TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

There is a lot going on. Depends on what you want.

The Kinecroft is the 'centre' of things. It is free to everyone. There are two main stages with dance displays and bands on throughout the day, plus the beer tent, food stalls, the trade stands and the kids area.

Main concerts are in the Cross Keys Marquee. It is not huge. Get there early for any bands you really want to see. If it is hot wear as little as possible. It gets like an oven. There is a bar in the back to save you going into the (very crowded) pub.

Other pubs have marquees as well, plus they all have sessions.

The singing train is a treat, but plan your journey to get back in time for concerts etc. The boat trip is an extra £5 but a pleasant diversion.

All the beer etc is at general Oxfordshire prices (ie quite expensive if you are not used to it). The beer tent ran out of cider at 7.00pm on the Friday last year  :( :( (it still rankles). The French food stall is excellent but a bit pricey.

The late night bar in the sports centre was good fun (mainly due to the company) if a little disorganised last year.

Avoid the centre of town after 11.00pm if possible. Chavs abound.

Transport to and from the campsite is in vintage buses during the day and is free.

Really, its a nice laid back, family festival.

See you there.

Sandra

Look for a small fat giggling woman and a very tall man using her as an elbow rest.

Thats us.

Sandra

I hope to be there on Saturday,weather permitting.Ive been the last 2 years .Its a really well organised ,friendly festival  and there is just so much to do that I might even go Sunday as well.
I can recommend Breakspears Leaf Fall beer  ;D

Well that was rather good!

Superb music from Eliza Carthy & the Ratcatchers, Spiers & Boden and the Oysterband in a steaming hot marquee with good beer fine food and the occasional steam train. Good company from Fi, Sandy, Chris and Paul, fine food and a very late bar. What a great festival!

Very good to meet various boardsters - Chris once again, Cream-T and Sian I recall. I think there were others but the memory is worse for a large quantity of West Berkshire's finest. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Lots of very good undiscovered talent playing. Enjoyed great sets from Cloudstreet, Crosscurrent, Isambarde and Pressgang. Managed sadly to miss too many other things (curse that beer!) including Spire, Mawkin and 3 Daft Monkeys (sorry! I did hear good reports about all three though!)

Winners of the 'wierdiest of the weekend' by a (horses) nose were this lot, Circulus...

(http://www.bunkfest.co.uk/circulus.jpg)

Apparently they dress like this all the time. They mix Moogs and Crumhorns and wear horses heads while playing Gibson SGs. Their album title "The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to be Sent" tells you all you need to know about their own particular brand of wierdness.

Mind you, they only just out-wierded Diego Brown & The Good Fairy who assembled a kazoo orchestra out of most of Eliza Carthy's audience then left everyone in stitches with 'I want to be a Bee'.

Night night.

Nick

'twas a very lovely festival indeed, but my god!, The hammam like quality of the Cross Keys Marquee, they need a cold plunge pool for on the way out! This intense heat I blame for the amount of Brakspears etc I consumed on Saturday, and the hysterical laughter which ensued from a couple of us during Diego and the Good Fairy's  'I want to be a Bee'. Tents get hot in the sun, tents filled with bopping (even sitting down bopping), giggling, enthusiatic folkies get even hotter...look out for the Kazoo Orchestra of Great Britain (you know, they think Sandra and me are joking........................................... ;D)


Food being equally important as beer, I have to say that, sadly, there was no pie! but "La Grande Bouffe" do smashing things with potatoes which can cure any hangover  :D.

As we awoke and surveyed the near empty campsite this morning (about 20 camper vans and a handful of tents only were left) we comtemplated on what a good festival it had been.

The weather had been more than kind, the choice of things to do went way beyond what one mortal could have done in a single weekend, the acts we did see were excellent and the organisation was second to none.

I won't review the acts we saw again - Nick and Fi have already more than adequately done that (except they omitted to give an honorable mention to the Oyster Band) , but I will comment on the fact that a lot of this festival is free. The organisers somehow perform magic and run a hardcore (folk) music festival, with some of the top acts in the country, alongside a free festival which features bands, dance displays, workshops and a beer festival. The result is a wonderful mix of festival goers and locals that really works.

