Cambridge Folk Festival

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History

In autumn 1964 Cambridge City Council, England, decided to hold a music festival the next summer and asked Ken Woollard, [http://www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk/about/history.shtml History] , Cambridge Folk Festival official site. Accessed 1 August 2008.] a local firefighterfact|date=December 2007 and socialist political activist, to help organise it. Woollard had been inspired by a documentary, Jazz On A Summer’s Day, about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The first Festival sold 1400 tickets and almost broke even.fact|date=December 2007 Squeezed in as a late addition to the bill was a young Paul Simon who had just released "I Am A Rock". The festival's popularity quickly grew. Woollard continued as Festival organiser and artistic director up until his death in 1993. It is now run by Cambridge City Council Arts & Entertainments, together with over two hundred event staff.

Current structure

Most artists perform more than once over the weekend on the different stages: Stage 1, within a large marquee in front of the main Festival arena, the Stage 2, a smaller marquee and the Club Tent, hosted on the Festival’s behalf by five local folk clubs. There, in addition to invited artists, members of the audience including some well known names get up and perform.fact|date=December 2007

Artists

It is often said that the main "folk" aspect of the festival is the audience, not the performers.fact|date=December 2007 As well as the more obvious folk singers, recent festivals have seen performances from Chumbawumba, Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros and The Levellers. 2006's line up included Emmylou Harris, Cara Dillon and Seth Lakeman. In 2007 a double album was released "Cool As Folk: Cambridge Folk Festival", with live recordings by Altan, Kate Rusby, Beth Orton, Martin Simpson, Eliza Carthy, Joan Baez and many others.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ff/index.html Official site]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgefolkfestival BBC Radio 2's coverage of Cambridge Folk Festival]
* [http://thelineofbestfit.com/2007/08/01/cambridge-folk-festival-cherry-hinton-hall-grounds-26th-29th-jul-2007/ The Line Of Best Fit] In-depth coverage from the 2007 festival.
* [http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/cambrid In depth coverage of past and current festivals] , Fatea Records