Todmorden Folk Festival Clog Rave Oakenhoof Cloggers Collaboration

Todmorden Folk Festival Director, Esther Ferry-Kennington, was keen to book local band, Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners, for the 2016 festival programme. The only problem was their repertoire: their 90s dance hits were not exactly the traditional choice of seasoned folk audiences.

Unfazed by a creative challenge, Mr. Wilson’s artistic director, Sonya Moorhead, came up with a cunning plan. Sonya’s idea ran parallel to the sentiment of Louis Armstrong who observed, “All music is folk music…” If Todmorden would be full of Morris dancers during the day, perhaps a dance band was exactly what was required for the evening.

Recruiting the collaborative talent of the Oakenhoof Cloggers and the brilliant Hels Davies, a top secret spectacle was rehearsed meticulously for weeks in advance. During the Todmorden Folk Festival Saturday night concert, this is what happened…

 [FILM]

 “If you’ve ever wondered what 80s rave and techno classics would sound like played by a New Orleans marching band, well wonder no more. From the moment Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners marched down the aisles, the whole church was up and dancing. It was complete and glorious chaos.

“And then, suddenly, there were techno clog dancers and it all just kicked off. There was random clog dancing in the aisles, clog dancers on makeshift podiums, and frankly inappropriate ‘throwing of shapes’; quite wonderfully inappropriate for a church in Tod. It all became rather surreal. At one point, I actually began to question whether this was quite real or whether that welcoming mug I had on arrival contained something a bit stronger than Yorkshire tea…

“Readers, it was completely fabulous. If you get chance to see Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners, do go and prepared to be amazed. Can’t promise you techno clog dancers though.”

Review by localsoundfocus.com