Wimborne Folk Festival
13th June 2009
This festival started in its original format back in 1980, when it lasted for merely one day. Such has its success been, that it now runs for three days and has become the focal point for the largest gathering of dance teams in southern England- some fifty groups appeared at this year's festival.
But it's not all Morris men and music in the village square; the music at Wimborne plays a large part too, and musicians both contemporary and traditional appear at the Allendale, a modern community centre a stone's throw from the centre of town.
Saturday night saw five hours of the best folk music today appearing on the Allendale's main stage, starting with Crowfoot, a trio of fiddle/guitar and piano accordion/flute from Canada who play gentle delicate songs and tunes. Three part harmonies, as well as Appalachian and Breton tunes, and Crowfoot proved that they deserved to be on stage in their own right, holding the audience entranced by their hypnotic folk.
Next were Secret Orders, an entertaining good humoured kind of that remind me [I think it's the accents, although I'm still not sure!] of Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers. This band seems to be made up of two smaller duos who originally met at Wimborne Festival three years ago. Claire Mann and Aaron Jones from Secret Orders and Gudren Walther and Juergen Treyz from Cara who got on so well in late night sessions that they decided to work together, and this is the result. The band were joined by Nathon Jones -twin brother of the lead singer and Leo McCann and played lively songs and tunes from all over Europe; their differing cultures and backgrounds represented in their set list.
Two bands gone, two hours passed and with the arrival of the third act the standard, already high, was raised with the appearance of Drever/ McCusker / Woomble, a trio who can do no wrong. Whatever your musical tastes, this trio have a song or a tune to suit, whether it's a song from their solo careers [the beautiful Waverley Steps by Roddy Woomble for me] or something from the successful joint album Before The Ruin, like Silver and Blue. They were joined on stage by Heidi Talbot and Boo Hewerdine, who had played a separate full set of their own earlier on in the day. Boo Hewerdine is quite simply brilliant. Understated to the point of invisibility, he's written some fantastic melodies and moving lyrics and given them to other people to sing; Eddi Reader and Kris Drever being shining examples. Classy, consummate musicians, these five finished in harmony with 'Poorest Company', the award winning Kris Drever song from Before The Ruin.
Saving the best until last, the Wimborne Folk Festival closed on Saturday night with the Michael McGoldrick Band. No drums or bass tonight, instead the talents of Parvinder Bharat on tablas, John Joe Kelly on bodhran, and Ed Boyd on guitar, leading the rhythm section; Dezi Donnelly and Donald Shaw supplying the harmony/melody. Tunes like 'Mouse In The Kitchen' that made you feel you were sitting in a session in Manchester, the evocative Jutland and a return for the Dub Reel, a tune which sees Parvinder and John Joe passing the beat to and fro like a game of table tennis. Dezi Donnelly was on blistering form, and his was the first tune of the whole evening to get people on their feet and dancing; one guy being so overcome he walked the length of the hall on his hands to much cheering from the rest of the audience- it's not many folk gigs where you can see people's feet waving in the air with enjoyment.
And as the evening closed and the crowd began to file out I thought how encouraging it was that in 2009 so many people still wanted to go and see music and dance that have their roots firmly based in tradition. Long may this continue, and with the help of hard working, well run festivals like Wimborne I'm sure it will.
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