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BBC RADIO 2 FOLK AWARDS 2011 The Brewery, London
As is now an annual tradition, the commercial wing of the folk revival gathered in the pres- ence of minor celebrities to applaud the achievements of those they’ve spent the last 12 months finding fault with. A loud cry went up as the first award, for Best Duo, was presented to the lovely Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. The cry came from their baby, Hamish, who chose that moment to air his protest at the axing of BBC Radio Derby Folkwaves (or perhaps he’d just filled his nappy, either way it stinks).
Despite being a token gesture to the folk
music that isn’t proper folk music and causes arguments, Laura Marling gave a spellbind- ing performance of a brand new track, but was pipped to the Best Original Song Award by Chris Wood. As the old saying goes: ‘Folk Award failure means Brit Award success’ – or something like that. It was a shame Roger Daltrey had removed his ‘Folk Against Fas- cism’ badge by the time he got to The Brits, as he displayed it proudly while presenting the Musician Of The Year Award to fellow mem- ber of The Who, Andy Cutting.
Amongst the other famous award-givers, it was a rare treat for us common types to be addressed by Joanna Trollope, what with her being of such fine breeding and no mistake. Frank Skinner made several jokes about how some people in folk have beards (it’s funny because it’s true). And conductor Charles Hazlewood confused everyone with an Ivor Cutler poem about trees.
Regular host Mike Harding was aided this year by the third member of The Two Ronnies, Barbara Dickson. Strangely it was standing room only in the toilets during her rendition of My Donald, complete with authentic late-’80s synthesiser. Though while there we did overhear one folk veteran angri- ly critiquing the songwriting of a 2011 win- ner. We shan’t say who, even if you tickle us.
Brighton anarchists The Levellers got
the Roots Award for services to unwashed hair, and performed spirited renditions of their popular hits, accompanied by a fright- ening clown waving his didgeridoo about. Brendan from Bellowhead also seemed close to waving his about, as the rest of the band tried to wrestle the microphone from him during their second acceptance speech of the night. It seems the poison warnings on the David Owen-designed wine labels weren’t heeded.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Donovan for teaching Bob Dylan every- thing he knows. As well as performing two songs from the old days (with Danny Thomp- son on hand to demonstrate how Donovan invented jazz-folk), Mr Leitch showed off his impressive ‘three accents in one sentence’ trick during an acceptance speech in which we learned how he’d invented Celtic rock, The Beatles and jeggings. We may have mis- heard that last one.
At least, we’re pretty sure that’s what happened. But they say that if you can remember the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, you were at home watching it on the red button.
Tim Chipping
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