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Folk East Glemham Hall, Suffolk. By Jo Freya. W
hat the hell is a Jackalope and why should I be bothered? It’s a beast that’s about four metres tall and found in the
middle of the Suffolk countryside residing in the grounds of a country house, Glemham Hall. It looks a bit like a massive rabbit or hare with antelope horns and each year Folk East constructs the beast from different materials. In 2018, as a means of putting an emphasis on plastic recycling, it was made of plastic bottles. The year before, wicker or something like that was used.
It presides over Folk East and whilst it might seem odd to single it out it is one of the things that makes this festival different.
These days festivals, like many city cen- tres, look and feel the same as each other. It’s often down to booking the same artists, having the same types of arts and craft stalls and the same food outlets. Not here.
Whilst I don’t actually remember all the food outlets at Folk East I remember being pleasantly surprised by their diversity, and the craft stuff was definitely different. Woodcarvings are created right before your
Festival patrons The Young ’Uns
eyes, and there are folk instrument-type stalls such as bagpipe makers and other spe- cific instruments makers. You can get involved in group quilt making, banner painting and more. There are lots of little pockets of activity and at the instrument stalls there are often rather lovely sessions going on so anyone wandering by can hear those instruments played, hopefully well!
The biggest potential pitfall is a main stage that has no marquee over it; the stage itself has cover but the audience sits or stands on the grass in front. Well, Cam- bridge survived like that for years and, you know, you go prepared don’t you?
On a beautiful summer’s, day or night
it’s glorious. You’re not sitting in a fetid tent with other people’s hot bodies and breath steaming around you. You have the fresh air, smell of grass and the ability to chat without affecting anything much… or to sneeze loudly if you’re a hay fever suffer- er… and no one will bat an eyelid.
For the bands it can feel great but if
there aren’t many people on the vast expanse of grass it probably feels a bit sparse. But the riskiness pays off. Many gen- uinely seem to love it as they sit and picnic,
drink, snooze or leap about. Just be aware that this part is susceptible to the beautiful- ly unpredictable British weather.
Then there are a few other stages which all have quite different characters. You can choose between them or decide you like one best and stay there for the whole weekend. There’s truly acoustic tradi- tional music and more rock-based items, local bands and morris dancers you can fol- low around. You could leave the festival site for a session at the Blaxhall Ship – a tiny, iconic little pub that has had traditional music, song and step dancing there since at least the early ‘50s, when it was first docu- mented, and before.
My only quibble would be the floor in the dance tent. It’s OK but OK isn’t good enough in my mind – but it is often rammed full of people who don’t care about that and thoroughly enjoy themselves!
The music is not always placed where you would expect it to be: e.g. the main stage is definitely for the biggest names but not always the loudest sounds. As festival patrons, The Young ’Uns may put in a main stage appearance along with other more acoustic bands.
I think the Guardian quote sums it up nicely: “Folk East feels more like a very English village fete than a festival.” Of course it’s on a much larger scale but it says it’s family run and that’s what it feels like.
hey started with the right attitude, which was the knowledge that they would need to grow their vision before it stood any chance of financially breaking even. Like a new restaurant in an oversubscribed area, there are many festivals that go under because they haven’t factored in the losses they will make before things begin to turn around and even then there are no guarantees. That attitude has seen them build a loyal following, and they run regular events through the year to keep the folk music profile up and the name of the festival on people’s tongues. That they’ve created a different but recognisable identity in a short amount of time is a reflection of their hard work and dedication.
T
Having recommended the festival to people I’ve then crossed my fingers and held my breath but every one of them has said how much they enjoyed it. Whew!
This year’s Folk East takes place on 16th – 18th August with a bill including Richard Thompson, Cara Dillon, Karine Polwart, Sharon Shannon, John Smith and more.
folkeast.co.uk
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Photo: Ian Anderson
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