Birds of Chicago, plus loads more ... #Madfest (3)

Ultima, però no per això el menys important, de la trilogia d'apunts sobre Madfest. Lo que ens va agradar més d'aquest festival, potser és aixo de sentir musica de gent com tu o jo - vull dir, crec que m'agrada tant o més anar a petits concerts al poble per sentir un desconegut, que anar a la Gran Ciutat per sentir les Estrelles. Com hem dit abans, la majoria de concerts eren fins i tot gratis, de gent que passa la vida segurament fent una altra feina i intentant tirar endavant aquesta faceta de music. Per aixo, sempre que podem , comprem els CDs que tenen per vendre (o samarettes). Igual que no ens dona cap remordiment baixar musica de U2 gratis, trobo que els petits artistes que necessiten un cop de mà, mereixen això i molt més.

Destacarem un dels grups que vam vore per la nit - els Birds of Chicago, una combinació molt interessant d'estils i veus - pero també podem recomanar que mireu als Mambo Jambo, Lauren Tate, Plum Hall, Baghdaddies i, potser el grup més famos que van tocar, els Capercaille - segur que hi havia molts més també,. pero ja no vam tenir temps per a escoltar més. Com hem dit abans, a banda de musica, n'hi havia un munt d'activitats per a fer en els petits de casa també.

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Last but not least of the Madfest blogpost trilogy. Before we sign off, I think we should offer a final thought on this kind of event .. alongside the small concerts we've seen back home in Tortosa by local or just-starting-out artists, we've come to realise we enjoy them just as much, and probably more, than going down to the Big City to see a Superstar. I think I'd much rather see a small group in it for real, than the likes of professional people who've seen it all, done it all. Mainly for this reason, I believe these artists should be supported - save your bootleg downloads for U2 or Elton John, and buy the CDs and merchandise of this kind of artist! Which is what we did.

Anyway, we saw plenty of groups but the one we'll focus on in a moment is Birds of Chicago, mainly as we were left in awe by their amazing combination of styles and singing. Before their video, though, other groups we saw included (and are worth checking out with these links): Mambo Jambo, Lauren Tate, Plum Hall, and the Baghdaddies, as well as, probably the most famous group of the weekend - Capercaille. Plenty more, but we also had to spend time on all the other activities available, especially for kids :)

Le Vent Du Nord - #Madfest (2)

Continuant amb més música que vam coneixer al festival Madfest (llegir l'apunt anterior), aquí tenim a Le Vent Du Nord - un grup del Quebec que ens van encantar.
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By popular demand, let's have a few more recommendations from the music we heard at this year's Madfest (see previous post). From Quebec, Le Vent Du Nord. Great stuff, great people, great for dancing.

The Mistakings #MadFest #Elsecar

Com els meus seguidors regulars sabran, vinc d'una zona "post-industrial", uns pobles on la gent abans vivia de les mines de carbò i ara viuen de la sort o de les subsidis de l'estat. Quan Thatcher va tancar les mines, per exemple, va acabar amb pobles com Elsecar a South Yorkshire. Poc a poc, però, els governs locals han intentat donar una sortida a la seva gent i/o promoure el poble, aprofitant, precisament, les instal·lacions historiques de la mina. El Centre de Patrimoni Local (Elsecar Heritage Centre) és un lloc ple d'edificis vells, antics tallers i magatzens, i vies de tren, i canals de transport, que s'ha intentat donar una segona vida. Ara hi ha artesans o petits botigues i organitzen activitats diverses en cap de setmana. El primer cap de setmana d'agost, organitzan un festival de musica folk i actes culturals, el Madfest. Aquest any hi hem anat. Està molt bé. No és Glastonbury - no trobarem a gent que són "cools" ni van d'hipsters ni hippies. Simplement s'hi atansa la gent del poble, els iaios i els nets, els gossos i els adolescents. Vestits tal com rajen sense pensar en un minut del "look". I a passar-ho bé. Com que cada any el cartell de grups aconsegueix portar noms més coneguts (en el món del folk), també vé alguna gent de fora. Molt de tallers d'artesania, molts d'actes pel carrer, poesia, un escenari per espontenis, molts de contes i teatres pels petits, i moltissima musica - ah, i molta cervesa artesanal. Fins i tot hi ha gent que porta el seu propi got de peltre de casa.

I tot gratis, menys uns concerts en recinte tancat a la nit - pero durant el dia hi havia una quinzena de concerts gratis - amb els cantants passejant per allì i aixi vam poder saludar a diversos.

Per cert, quan diem "folk" en anglès no vol dir simplement rotllo Bob Dylan o Lluis Llach, sino musica tradicional.

Anyway, anem a repassar un parell o tres dels grups que ens van agradar. Primer The Mistakings, un grup de 3 noies joves que encara no han gravat disc, pero tenen coses penjades al Youtube o Facebook. Canten moltes cançons tradicionals, i molts de shantys - cançons tipiques de la mar, dels pirates ... a vore si us agraden:

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So, as regular readers may remember I come from South Yorkshire, a place we may define as post-industrial! To be specific, Hoyland, next to Elsecar. Elsecar, a village torn apart by Thatcherism when the mines were closed down. Ever since then it's struggled to get back on its feet. One of the positive things local governments and citizens have tried to do, though, is make the most of the old mine buildings, workshops, storerooms, railway, canal and so on. The Elsecar Heritage Centre rents out many buildings to craft shops, artists, small businesses, and puts on many fantastic events at weekends to draw the crowds in. One such event is the folk festival known as Madfest, held every August. This year we were lucky enough to be there.

It was great. No Glastonbury or Woodstock - this was no place for the ultra-cool hipsters or even hippies, more a grandparents and grandkids' day, dog walkers, parents and pushchairs, just the locals wandering through, and fans of good ol' fashioned traditional music; more a beer (or tea) and pie event, than a joint-smoking love-in. Walking boots on their feet, rather than flowers in their hair.

A great weekend - loads of free music (and a few paying concerts at night), pies, real ale, poetry, street art, kids' theatre shows, dancing, chatting, a really good time. Nothing pretentious. The singers came off stage and just mingled in with the "crowds" - well, let's say "bunches of people" then!

Anyway, highly recommended - just remember you can take your own tankard :)

So, we'll run through a few of the groups we really liked over the next few posts. Starting with The Mistakings, a group of three young lasses who did some amazing singing, fiddling, strumming- running through traditional songs and shanties galore. They've not even recorded an album yet, but they've got some stuff up on Facebook and Youtube of course! Judge for yourselves ...