Music festivals and rockin' kid
I'm sorry but this kid deserves not to go behind an LJ-cut. He is amazing! A few weeks ago I went to a low-key but very good music festival in North Yorkshire. Three stages playing everything from ska-punk to acoustic to a fantastic old guy doing the blues (who looked as though he had been picked straight out of a smokey backstreet bar). But in my mind, the star of the show was this amazing boy. He appeared in front of the main stage during a rock band performance and just launched straight into some amazing robot-style and metal dancing. No one else was dancing, just him. I mean, how old is he?? 9? But everything else, his solemn-angst expression, the seriousness of it..it all looked like someone much older. He ended up with quite a lot of cheers and applause.
It really struck me how no-one else got up to dance, but the kid did. (perhaps all the adults were too drunk/stoned). There is a fantastic energy to watching children run about, but to see one dance was incredible. I really hope he doesn't loose that sense of exuberance or lack of inhibition as he gets older.
I am rediscovering the joy of music lately. Ever since stonehenge and the flute playing, I've wanted to play some more. Mark (the osteopath guy I was staying with) asked me to play my flute as an introduction to a shamanic journey he ran. It was inside a dark mud-hut with thatched roof, complete with animal skins and a cow skull above the door..very atmospheric. You can just about see me in a photo here, Mark is the bald guy. I actually composed a little tune for this, and it was very scary to play solo in front of people. Once I got into it though I was away! I had to stop though because I wanted to do some shamanic journeying myself..a topic for a different post.
This weekend I went to Sidmouth folk festival with my friend Sue. This festival was effectively spread across the whole seaside town, we wandered into pubs where musicians were sitting together with a pint on the table and playing the violin/flute/mandolin/accordian/whistle. I even saw a guy playing SPOONS which was amazing to watch. It really struck me that this is side of music we so rarely see, used to instant mp3's or highly polished professional bands/orchestras. But it was truly wonderful watching people getting together, someone starting up a folk piece and the others joining in.
I want in on this, so in the last week I've started collecting together people I know who want to play music but don't feel 'good enough' or are a bit nervous, or just generally are more interested in having fun than pretentious showing off. Our first 'jamming session' is next thursday :) woo!
Other more general photos of festival here
