Countdown to the local music festival that punches above its weight
Countdown to the local music festival that punches above its weight
As this year’s Raunds Music Festival approaches, Julia Thorley talks to its artistic director Bob Fisher about why the festival and music are important to him.
Bob Fisher began his performing career as a teenager playing bass, then he switched to playing guitar in a blues band. Over the course of a few years, he met Janis Zakis and formed a band with him that played pop covers around the local clubs. Bob was also playing in a dance band. Then at a folk night at the Chequered Skipper in Ashton on the edge of the county (now closed, sadly) they met Robin Hillman and together formed Ock ’n’ Dough playing a mixture English, Latvian and American roots music, including songs from Northamptonshire. Bob is also part of The Rants, an acoustic five-piece band that plays blues, folk, roots and Americana traditions.
Bob has been part of the Raunds Music Festival from the start. It was founded by Simon Antrobus and Matthew Moody, who were both living in the town at the time.
“I played at that first festival and I loved the idea behind it. During the years I’d spent playing in pubs and clubs I’d built up a long list of contacts in the music business, so it wasn’t a big decision to get more involved in the organising and become the artistic director.”
The self-declared aim of the festival is to bring live roots music and dance to East Northants, though it attracts an audience from beyond the county. The performances are provided by internationally acclaimed artists alongside up-and-coming acts. The festival takes place over the first weekend in May, from Thursday to Sunday. There has always been a Friday-night ceilidh, and this year Ock ’n’ Dough will be playing their farewell gig for the dancing.
The festival has a lovely community feel and is family friendly. It prides itself in punching above its weight, offering a lineup of acts that are well known and respected. Over the course of the weekend it also showcases local community music groups and young musicians, and provides opportunities for individuals to play with other musicians at its informal Song ’n’ Tune events.
“With a small number of notable exceptions, such as The Blockheads and Nine Below Zero, we have tended to stay away from rock bands, not least because they’re expensive. We are mostly folk and roots music now, some of which comes from local groups, but we attract all types of musicians from all over the place. We have jazz, brass bands, choirs and even ukuleles, too, as well as Morris dancing out in the town square.”
One quirk of the festival that performers always comment on is that the stage is trimmed with decorated boots, honouring Raunds’ history as a centre for the boot-making industry. More specifically, in 1905 a dispute arose about wages to be paid to army boot-makers. Local councillor James Gribble organised a march to London to highlight the plight of the shoe-workers. Although the demonstrators were prevented from marching to the Houses of Parliament, it achieved its objective; the Raunds workers were paid a standard rate that was enforced by the War Office, which initiated an enquiry that resulted in a change to the conditions of all contracts from 1906.
Local support and a team of knowledgeable volunteers means Raunds Music Festival can keep down prices. Even so, funding is a constant headache, as it so often is with arts events. It gets funding and support from the Arts Council and Raunds Town Council, as well as other sponsors.
Raunds Music Festival is remembered fondly by the artists who have performed there, but is it difficult to fill the line-up of a relatively low-key event?
“Not at all. We have a good reputation in the music community. I think this is because we have such a great venue in the Saxon Hall, but I also like to think it’s because we treat all the performers well. When it comes to booking, I use a mixture of contacting agents and simply looking about to see who’s on tour and might be free to come along. I can’t think of anyone who’s turned us down, unless there was a good reason, such as already being booked somewhere else.
“Music is everything to me. I can’t imagine not playing. There are some local venues that offer open mics and ‘fireside’ sessions, but there doesn’t seem to be much folk music going on in the area at the moment and I don’t know why that is. Here at the festival, though, we are all passionate about music and its ability to bring people together.”
Information about this year’s festival can be found on its website.
All photos courtesy of Raunds Musical Festival.
If you would like your arts project, venue or event to feature as a weekend cultural piece you can get in touch with Julia Thorley at julia.thorley@googlemail.com