convey the heart and soul of a piece, be it dark or enlightening, angsty or celebratory, there's no where to hide amongst supporting instruments. Spiers & Boden provide a master class on how it should be done and I leave feeling that my emotions have pulled every which way but loose.
Next its back to the Wold Top Marquee for a fully plugged in Circus Envy. The Duncan McFarlane band are just taking to the stage when I arrive. The band are a four piece that include Gerry McNeice on standup bass(remember that Norwich reference earlier?) that play singer/songwriter type material with a traditional undertone.
McFarlane is a writer of some renown around these parts, but unlike some of his peers, his songs seem less focused on the region and have a wider appeal, which sort of makes me question why he doesn't. By the end of the set, I come to the bizarre conclusion that it's because the music is a little too up beat. It's quirky , but not off in the left field type quirky, and seems to reflect the positive side of people more.
What I mean by that is there's a certain, don't let the bastards get you down, type feel. That people do somethings simply because it's the right thing to do. His songs draw on characters that get up after being knocked down and sadly, that seems to put him slightly out of kilter with a trend towards not being fair.
When dealing with the tradition, he's very much one for taking things down the folk rock root, almost picking up an Oyster Band vibe. Ultimately though, he's an entertainer, irreverent and honest, able to get you bouncing on your feet as well as reflecting on the songs. I, together, with the rest of the audience were definitely having a good time.