Highly recommended.

Sandra

Have to agree with you there Nick.I thought Id had one to many when I saw the horse playing a guitar(and I was only on orange juice!!!)
I was only there for Saturday .The weather was brilliant again this year,how do they do it?The only boardster I managed to recognise was Chris(the cameras a bit of a give away).
Looking forward to next year already.It just gets better and better.Thank you to all the volunteers involved in making it a great weekend.
Polly

And a great time was had by all.

The acts, beer and weather were amazing this year (except the journey home, where I had continuous sheet lightning and floods).

The Oysterband really rocked on Friday night, and the stand in bassist performed excelently (Chopper being on modern father duty with his partner in labour). They were ably supported by three daft monkeys and mawkin. I had never seen Spiers and Bowden, but had heard a lot about them. They certainly exceeded expectations.

I managed to perform a few songs on the singing train. I went along to listen, and got arm twisted. David King, the compere kindly lent me his guitar.

Saturday eveining was enjoyable, with several acts that I can neither spell or pronounce, but we had good sweedish and irish music.

Sunday afternoon was equely incredible (running out of superlatives), but as the others have allready mentioned, there were some great acts. Eliza Carthy was excellent, as can be expected, but Australian unknowns Cloudstreet were fantastic. Extreemly acomplished harmony singing. They certainly know a thing or two about voice control.

The only problem with Bunkfest is the sheer number of things going on. There were several things I would have liked to do, but they clashed with other things. It is almost worth not buying a ticket and just seeing the free entertainment, which includes loads of morris sides. I particularly liked the black morris side, sveral of whom wore heavy rock group t-shirts, and who were acompanied by a semi acoustic mandolin fed through a guitar processor.

Paul

Weren't that fun!?

My mate Jarrad and I had a jolly good time at Bunkford! I'm to knackered to write a proper review (I stayed around for 422, the last band on, driving back home via stop-over in Bristol to be at w*rk in Plymouth this morning) but will quickly qualify the bands I've seen. Read at your peril and feel free to disagree.


Highlights:
Cloudstreet - beautiful harmonies, belly-achingly funny, still on tour, miss them at your peril!
Gunnfjauns Kapell - great Swedish tunes and songs, I now have a new favourite tune (Trumbromsen).
Pressgang - you had to be there, so much energy and joy on stage, even the greatest non-dancer jigged.
422 - young, fresh, energetic and incredibly talented! If you can keep your feet still to those guys, you've got your soles superglued to the floor. Worth staying late for!

Lowlights:
Oysterband - lackluster.
Andwella Consort - a classical soprano in a mediaeval ensemble doesn't work, sorry. Also: if you're on stage, for gods' sake at least pretend you're enjoying yourself even if you'd rather be sucking lemons.
The Oxon beer prices - on average, a fiver didn't buy you a couple of pints.

So-So Lights (take 'em or leav'em):
Eliza Carthy - nice, not to be flawed, surprisingly sexy, but a bit of an anticlimax compared to Cloudstreet, I'm afraid.
Diego Brown & The Good Fairy - outweirded me, I'd have needed stranger drugs than beer to appreciate this fully. Some bits were funny, though.
Craobh Rua - great stand-up comedy between tunes. Good standard Irish Trad, but nothing (for me) new and exciting.


Will I be back? You betcha. Next time I know where to look for the good sessions. And I'll take the Monday off work, sobering up on a Sunday night ain't too much fun!

Sorry I missed you Cream-T.

Here are some boardsters enjoing Diego Brown and the Good Fairy.

Paul


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You may be right there.

That was in response to this.

Paul


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Isn't she the most scary woman since your headmistress in Infant School?

It were the Bee Song that did it.

We had not got our hands on the kazoos at that point.

(We spent last night practising for the Kazoo Orchestra of Great Britain, much to Nick's annoyance. Love Will Tear Us Apart in the key of H is coming along brilliantly - watch out Cropredy 2006).


