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I arrive in the early afternoon and hot- foot it straight to the Hot Shoe Café Stage, to catch the end of Danto Aiyya’s set. A Tuareg singer from Libya who, from the little I hear, has a very nice line in trancey desert blues. There’s more trance music in the Acoustic Yurt (an atmospheric tent in the middle of Bernie Spain Gardens with rugs on the floor and acoustic and spoken word per- formers on stage) from Duo El-Andaluz, aka Algerians Yazid Fentazi (oud) and darbucka player Karim Delali.
The main performance space is usually known as the Sanctuary Stage, but this year has been re-christened the Collaboration Stage, for reasons that become obvious when I wander over and hear Cuban violinist Omar Puente playing with Sri Lankan veena (three- stringed South Asian lute) master Hari Sivane- san and his musicians, a meeting of musical minds across continents that actually works!
Celebrating Sanctuary has always been as much about the stalls as the performances and although there aren’t as many this year, it’s still possible to enjoy a whole range of arts, crafts and eats (my veggie-head off- spring are particularly impressed by the meat free options), before catching the troubadour’s troubadour, Rory McLeod, wowing ‘em with a slick and committed one man show on the Collaboration Stage.
The festival closers are the Krar Collec- tive. The Ethiopian three-piece grow stronger and more confident each time I see them and boy do they make a big rockin’ noise for such a small line-up. It’s getting to be a bit of a cliché to claim that Temesegen Tareken (back on stage for the second time, following his contribution to the earlier harp orgy) is the Hendrix of the krar, but sometimes clichés are clichés because they’re right.
Jamie Renton
Home Festival Dartington Hall, South Devon
Against a backdrop of David Nash’s Black Sphere, an impressive charred oak orb sculp- ture set into the ancient landscaped grounds of Dartington Hall, Jackie Oates’ angelic voice ascended to join the mighty chorus of mid- summer birdsong just as the sun began to lower in the west. This is natural music-mak- ing at its most exquisite… pure and unadul- terated. Just as long as we ignored the unfor- tunately programmed passing samba band which overwhelmed the opening song. It
Julaba Kunda on stage at Hogwarts Live
only lasted a short while though, and in no way spoiled Jackie and Tristan Seume’s charming ‘secret-gig’ performance.
As champions of unamplified music, the programming ethos of Dartington’s Home Festival is an admirable one. However, it hoist itself by its own petard on several occasions throughout the day, showing just why that is often an impractical ambition. The glorious and rarified atmosphere of the Great Hall may well have provided an inspiring location and perfect acoustic for musicians playing without an audience. However, the complica- tion of several hundred people absorbing sound, gentling shuffling and shifting in and out of the room, together with the occasional soundspill from line-checks on the amplified stage outside, as well as the natural imbal- ance between certain instrumental line-ups, lessened the impact.
Thus was lost all of the intricacy of Sekou
Keita’s virtuosic kora playing, though his har- mony singing with the delicious-voiced Binto Susso was gorgeous. Thus was lost the intro- ductions and banter of the wonderful acous- tic pairing of Juldeh Camara and Justin Adams (banjo suits you sir!). And whilst I loved hearing the unadorned beauty of Julie Murphy’s voice in that setting, and Fernhill’s wonderful instrumental arrangements, I know that the impact was greater when heard in a second amplified venue. Open- throated, yet refined, Bulgarian chorus of The Perunika Trio, with their wonderful disso-
nances and soaring close harmonies, whoop- ing and swooping, fared somewhat better.
That gripe aside, there were some won- derful acts and some wonderful perfor- mances throughout the day-and-a-bit festi- val. For me, this started with an unintentional dance performance from State Of Emergency (they weren’t Sheema Mukherjee….but by all accounts she was rather wonderful too!) which was inspired. Juldeh Camara and Griselda Sanderson, aka Julaba Kunda, offered up a great, grooving mix of things string-like…riti and fiddle and nyckelharpa. Alejandro Toledo & His Magic Tombelinos super-charged, leather-trousered Balkan jazz- romp, both unplugged and via the main, left me unmoved (not for the first time) but went down a storm with the crowd. The trance-like desert grooves of Tamikrest warmed up an otherwise grey afternoon. The evening head- liner, Suzanne Vega, looked a treat and sounded in good fettle, particularly on old favourites Marlene On The Wall, The Queen & The Soldier, Tom’s Diner and Luka. The more theatrical contemporary numbers were a little lost and lack-lustre in amongst them.
Home is a small, family budget-friendly festival with big-hearted ideas and ideals. Dart- ington Hall is a beautiful setting for a festival: as Corncrow’s Steve Hunt commented, “like you’d imagine a folk club at Hogwarts would be!”. In its second year only, it is perhaps still feeling its way but has lots of potential.
Sarah Coxson
Photo: Beth Heaney
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