The Cambridge Folk Festival 2012, a warm up for the big 50 next year, didn’t disappoint.
The highlight being husband and wife duo Amandou and Mariam from Mali as they performed a set that was incredible enough as it was, but was made even more so by the fact that they’re both blind.
Amandou’s trademark call of “Do you feel alright? Are you okay?” was met with enthusiastic applause from the crowd before a shout of “Lets go!!” from the supremely talented drummer would launch the band into another song, and the crowd into a subsequent frenzy.
Following them wouldn’t be easy, but The Levellers came on and showed what wonderful variety you can find at a festival, who came out and set the tempo for the rest of their set with upbeat ‘What A Beautiful Day’, following their high octane start, the set took a surreal turn when out stepped someone dressed in tartan and white face paint and carrying with him a didgeridoo and on his head? not just a standard hat but a disco-ball style hat! it was around this time the band found their foot tapping folk roots and were, based on the crowds reaction, at their very best.
The reason the festival is so popular amongst its many fans and is heading into its 50th year, is because of their bold booking policy whereby they guarantee that 50% of the bands and performers at the festival will not have been seen before. This policy offers a challenging but ultimately rewarding edge for the organisers and this is because it meant that lurking on the outskirts are stages such as The Peoples Front Room which gave incomparable exposure for little known bands such as Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker, Hladowski and Joynes, Luke Jackson and Common Tongues whilst some of the weekenders main stage acts were also previously little known but as word of mouth begins to spread and the dust begins to settle on an amazing weekend of music you can bet your last guitar pick that these acts won’t remain unknown.
A fantastic weekend of music that showcased the wonderful, occasionally weird, atmosphere that only a music festival can provide in the brilliant sunshine of Cherry Hinton Hall.