Our various sessions were well attended and all went well. ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavour?’ was a hoot, with a dozen players crowding the Trocadero stage.
Rob and I were back there the next day for a two-hander on the wonderfully subversive subject of folk parodies. As usual, the audience knew as many, if not more, than we did. That’s a folklorist’s lot.
Thanks to all who took part as audiences and performers and to all those organisers, volunteers and kindly folk who make the National Folk Festival happen every year, now for more than fifty of them.
It’s all so engrossing, busy and enjoyable that it’s easy to forget the scale and achievement of the folk movement. People interested in musical, dance and other traditions have been coming together since the 1950s to practice, perform, learn and celebrate these often-fragile arts, crafts, skills and customs, practicing them at festivals, folk clubs and get-togethers. It’s all happened because people want to preserve, but also evolve, what are seen as valuable forms of community heritage and expressive culture.
The National is the oldest of the festivals still running (long may it do so), but there are others all around the country, large and small, all dedicated to some aspect of ‘folk’. These days, they might get a bit of official funding and support, but they remain primarily volunteer events that allow folkies and broader communities to come together in a positive celebration of human art and life, something that seems to be needed more and more.
See you there next year.
