emerging talent competition - Saturday review (March 2007)

After spending the day in Glastonbury shopping and a quick visit to Worthy Farm, we arrived in plenty of time to the venue and discovered it was being used by residents to register for festival tickets, so we relaxed upstairs listening in on radio interviews of the bands and managed to catch a round up of short clips of footage from the last two nights to refresh our memories on who had played already. Tonight’s acts looked on paper and having heard them on their websites to be the strongest of the three nights. That would indeed to prove the case with three of the eventual winners playing tonight in a highly talented field of artists.

Feluka
The number of World music acts so far has been minimal for this competition until the arrival of Feluka and their distinctive lead vocalist Moé Barti. Until the groovers took to the stage I’d have put Haiki Loki from Thursday’s finals as most likely to claim the coveted spot. But the North African blessed rhythms and the hugely entertaining presence of Moé and his band. He sings what is known as Raï a form of folk music, which originated in Algeria from Bedouin shepherds. The music is a heady mix of Spanish, French, African-American, Reggae and Arabic musical forms creating a World beat and Moé sings in numerous languages and is a likeable lead. Their set flies by and by the end of it they are front runners for the Jazzworld slot.



Cortina Deluxx
Jojo Thomas stands before us and sings unaccompanied with a delicate solo which rises and falls. The crowd are hushed and you can hear a pin drop even the bar staff are trying to ring in prices quietly. It works well and sets the tone for an intimate performance. Danny Norbury on Cello and Jon Thorne (Lamb, the wonderful Martha Tilston) on double bass then join the kneeling blonde’s Cortina Deluxx (a type of keyboard) for some fragile wrought lo/no fi folk. I have to say I am completely captivated by it and immediately think them perfect for the Bimble Inn and other smaller acoustic of folk stages. They would be terrific on a Tri-Span stage, but too intimate for the huge Acoustic tent. They are introduced as music not really made for people to hear, made for pleasure, but I think everyone should hear them, the cello, bass both plucked and bowed, cortina deluxx and vocals are just perfect!

The 9000
Two guys behind decks one with guitar and a big posse of friends that are here to see nothing else are here to fight for the Dance stage. They have samples, and a guitar and some boxes of tricks but very little of it is live and as a hybrid fusion they are streets behind the nu genre leaders Subgiant and sound flat by comparison. The crowd are happy enough but it seems really dated to me, they are competing against the likes of festival DJs and the music sounds too clubby and not festival rootsy enough to really succeed in a field! Feels like it’s all recorded and too little of it is live not for me, and no where as dancey as Dr Meaker. Samples of dance signatures and whooshes have their fan club cheering but it’s not contagious.

The Grim Northern Social
They are terrific, the Rolling Stones shirt on lead singer Ewan sets their stall out and it’s smooth dirty rock. The five piece are musically very proficient and slick and captivate the audience. I’m a little baffled why they aren’t a bigger presence in music as the Scottish lads were hailed as the best band in Scotland four years ago. They’re very, very good but I think that some of the Friday bands up for the John Peel stage were more original.



Hadar
I read about Hadar doing compulsory service in the Israeli army and was rather shocked when instead of a man an attractive Israeli woman with an amazing voice strode out in bling and a Beats not Bombs shirt. However, I quickly recovered and the musical rhythms soon had my feet tapping , she sings wonderfully and sometimes in Hebrew and the bass beats are very danceable. During her set Moé from the first act Feluka was heckling her in a nice way. I was thinking it was between these two acts who would win the Jazz World slot. Both are so easy to listen to and great for a dance. I wouldn’t like to be the judges who have to choose the winner.

The Soundcarriers
Now this terrific stuff, at first they sound like someone’s sneaked the Stone Roses in and hidden them inside their sound with that psychedelic warmth breezing out of the speakers. Then the harmonies make me think Byrds or Beach Boys and yet the music is going off in another direction. Just as I’ve boxed the three guys and girl they flip the sound and continue in a totally different style. They have to be heard to be believed – very original and okay so it might be rooted in 60s folk but they effortlessly achieve live what I constantly wish The Guillemots would live. A sound that’s more than just the music it also carries a lovelorn sixties hippy feeling that would be great at festivals. They are a festival band in the making able to construct weird vistas of noise, this music makes me think Syd Barrett might have achieved this with Nico. It really is that good! If you like those weird sixties records like ‘Eight Miles High’ and ‘White Rabbit’ seek this lot out – it’s sixties folk, Jim but not as we know it! I was convinced they’d win the John Peel slot as they are exactly the sort of band he’d have championed and I thought they had a good shot at the whole competition.

Liz Green
Before Liz begins she jokes that it's the first time she's had to wear heals and looks a classic English rose as she sits on a chair before us. Liz Green soon has most of the room entranced however the table next to us are unfortunately un-interested in her quiet distinct incredible voice and intimate guitar playing. Her acoustic style sounds jazzlike and wonderful. The trio create a hypnotic rhythm swishing from the drums using brushes and the addition of resonant double bass. It sounds traditional, timeless and like classic old scratchy bluegrass records (minus the scratches). The lyrical content is clever and full of feeling and hits a chord with the crowd. Here was a winner and more than likely the winner of the competition, this evening was turning into an exciting evening where many of the acts stood a chance of winning.



Polichinelle
Bjork meets The Cure and they all decide to wear stripey black and white tops. The fact their French lead singer sounds so like Bjork is I think detrimental to winning the competition as Bjork is at Glastonbury this year. My daughter however has been upset by some drunken local kids and so I have to take her out of the room and miss most of this act. It sounds frantic and Sugacubes-like from outside. They sound very good from where I am and I wonder if they’ve done enough to win the John Peel stage slot.

Favourites of the night:
Nearly every band tonight were fantastic representations of the genre they were competing in and terrific to listen to. I’m thinking Liz Green or Cortina Deluxx have won acoustic. It’s fight between Soundcarriers and Polchinelle for John Peel. With either Hadar or Feluka winning the Jazz World.

A fantastically high level of talent has been displayed over the last three days. Far and away the highest overall standard of any of the previous talent finals I've been lucky enough to go to in the past. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have seen the acts over the last three days a huge degree of talent has been presented.

My wife rushes out to tell me they are going to announce the winners of the stages tonight and not as I expected in the next few days. I’m excited as the judges file out past me. It’s not long until Michael Eavis himself returns to announce the winners:

John Peel Stage - The Grim Northern Social
Dance Stage - Dr Meaker
Acoustic Stage - Liz Green, The Epstein
Jazzworld Stage - Feluka

Overall Winner - Liz Green

I’m slightly baffled by The Grim Northern Social winning but can’t fault the other winners!


It’s a shame more bands couldn’t win, but we’re told other slots will be available. I’d like to thank Michael and Pilton for being fantastic hosts, and for recommending the cider! The bands for their wonderful music, their fans for being so good (in the main) the judges who had to select from thousands of entries and of course Hilary for putting in so much of her time to making this competition work. Glastonbury Festival once again for putting on an event which showcases and promotes such a diverse range of talent!

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