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Ely Folk Festival

Festival newbie, Nigel Smith, decided to try out Ely Folk Festival as his first foray into the festival scene.  From his experiences we think this might not be his last festival.

This year was my first visit to this long established gathering in sight of the “ship of the fens”, and a much needed break after a difficult few weeks before.   Located in a few large fields adjacent to the nearby football club it was just an hours journey for me.  It was surprisingly easy to become totally lost in the camping and festival culture once you had parked up and the campsite had been established.

Apparently this festival has grown in recent years but I was glad to be visiting one of the regions smaller events as I feared that some of the massive festivals could be rather overwhelming for a novice. Old friends were soon spotted and new ones soon made before we all ventured off to the centre of the event where three performance tents dominated a large open space. As the weather gradually improved this open space soon shrank as others appeared to stake claims to their preferred vantage points. As a family friendly event “Jan the Van” also appeared to help provide a central child play area, where parents could still watch from a slight distance.  A free bus service back into the city also provided a useful lifeline for those who needed more provisions or just wanted to escape to a local pub.

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The music and entertainment on offer was very diverse and included some traditional English and Celtic classics, modern acoustic, roots based songwriting, gutsy folk rock, reworked reggae, West coast, various story telling sessions, some old time blues and of course several ceilidhs. You just needed to move occasionally to find something you really liked. Some of the bands and performers I watched and really enjoyed included The Young’Uns with their irreverent stage banter between some poignant ballads.  Mawkin with excellent performances on both main stages, Zaramo, whom I had also seen recently at Bedfield village hall and who exhausted a large group of dancers with their interpretations of East European dance at one of the ceilidhs. Whilst Grannie’s Attic was another highly entertaining young trio performing some very original material during Sunday afternoon on stage two and they certainly deserve to be heard again. My funniest moments of the weekend was watching the late night ceilidh on Friday night after the beer tent had closed – say no more!

Top of the bill on Saturday evening was Martin Simpson and his stunning slide guitar followed by Edward II.  On Sunday evening it was Dougie MacLean and his highly polished but relaxed performances of a selection of his own songs followed soon after by Atlan and their beautiful renditions of classical Irish music. Whilst the almost onmi-present Keith Donnolley was spotted on several occasions with his highly original banter and unique interpretations of various songs.

The club tent and occasionally the adjacent real ale bar tent also provided space for many lesser known performers to take a turn and were often packed by the end of an unexpected but highly entertaining set. It should also be mentioned that various workshops were also being held during the weekend.  There were over twenty Morris dancing troupes performing at various times during the weekend and they also paraded through the streets of nearby Ely.

Overall I found it all very entertaining.  Totally impossible to watch it all, but I did enjoy much of what I saw and enjoyed plenty of banter with fellow festival goers along the way. It can be a bit addictive and next time I may try a workshop – they are open to novices and experts alike so a little bit of practice before hand might be a good idea first! As I write this I am off to Warwick festival soon and I hope that is just as welcoming and relaxed and friendly as I found Ely. The weather is always beyond our control and at Ely it was only responsible for one wet breakfast and a very windy last night’s sleep.

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