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 ...