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Folkwoods 2002

The best place to go for any folkie!
09 augustus 2002, Eindhoven (NL)

Tekst: Martijn van Gessel

Publicatiedatum: 15 augustus 2002

This year was the third time that at a park in Eindhoven the third international Folkwoods Festival took place. The festival focuses on both traditional and new forms of folk music. This way the festival presents a good selection of what folk music is at the moment. Besides that it is able to attract both young and older folkies, which is nice for a change, because most summer festival tends towards attracting only adolescents.

Folkwoods is a pretty small festival with about 2,000 people attending it. Due to the fact that it is such a small festival with a diverse public, the overall mood is very pleasant. There is enough space to lie around in the grass or play soccer with some kids, while some band is playing in the background. This way you could almost forget to watch some of the great acts.

The festival started Friday evening with some old 'stars', namely Tir Na nOg, a sort of Irish Simon and Garfunkel, who started the festival in a traditional way. The Mahones took stage after that with their folk rock that calls to mind The Pogues. The band that made the most impression on Friday was Mitrick. This Dutch band played some wonderful tunes and displayed their skills and knowledge of a variety of folk styles.

Saturday the festival really started with the breakfast concert of the Dutch female duo Ygdrassil. Their sad songs, with a few exceptions, called to mind the best days of The Pentangle. After this performance Folkwoods was already a success. From Berlin come the 17 Hippies, a collective of musicians differing from ten to thirty on stage. The 16 musicians at Folkwoods gave a great performance. They play mainly Balkan-inspired folk in a danceable manner. Too bad they did perform at a early hour, so the largest part of the audience wasn't ready to dance yet. Shantalla gave a good performance with their traditional Celtic folk. Other significant acts on Saturday were Rapalje (Celtic folk) and Shooglenifty (folk with dance influences). Besides that there was the legendary Martin Carthy (Steeleye Span) doing a performance with Norma Waterson. Although they played well (of course)it wasn't that impressive. But is hard when you got a reputation like he has. Headmix played as headliner on the mainstage on Saturday and like always the got everybody dancing with their wonderful mix of folk, reggae and dub. The only point is that they should start writing some new material soon because the set is getting a bit predictable.

Sunday a couple of bands (Rapalje and 17 Hippies) did another performance for those who missed them the day before. The Belgian 70's folk band 't Kliekse took people back to a time when they and other similar acts like Fungus and Rum dominated the sound of folk music with their folk from the Low Countries. Apparatschik did their interpretation of Russian folk mixed with rock, ska and punk influences. Which is funny for about three songs, after that it all sounds a bit the same. The not so folk Flip Kowlier brought his typical Belgian pop (dEUS, Zita Swoon, etc.) convincing but it seemed as if he was on the wrong festival. Last year's Within Temptation was probably a better choice when it comes to similarity to overall feeling in their music and (some) folk. After that it was to Celtica to close this Folkwoods edition in a rave. With their mix of folk, psychedelic rock and acid house they had no problem to keep people dancing.

The selection of totally different folk acts makes this festival a good place to go for any folkie. Hopefully this festival is not going to grow very much. One of the reasons it is so nice to be there is the small size and the not too many people being there. And just another wish for next year is that Ygdrassil will be playing again and not just for breakfast, but maybe also for going to bed.

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