The sound of a Cambridgeshire venue making a quiet storm on the UK festival scene is getting louder, albeit unplugged
The seventh annual music festival at Wysing, is also a first. Wysing Polyphonic has grown over the years to become a niche, bijou festival that’s slowly created a nationwide whisper, and this year, for the first time, all the acts are fully acoustic – no amps, no microphones, no electronics and no laptops.
A wide range of musicians and artists have responded to the parameters of this year’s one-day event, which takes place on 2 July.
Performers will rely on an experimental approach to working with voice, instruments and objects. Expect abstract sound experiments, drone, choral ensembles, improvised jazz, whistling, song, spoken word and some ancient instruments.
Much of what will take place will be improvised and completely unique to the Polyphonic festival.
Among those taking part is Adam Bohman, who has been on the outer fringes of the underground for decades and uses musique concrète, sound poetry and free improvisation, Barnaby Brown, an expert in ancient instruments, who will be performing the triple pipes, David Toop, who is experienced in many fields, including sound installations and field recordings, and Evan Parker, who has been an innovative presence in British free music since the 60s.
Parker headlines the Gallery stage, which also features fiddler and recorder player Laura Cannell and audio-visual artist Sam Belinfante. The North-East’s acoustic force of nature Richard Dawson headlines the Amphis stage.
The sounds start at 12.30pm and will drone, hum, clap and buzz until 11pm.
