2012 Overview
2012 was the most successful festival so far. Find out about the performers and display teams that made this year's festival so memorable below.
A slideshow of some of the dance display teams is at the bottom of the page. Click the programme below to open a larger version.
2012 Festival Artwork
Here's the Festival design for 2012 - courtesy of brilliant local artist, Jo Claire.
Jo magics up a new design for us each year and we're hoping to produce the design on merchandise for this year's festival.
© Jo Claire
Roy Bailey
For 50+ years, Roy Bailey has been one of the UK Folk and Acoustic scene’s most loved and admired performers. From his early days performing skiffle in student union bars, to his love of traditional songs and the stories they tell, onto developing a unique repertoire of songs of dissent and hope, he has performed on stages, TV and radio all over the world. Now with more than 50 years as a performer, Roy is as compelling, entertaining, thought provoking and moving as ever before.
“… as powerful as anything I’d heard by The Clash – it was Roy’s voice, the strength of it and the compassion in it.”
Billy Bragg
“Roy represents “the very soul of folk’s working class ideals… a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry.”
MOJO
King Courgette
Old time vegetable string band King Courgette was raised in the Clifton Delta - a small, swampy patch of the flatlands of North Yorkshire. The band comprises Poppa ‘King’ Courgette on guitar, String Bean Slim on banjo, Hot Chilli McGrath on mandolin, tenor banjo and harp, Bad Apple Two T’s on bass and guitar and Wild Zucchini Bill on washboard, bones and anything else he can bang together to make a noise. The band’s sound can best be described as a mix of hokum hillbilly vaudeville ragtime blues - and in the best bluegrass tradition, all the members are related, though as banjo picker String Bean Slim points out: ‘the delta has a fairly shallow gene pool’.
Two Black Sheep and a Stallion
We could almost consider these guys the MNFF Resident Group - they've supported us since day one with their wonderful harmonies and captivating songs - we couldn't do it without them...they wouldn't let us!
The Goathland Plough Stots
The Goathland Plough Stots is one of Yorkshires traditional long sword teams, if not the oldest still dancing their own dance as performed as far back as the early 19th century. The Plough Stots were revived by Frank. W. Dowson in 1922 with the help of his good friend Cecil Sharp after a lapse of 40yrs.
The Minster Strays
Our repertoire includes elegant dances from the Cotswolds with complex sequences of galleys and capers together with wild, raucous frolics from the Welsh borders. The varied traditions are reflected in our kit; smart waistcoats for the Cotswold, multicoloured tattered jackets for the Border.
The Raving Maes
It's Morris dancing...but not as we know it!!!
Described in the local paper as a cross between Rocky Horror and traditional Morris Dancing (or S&M crossed with M&S!).
Beverley Garland
The team was formed in 1977 as Middleton Garland Dancers and Longsword Team. and became known as the Beverley Garland Dancers in 1986.
We perform a variety of garland and stick dances from Lancashire and Cheshire along with our members' self penned ones.
Hornbeam Molly
Hornbeam Molly are a team of dancers based in North Yorkshire who started in October 2009. They practice in Knaresborough on Wednesday evenings.
Jet Set Morris
Jet Set Morris were formed in 1999 with the intention of bringing traditional Border Morris to our area - the moors and coastline between Whitby and Saltburn - with a few minor changes.
Jet Set have adopted an Edwardian Gothic style of dress...tradition demands that Border Morris dancers should never reveal their identity whilst performing, so we always wear dark glasses for disguise.
Jet Set ran the Morris dancing workshop at the 2011 folk festival.
Other Display Teams who performed this year
- Green Ginger Garland
- Yorkshire Coast Morris
- Black Rigg Rapper
Dance Display Team Slideshow
Click on the images below to open a photo slideshow of some of the 2012 display teams
