Folk

It’s Oxford Folk Weekend and, despite the rain, the streets are filled with dancers. Mostly Morris dancers but the belly dancers were out today too. When I blipped this lot three years ago Folkie asked me whether men were allowed to join. I didn’t know then but here’s the answer.

This evening I went to hear Martin Carthy, who I first saw about 40 years ago. He’s 74 now and his mind and his astonishing memory for folk history and for words are as sharp as ever. He did Adam McNaughton’s four-minute Hamlet just as well as this version from 1991, apart from his voice being thinner now, but he seemed to have to concentrate very hard to make his fingers do what they needed to. They didn’t always.