NEFFA

We just got back from two days at the New England Folk Festival. It was a bit discouraging on the one hand because virtually all the impromptu jamming was non-vocal. The jam sessions are where you can meet kindred (or at least compatible) spirits. We should have seen it coming since this is primarily a folk dance festival and most of the musicians there play for dances. As I thought more about it, I realized that many - if not most - of the vocalists who go to this kind of event have become instrumentalist so they can join in - Castlebay included.

It makes sense. This is communal music and the words get in the way. The only festivals we have attended where this happens vocally are nautical festivals where there are a lot of sea shanties sung. The shantys have simple choruses and veterans know most of the verses (which are pretty much mix-and-match, anyway).

There was a pretty good schedule of song-based workshops. John Roberts, a perennial favorite at the festival, had two or three ballad workshops. All the vocal workshops were in high school classrooms, so the seating at each was limited. The Barry Finn memorial was well attended. Barry was a shanty singer from the Portsmouth, NH, area who died suddenly last autumn. Several of Barry's friends sang some of his favorite songs, although nobody could come close to replicating Barry's intense and emotional delivery!

On a positive note there were a substantial number of young people there - teens and twenty-somethings. That was great to see and holds the promise of a continuing tradition into the future.