Who, me, Fi or the Good Fairy ;D (probably all 3 of us)

On another tack, I forgot to mention that Boatgirl was at Wallingford as well. Ask her about the tent pegs ;D

Sandra

Nope... you should have seen the MM&M Morris Dance Lady seen at the Head of the River during the Oxford Folk Festival - now SHE was scary  :o .... ask Anji, she'll tell you

"Winners of the 'weirdest of the weekend' by a (horses) nose were this lot, Circulus"

I liked them so much I have just ordered their new CD
Chris
 :)

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A couple of photos

Fi, Nick and Chris on the festival bus and Paul

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A couple more

The Bee Song and one I like of Eliza

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Excellent photos Sandra .... although one major bump in the road and Nick looks  like he could have created a sunroof!  ;) ;D

And it was a vintage bus. The driver looked quite worried when we got on :o

One interesting (not) fact that we discovered is the fact that I am the same height as Nick when sitting down. He does seem to have more than the average leg allocation though. (Length not number  ;D )

Thanks Sandy, you don't have one that doesn't appear to have a beer gut on it do you? ;D

Paul

Oh, I Want to Be a Bee is quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen since my first encounter with Eddie Izzard at the Gilded Balloon in nineteenninetysomething...completely did me and Sandra in. And is there a better song title than 'Look!, Cecil, There Goes the Titanic!'  I don't think the Good Fairy is scary at all...the witchy lady voice in Cloudstreets 'King Willie' was though...


...yes, we should have proper kazoos by then, we will wear them suspended from our tiaras by golden chains for easy access at all times (poor Nick, not only does he not fit on buses, but he's tortured by small women with buzzing musical instruments...hee hee  ;D)

These are all excellent photos everyone, marvellous! :D

Actually - number, too! Here's why:
About 1 in 2000 people have only one leg. (The number of people with more than two legs is so small that it can safely be neglected in this statistic. I have left out the completely legless, too for two reasons: One, I don't have the numbers and two, the number of legless people - especially at Folk festivals - varies considerably from moment to moment...)
This means that 2000 people have 3999 legs between them.
Ergo, the average number of legs is 1,9995.
Strangely enough, 1999 of 2000 people have therefore a higher-than-average number of legs and Nick is one of them! (I counted.)

:D

.......... it's a bit early to have been drinking that much, Cream-T! ;) ;D

Now now Sandy...what goes on tour stays on tour!  ;)

Suffice to say, it is customary for Boatboy and I to leave something at home every time we camp. This time it was the pegs. Last time it was the poles, so this was a minor inconvenience. We simply used the only pointy things we could find as pegs. So if anyone happened to walk past a pod-shaped tent with bamboo canes sticking out of the ground at odd angles, it was not an art installation, it was our accomodation.
If you're asking yourself why we happen to have bamboo canes in our car...well, lets just say they make better pegs than poles...

What a fab festival! Beautiful weather, 50 ales to work through, a diverse range of stalls, and free music--what more do you need? Circulus and Mary Jane were my faves, but I also enjoyed the Bedlam Morris team--so scary they made children cry.

Boatgirl

Boatgirl & Boy! Of course! I knew I'd forgotten some board members. Good to see you. Sorry for hijacking your guitar...

Cheers

Nick

Who were the very colourful Morris Side who danced to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"(The Wimoweh song)?I think they were from Cambridge but I didnt catch their name.Ive never seen them before.What an explosion of colour 8) and a wonderful assortment of hats.

These?

Paul


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"drinking" ... "too early" ... no, does not compute, sorry! ;D

But actually, this is my normal state of mind, I was at work when typing it... ask my colleagues!

Yes Paul they are the ones.Who are they?

Can't remember the exact name, but I am sure it was something to do with Granchester.

Paul

I think it is Gog Magog Molly from Cambridgeshire.

They were camping just down from us.

Sandra

Sounds & looks like Gog Magog Molly...their website is here (http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/molly)

A friend has just e-mailed me after going to Wallingford and said, although stifling hot, he enjoyed it lots, especially Mawkin who he says resembles a 'youthful reincarnation of the Albion Dance Band.' He can't stop playing the demo cd apparently  ;)