FOUR FOOLS FESTIVAL
I was at the Four Fools Festival last weekend in Preston, UK. It was really a lovely weekend. The entire festival was held in a school which is a great idea. It meant that people could camp or caravan in the grounds, and it was very easy to walk from one venue to another. I arrived Friday night for the two opening concerts, one in the Library and one in the Music Room. I brought Graham with me for the weekend, though he wasn't actually going to be performing with me at the workshops, however, he gladly accompanied me at the opening concerts. There is a lovely atmosphere about this festival. Run by Angie and Ken Bladen, it's been going for 18 years. It has changed venues a few times, but I think this year it was a very good venue. The bar was in the canteen area, the hall held the session in the day and all the dancing and also the CD shop, and the music room, drama room, maths room, geography room and library were used as different venues. Every hour is used up, so there was plenty of people to see, and ample time to get to see something of everybody for the whole weekend.
Angie included me in the Celtic Connection workshop along with Ellen Mitchell and Heather Innes to mention a few. Later on in the day I was in the 'Bird's Eye View' workshop again with Ellen and also a very impressive Anni Fentiman, whose choice of songs and voice I just loved. Later that night I did a solo set in the Library. On Sunday, I was put in with the wonderful Tom McConville and the group Cara. This was a lovely workshop, and I was terribly impressed by not only Tom's singing but his playing along with Cara and his solo material. Lovely way to ease into Sunday. Later on I did the Ballad session with Pete Coe, Janet Russell, and again, Ellen Mitchell. It only lasted two and a half hours but could have gone on longer. Despite the fact that the English World Cup match was on, the audience was very attentive and quite a few contributed a song to the session.
Highlights of the weekend for me were - Saturday night, listening to the wonderful Martyn Wyndham-Read - who in my books is the most wonderful interpreter of songs - he has a way which makes every word important, every note is perfect and the overall tone and feel of his voice leaves a lasting warmth - I love him to pieces. Also - watching the wonderful dancing to the music of Hekety - I was terribly impressed with the amount of people dancing, and the fact that they all seemed to know the dances - similar to the Irish ceili dancing but different at the same time. The music was great. And meeting and hearing new voices - at least new to me - a lot of these people know each other as they go to all the festivals throughout the UK ever year - but I only get to one here and there, so a lot of the voices are new to me.
Graham and myself stayed with Eamonn Coyne our good friend, and while I 'worked' Graham cooked and watched football and played music with Eamonn - I was jealous on Saturday when they seemed to have a 'lost' day - but all was redeemed when a plate of Graham's wonderful chicken and mushroom dinner was left for me - along with the last glass of wine! It was great to spend time with Eamonn and Sue, and of course spending day times with Gill who drove me to and from the venues, and I never even heard her sing this weekend!
A great weekend all round - thanks to Angie and Ken for the invite and I'll definately be back at that festival again. Keep up the good work!
Angie included me in the Celtic Connection workshop along with Ellen Mitchell and Heather Innes to mention a few. Later on in the day I was in the 'Bird's Eye View' workshop again with Ellen and also a very impressive Anni Fentiman, whose choice of songs and voice I just loved. Later that night I did a solo set in the Library. On Sunday, I was put in with the wonderful Tom McConville and the group Cara. This was a lovely workshop, and I was terribly impressed by not only Tom's singing but his playing along with Cara and his solo material. Lovely way to ease into Sunday. Later on I did the Ballad session with Pete Coe, Janet Russell, and again, Ellen Mitchell. It only lasted two and a half hours but could have gone on longer. Despite the fact that the English World Cup match was on, the audience was very attentive and quite a few contributed a song to the session.
Highlights of the weekend for me were - Saturday night, listening to the wonderful Martyn Wyndham-Read - who in my books is the most wonderful interpreter of songs - he has a way which makes every word important, every note is perfect and the overall tone and feel of his voice leaves a lasting warmth - I love him to pieces. Also - watching the wonderful dancing to the music of Hekety - I was terribly impressed with the amount of people dancing, and the fact that they all seemed to know the dances - similar to the Irish ceili dancing but different at the same time. The music was great. And meeting and hearing new voices - at least new to me - a lot of these people know each other as they go to all the festivals throughout the UK ever year - but I only get to one here and there, so a lot of the voices are new to me.
Graham and myself stayed with Eamonn Coyne our good friend, and while I 'worked' Graham cooked and watched football and played music with Eamonn - I was jealous on Saturday when they seemed to have a 'lost' day - but all was redeemed when a plate of Graham's wonderful chicken and mushroom dinner was left for me - along with the last glass of wine! It was great to spend time with Eamonn and Sue, and of course spending day times with Gill who drove me to and from the venues, and I never even heard her sing this weekend!
A great weekend all round - thanks to Angie and Ken for the invite and I'll definately be back at that festival again. Keep up the good work!
posted by Niamh Parsons @ 3:07 p.m.
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