It has provided a starting block for some of music’s most celebrated talents, from Mumford & Sons to Jake Bugg, and is now one of the most famous festivals in Europe. This year, Cambridge Folk Festival celebrates 50 years of great music, new talent and festival spirit.
Tickets for 2014 sold out in April, and headline acts include Sinead O’Connor, Richard Thompson, Seth Lakeman and Van Morrison. Still, though its reputation and prestige has grown, Cambridge Folk Festival has never expanded or commercialised; you’ll still find it where it ever was, in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall, showcasing great talent, however big or small, mainstream or obscure. It’s this respect of its roots and fierce focus on the music that keeps punters – and performers – returning year on year, and why 50 years from now we’ll probably still be talking about Cambridge Folk Festival.
The story began in 1964 when Cambridge City Council approached well-known resident and music connoisseur Ken Woollard with the idea of putting on a festival for the city. Ideas were toyed with, and Cambridge Folk Festival almost ended up being Cambridge Jazz Festival, since Ken’s musical persuasions lay more in the classical and jazz camps. But with the huge folk revival of the mid-60s in full swing, Ken knew what the people wanted.
On 31 July 1965, the gates opened for the first Cambridge Folk Festival. On the bill were The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the Strawberry Hill Boys (later The Strawbs), The Watersons, Peggy Seeger and a young Paul Simon, who was squeezed in at the last moment.
From the beginning, the Folk Festival set about becoming a festival for everyone, with a welcoming, all-inclusive feel. Forget muddy raves, warm lager and horrible communal toilets; Cambridge Folk Festival boasts proper, clean loos, grown-up food and drink and a dedicated quiet campsite (on Coldham’s Common, perfect for families) for an altogether more civilised festival experience.
Eddie Barcan worked on the festival as Ken’s assistant from 1990 until 1993 and is now the festival programmer. “Ken was inspired by the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” he tells me, “which was about the Newport Jazz Festival. He wanted a festival with a similar laid-back, family-orientated atmosphere.”
That’s not to say there’s any compromise on fun. As well as the main stages there are music workshops, jamming and open-mic opportunities, sing-arounds, crafting sessions and Jim Moray’s Silent Ceilidh – not to be missed on Saturday night.
Also seek out The Den, a stage dedicated to emerging talent. One of the joys of the Folk Festival is knowing that the boy with the guitar or the young, unknown girl with the gorgeous voice who’s got the audience under her spell may turn out to be tomorrow’s superstar.
Says Eddie: “People like Passenger and Jake Bugg have appeared on that stage then gone on to amazing things. I remember seeing Jake Bugg in 2012, then only a short while after that he was playing at the Corn Exchange. Mumford & Sons were also spotted at the Folk Festival, and Laura Marling played when she was relatively unknown, then came back to headline the festival.”
Recently, the likes of Laura Marling, Jake Bugg and Seth Lakeman have helped lead a new resurgence in folk music, redefining and celebrating the genre and bringing it to a new, younger audience.
“The festival has developed and moved with the times, embracing new ideas,” says Eddie. “The range of entertainment has widened enormously, and we have a number of stages and activities to get involved with. But it’s kept the same spirit.
“It’s really exciting, and everyone involved is really looking forward to this year’s festival,” he adds. “It’s very much about the overall experience, rather than any one band. Lots of people come to the festival to discover new music, but it’s the festival itself that’s the star. That’s what brings people back year after year.”
Cambridge Folk Festival, Cherry Hinton Hall, 31 July-3 August. Sold out.
www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk
