The Imagined Village at the Tower Festival

Yesterday we went to see The Imagined Village at the Tower Festival in conjunction with WOMAD. It was held in the grounds of the Tower of London which made it a bit different.

There was a full bill of world music but it was the Village I was interested in, that fusion of old and new, of traditional English folk and world music, with sitars and bhangra beats alongside fiddles and guitars that creates a most interesting and imaginative sound. Musicians on stage included Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Sheila Chandra and Chris Wood amongst others, no Benjamin Zephaniah, sadly, but I suppose his nine minute re-telling of the traditional 'Tam Lyn' set in clubland is probably too long for a 45 minute set...

The set opened with Martin Carthy singing 'John Barleycorn' before morphing into 'England Half English' when Billy Bragg walked on stage in his pearly king suit to take the lead vocal with the lovely line, 'As a fine example of your Essex man, I'm well familiar with the Hindustan'. That set the tone for the rest of the set, swapping lead vocals between the singers with a mix of songs from their first album and new songs presumably to be included in the new album. I was particularly taken with a song sung by the most lovely Eliza Carthy about a spaceman. Eliza was a bundle of bouncing energy, smiling and laughing with the crowd, fiddling one moment and singing the next, never still.

The highlight for me was 'Cold Haily Rainy Night', the massive duet between Eliza and Chris Wood with every instrument you can think of weighing in at some point, with sitar and fiddles and drums rising and falling creating a wall of sound to lift up the vocals. This was the first song I ever heard by the Imagined Village, on Jools Holland in 2008, a dramatic performance that was ably repeated live on stage in front of me. It got a great cheer from the crowd and much 'woohing' from me.

Billy Bragg came back on stage to sing 'Hard Times Of Old England Retold' that signalled the end of the set, but there was one more song. The biggest surprise of the evening came with the last song, introduced by Martin Carthy as an old traditional song that we'd all know and he began to slowly strum the opening chords. I thought, 'that sounds familiar...' and when he started to sing a big ole grin spread across my face as he and the Village began playing a slow acoustic version of that old traditional folk song, 'Cum On Feel The Noize' by the mighty SLADE! Sing along? O yes, I did! This was meant to be a big sing-along ending but it was, unfortunately, obvious that half the crowd had no idea what the song was (the standards of music education in this country are sadly rather poor) but that's their loss. I thought it was a great ending and sent me away happy and grinning.


We didn't stay for the top of the bill, Khaled, and just as well since, no sooner had we walked over Tower Bridge than the heavens opened and the traditional London rain pelted down as we walked along the south side of the Thames to London Bridge station for a train home.

The only downside to the evening was the awful catering and drinks tent - when will I ever learn? - with it's half-hour queue, badly arranged serving and luke-warm vegie sausage in a bun with a bit of limp salad - fair turned my stomach (luckily there was a handy bin nearby). It would have made more sense to get some ye olde traditional chips outside the Tower rather than believing what the blurb said about food inside. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll take my own food and drink.

But, all told, it was great evening, finally seeing Eliza Carthy again all big and bold and bouncing up there on the stage, seeing and hearing the marvelous 'Cold Haily Rainy Night' and the surprise of 'Cum On Feel The Noize'. A night to remember, indeed.