The fifth Wychwood Festival usually marks the start of the green field festival season, this year most of the global roots, folk and world music was on the Sunday. GondwanaSound received this report. Text by Adrian Phillips from TunAtheDay and images by Lisa Coleman from Puttyfoot.
The sun hung in the cloudless sky, plump and proud as our convoy made its way along the A40 towards Cheltenham. This was the third year in a row that I’d attended Britain’s Best Family Festival, but the first time I’d been as a non-punter. Yes folks, I was attempting the near impossible by deputising for GondwanaSound’s Jill Turner who’d decided that being close to home for the impending birth of her first child was more important !
So, with newly purchased voice recorder and reporter’s notebook clutched in my sweaty palms I approached the Media Desk only to find that they’d already shut up shop for the day. Feeling a right lemon I called the mobile number that they’d left, whilst the rest of my party coughed up for their tickets. Soon, I was in possession of my press pass and confidently strode into the festival site (the immaculately laid out Cheltenham Racecourse) to seek my first interview. Too tight to buy a programme, I rushed off to the Media Tent to find out the running order for the day. I have to admit to being slightly disappointed in not finding comfy sofas and a fully stocked complimentary bar but this quickly faded following the warm welcome from Guy and Sean from Incubator as they logged my requests for artist interviews.
Such smooth organisation allowed me to leave the canvas hot house full of burly photographers and the reporter from the Independent tapping away on his laptop, to catch up with the rest of my group.
Tracking down the rest of my group didn’t prove too onerous a task, that’s one of the beauties of Wychwood – well spaced out and not swarming with bodies, and I was soon being liberally smeared with sun block by my other half.
"the biggest surprise was that this year the CD concession had been given to Proper Records who’d priced all the music at £10 or under"
Not being attracted to the act on the main stage I went for a wander. There were the usual wide variety of reasonably priced food stalls and campaigning groups, but the biggest surprise was that this year the CD concession had been given to Proper Records who’d priced all the music at £10 or under, which produced hundreds of smiling faces who, no doubt, ended up buying more items – smart move! After parting with dosh for a couple of Peter Gabriel albums and having a brief chat with the amiable Paul Geoghegan from Songlines Magazine I thought it high time I did some work.
I’d arranged to interview an exciting new hip hop band called Queens English for my site TunA the Day and had said that my daughter Daisy and her mate Sophie could tag along. For someone who is more experienced behind the computer blogging rather than holding a voice recorder, I thought it went pretty well. It always helps when the interviewees are as warm, open and eloquent.
After lunching on a plate of Thai noodles and making a second trip to Proper, this time picking up a copy of the utterly wonderful Lightbox by Real World signing Spiro, I realised that I’d been there nearly three hours and hadn’t seen any bands yet, so I bustled over to catch the excellent Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara who I was due to chat with after their set.
"they couldn’t have been nicer and it was great to talk to artists that had left their egos at the gate"
Although I’d been slotted in after their photo shoot the pair didn’t play ball, dashing straight past the gathering mob and making a beeline for the Songlines tent where they spent the next 40mins signing copies of their new CD. However, when they did return they couldn’t have been nicer and it was great to talk to artists that had left their egos at the gate. The conversation centred on how they’d met and began their collaboration and that much of the music that Justin had been attracted to during his career was rooted in African rhythms.
It felt like waiting for a No.7 bus, for no sooner had we’d finished then an interview with one of the day’s biggest artists Dub Colossus was hastily arranged. Basking in temperatures that wouldn’t have been out of place in some of the group’s home town of Addis Ababa I nattered with band members. Sintayehu Zenebe, who’s Ethiopia’s biggest pop star, Samuel Mitiku, Addis’ answer to Simon Cowell Feleke Hailu who had a great story about being attacked during recording Ethiopia Pop Idol after he described one guy as singing like a donkey and Nick Page (ex-Transglobal Underground, Steel Pulse and Temple of Sound) who had some interesting points about the difficulty of getting visas to bring musicians over from Africa.
With a copy of the band’s new EP safely tucked away in my rucksack I decided I ought to rejoin my posse as Bellowhead were now in full swing. It looked as though a large percentage of the crowd had been waiting for the band to play as the space in front of the stage was heaving.
As fun as Bellowhead were I skipped the final few songs and made my way to the Old Hookey Tent which plays host to lesser known and unsigned artists and where I think some of the more interesting stuff is to be heard. Although the service at the bar left something to be desired I did get to exchange a few words with Tom Robinson who was hosting his Fresh to the Net sessions in the tent and grab a quick interview with R & B / funk band Avipaul.
Back to the headlining stage (via a quick stop for cheesy chips) to see Dub Colossus. I’d really enjoyed listening to their debut A Town Called Addis, but for me the reggae jazz fusion was lost in the open air environment and it turned out to be a major disappointment. Still, onward and upward, and with promises to my wife that I would spend sometime looking Daisy, but not just yet, it was back to the unsigned tent to be entertained by Oxford pop-folkies Stornoway and the aforementioned Avipaul (think Prince, but taller) and to be totally blown away by the quite brilliant Queens English.
With a cooling breeze and darkening skies the day was capped off by the vibrant and energetic Dhol Foundation who even got this 45 year old on his pins. More than eleven hours after we pitched up our motley crew wearily made our way back to the car park and began the journey home.
Verdict? Superbly organised and great for kids, but it would’ve been nice to see a bigger attendance.
