The Demon Barber Roadshow get Oxford Folk Festival hollering
Oxford Folk Festival 2010 review
Friday 30th April 2010
A stunning morning of clear blue skies and sunshine sets the backdrop for the Festival parade through the centre of Oxford. Snaking through the streets specially brought together supertroupe Melomania lead a train of Morris sides representing blacked up Border, clogwearing Northwestern and hanky waving Cotswold styles.
Men in Tights bring up the tail publicising the Great Drag Race which takes place mid June to raising funds for research into prostrate cancer. Puzzled looks on the faces of shoppers and tourists are seen everywhere as the streets echo with the sound of clogs on paving stones, drums, clattering of ash sticks and rousing cries. Symbolically an impressively garlanded green man is joined by equally well costumed Bishops to lead parade's head on to its destination in the Town Hall. The remainder of the teams disperse about town to put on displays throughout the weekend in the town centre as well as the Castle grounds.
After the Parade has marched into the Hall the afternoons performances commence with local youth group Gael Academy first up, to the surprise of some of their members who were apparently still larking about in town.
The afternoons concert was due to conclude with French group Torivaki, but they were grounded by the flight restrictions. The same flight restrictions prevented Jon Boden and John Spiers from leaving for Austria after the previous nights Bellowhead concert and as newly made Festival patrons Spiers & Boden step forward to fill the gap. Having translated their between tune patter into Austrian they now faced the tricky problem of translating back into English, but save for a few misplaced "danke schöns" there were few errors. Their standard fare of coarse songs about vagrancy, crime, affairs, execution and seafaring please a more beardy audience than the Bellowhead crowd but there was still a distinctly feminine presence gaily dancing in the aisles. An unexpected folkie treat, so many thanks to the volcano.
A similarly unexpected treat was to hear the fascinating lecture given in the Town Halls Court room by Festival Director Tim Healy on the Green Man. Focussing on the many local examples of foliate heads to be seen in churches and other public buildings he linked their medieval development to the Far East, particularly India & China from where he proposed stonemasons adopted this apotropaic motif. He effectively debunked the idea of a native pagan symbol secreted into churches which, surprisingly, was first theorised in 1939 by the aristocratic folklorist Lady Raglan and is now widely accepted. A quite fascinating and unusual talk.
The second Town Hall concert of the day saw funky folksy fusion band The Roots Union give a upbeat performance featuring a drum kit, five string bass and harmonica beatbox/combo. Not to be outdone the extravaganza which is The Demon Barber Roadshow also featured a drum kit, bass player and beatboxer, but added a clog dancing team, Morris display and their world champion standard Rapper side. Running through their well established set with polish, zeal and a good helping of humour they had the audience clapping and hollering along. Like Bellowhead they more than filled the stage and were trailing some new material featuring on their forthcoming album. It would be a treat to see the two acts together on a bill. At Oxford the Barbers brought the lively half of the weekend's Town Hall shows to a crescendo and then to a close.
The third Town Hall concert of the day brings down the feverish pace dramatically. Megan Henwood subdues the crowd, her lone mellifluous voice reaching the parts others can't. Cara Dillon likewise gave a mellow and reflective performance. Her band was hastily rearranged due to the travel problems, luckily James Fagan and Nancy Kerr were able to step in and support. Cara's lilting voice and depressing subject matter; lost Johnny, lost Jimmy, true loves dead has a feeling of desolation that is hardly enlivening. Fortunately some cheery jigs from her improvised band keep the crowd awake enough to be happily sad.
Over at the Holywell Room an exquisite performance was given by the Oxford Concert Party who made the most of the acoustics in the room producing a sound with dazzling clarity and beauty. This incredible string band lead by an eccentric looking keyboardist treated the audience to a virtuoso series of tunes featuring parlour pieces from itinerant composers of the eighteenth century to a bawdy bass and accordion reel by way of a hilarious a drunken cellist skit.
The Saturday night Ceilidh in the Newman Rooms was so well attended that the queue spilled out onto the street. Smokers went out for a drag at their own risk, their place in the dance up for grabs. Inside chaos reigned with the PA playing up and the dances requiring several walk throughs. Half confused, half confident but all were enjoying themselves well into the night.
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