Well it’s Monday and the Bampton Folk Music Festival in the ancient English North Devon town of Bampton - “After the fair” - is over except for the real die hards who I suspect will still be lurking in the friendly streets of the ancient English North Devon town of Bampton.
Was the Bampton Folk Music Festival a success? Also called After the Fair. You bet it was!
I turned up on Friday evening at about 8.30pm thinking I could be early only to find that the folk music session at the White Horse, Bampton was in full swing. A quick check around the other pubs in Bampton showed they were rocking too. Apparently, there had been musicians and singers sessioning from Wednesday and the prediction was that there would be people around until the Wednesday after. This is one Folk Music Festival that is growing.
Anyway, I settled down to joining in with the music and had a fantastic time. There were musical instruments of all kinds and players from all corners of the UK and Ireland and also France but, more than anything else, there were lots of smiling faces. People come together so easily in the folk scene. The atmosphere is so relaxed and friendly so it feels like everybody’s not been apart.
I was a bit worried that my shiny new soprano saxophone might not be accepted. At the previous Bampton Folk Festival, I’d mentioned that I was thinking of getting one and I had a couple of negative comments or reservations along the lines of ‘It’s not really a folk instrument’.
However, my rendition of the ‘Rope Waltz’ was warmly welcomed - such a wonderful lilty tune - so I shouldn’t have worried and so were the other tunes I played in the course of the evening. Several people I have never spoken to before came up and asked about the instrument and said how much they enjoyed it. This is a new experience for me after many years of playing flute and clarinet which were never praised in that way. The soprano sax really is a wonderful instrument.
At the end of the evening, the French Breton’s came into the bar with their wonderful loud Bombardes and made a fantastic sound.
Saturday and Sunday passed in a frenzy of sessions, all great. I really enjoyed drifting from pub to pub and sampling all the different styles and types of folk music. The Morris Dancers were busy around the Swan looking very Morris dancerish and happy.
Although I didn’t go there, I heard that the Folk Dance ( ceilis or ceilidhs ) was very successful. I was at the White Horse again on the Saturday evening and certainly the numbers went down at the pub during the dance. I also heard that there was a very successful Irish music session at the Quarryman’s Rest, Bampton (formally The Seahorse, recently refurbished ) which is a new and very welcome addition to the pubs warmly welcoming musicians during this festival.
Saturday, I opted for the White Horse again and ended up right at the front of the session which meant that when the Bombardes turned up, they sat all around me. The din was incredible. They were reinforced by an English lady so there were three Bombardes and a banjo playing in rapid, quick fire succession. After a few minutes, one of the melodion players pulled out an instrument that looked like a truncated clarinet which was also very loud and quite amazing to hear. The guitar player next to me said wryly, ‘If it isn’t hurting your ears, it means you’ve gone deaf.’
The Saturday session was still in full swing when I headed for the car park via the still very busy Swan and Bridge Hotel.
Sunday, everybody looked somewhat tired to start with but as the day progressed, things livened up and I left at about 5pm contented.
Bampton Folk Music Festival was terrific and I’m definitely going to be back next year.
