I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: Festivals

Don’t go to a huge amount, but a few, and that’s ok.

About The Ethometric Museum

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I was at the Edinburgh festival at the end of August this year and saw a bunch of shows. Some good, some not so good, some amazing. The Ethometric museum fell into the last category without a doubt.

We arrived at the venue and waited for the start of the show. We didn’t know what to expect at all. Just before the show was about to start a woman in a tweed suit asked us if we were here to see the Ethometric museum. We went with her out of the venue and around to the back of the building. She explained that we would need to wear hard hats for the duration of the show.

We went into a cellar under the building that was dimly lit and filled will racks of strange looking old machines. They looked like something out of the 1950’s. The woman gave us a 5 minute talk about the Ethometric museum and then explained that we would need to be completely silent during the demonstration.

What followed was an incredible performance of noise makers and synths that I absolutely loved. It was a triumph of making and music. The instruments were so beautifully made and the sounds so unique, it was a superb experience.

If you’d like to know more about The Ethometric Museum you can find information at Ray Lee’s site.

Sutton Environmental Fair

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I thought I’d posted about this before, and whilst clearing a load of magazines and paperwork I came across the programme.

I went to the Environmental fair at the end of August. I hadn’t been to it in a while, but it was just as good as I remembered. The fair is a relatively small event, but it is a local event and has a real character to it, which it hasn’t lost at all.

There were 3 stages and some really interesting acts played, from the larger traditional band type format, to solo musicians and people doing some fairly experimental stuff for a local event.

I was so glad that I went to this fair, it always feels good to support local events and the stages were all powered by solar energy too. I don’t think many events can make that claim.

I’ll have to make sure it is in my diary again for 2011.

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Bro Ar Men at Beyond the Border

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I saw this band at Beyond the Border in the summer, and I really enjoyed them a lot. The guy playing the Mbira was a real character and really funny. He was also a great Mbira player amongst other instruments he played.

I wish I’d got their CD now.

More about beyond the border

Here are a few more posts about the Beyond the Border festival if you’re interested.

If you have never eaten one of these then you’ve never lived

The last time I went to Beyond the Border I discovered these. That was back in 2014. I’ve waited two years to have the pleasure again, and it was worth the wait. I’d hoped that these would be available again at Beyond the Border, and they were, possibly one of the best foods I’ve ever…

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WOMAD: A Musical Buffet

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My last post was about going to WOMAD, and since then I’ve been thinking about why I like festivals so much, especially ones like WOMAD, in fact, especially WOMAD.

A lot of UK festivals are just too big for me. I like smaller festivals like WOMAD where I can wander around easily and go from one stage to another quite quickly. That’s one of the things I love about festivals I can check out lots of different acts during the course of a day and stay for 5 minutes or watch the whole show.

It is like a kind of musical buffet where I sample some things and don’t get on with them, and others I have to eat the lot. If you know what I mean.

In some ways this goes against what I’d said before about listening and consuming music. I guess that this buffet approach to must is further along the consumer path then the dedicated listen. However, in many ways it is different from that argument.

I always enjoy coming away from WOMAD with a few new things to listen to, and this year they were.

I really enjoyed these three for very different reasons. They were the best bits of my buffet!

  • Obligatory WOMAD flag picture
  • Hossam Ramsay at WOMAD

WOMAD memories 3: The Portico Quartet

The first time I saw The Portico Quartet was at WOMAD a few years ago. They were amazing and made a really big impression. Of course, now they’re no longer the Portico Quartet, and they’re just Portico, which is fine. Their music is quite different now, but I still like it. However, for me I…

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WOMAD memories 2: Nouvelle Vague

Another great memory from WOMAD days was of Nouvelle Vague. I went to see them in the Big Red Tent and thought they were amazingly good fun. I subsequently bought quite a lot of their tracks. I say their tracks, of course for the most part they are covers, but what excellent covers they are.…

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WOMAD memories 1: Mitsoura

As I was thinking about WOMAD I started remembering some of the high points over the years and I thought I’d share them. One such high point was when WOMAD was back in Reading, before it moved to Charlton Park in Wiltshire. I remember seeing Mitsoura for the very first time there. They were amazing.…

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A day at WOMAD

I wasn’t able to spend the whole weekend at WOMAD this year, I was only able to go for the day this year. Which was ok. The weather was pretty awful on the Friday, so the Saturday was a good option in the end. So as always here’s the obligatory photo of the flags. I…

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Considering going to WOMAD this year

I think I’ve been going for about 10 years now, so in some ways it would be a shame not to go, but the line up isn’t inspiring me this year, which is a shame. I’m thinking about it, but not convinced as yet. I may just go for the day. I’ve done that a…

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I miss Mitsoura

They only released two albums and the last was a long time ago. Dura Dura Dura (their last album) was excellent as was their first album but it’s been years since they did anything. It’s a shame. I wish they’d done more. I’ve checked their site occasionally and there’s never anything new. I suppose it’s…

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Real World 25

I felt compelled to get this nice little box set at WOMAD this year. I’ve got quite a lot of the tracks already, but it’s really well put together and it came with a load of bits and pieces like postcards and stuff, most of which have actually survived the weekend and trip home. I…

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Tall Tales from Beyond the Border

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I was at the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival recently, which was great as it I had seriously thought it would never run again. The festival has had a few years off due to funding woes and for most festivals that normally means that they won’t be seen again. Not so for Beyond the Border. This year they were back just like there had been no break at all and I was very happy to be there.

It was a superb festival with lots of amazing music and stories from all over the world. Whenever I get to events like this I’m amazed at how riveting storytelling can be. How just listening to one person telling a story can captivate your imagination.

I’m so impressed at the immense cultural heritage that’s gathered in one place. It also reminds me of how easy it is to forget our own cultural heritage, and how in large cities we can forget our stories.

Stories are important, they help us to understand where we are in the world and make sense of things. Living in cities can disconnect us from our stories, and being at an event like Beyond the Border helps reestablish that connection, helps us remember our own stories and reminds us to continue to tell them.

It feels good that Beyond the Border is back. It should be on again in 2012, and I hope I’ll be there.

Walkway to the stories
The walk down to Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival