“I can see some there are some rogue Morris out there”, John Spiers says ominously as he’s looking over a crowded Oxford Town Hall in between songs. And throughout the day that’s exactly what I’ve seen. Oxford is conspicuously full of Morris dancers: crowded on buses, in the shops, in the underpass, wandering between the venues for the folk festival and generally standing out. Which gets me thinking…

The hordes of women in garish yellow and blue tasseled jackets and pheasant feather laden hats shopping for blouses and sugary snacks in the town centre seemed the perfect material for an episode of Dr Who, in which evil Morris people attempt an unprovoked and violent folk dancing coup starting in the sleepy streets of Oxford.

It all starts innocuously enough, just a few Morris ambling aimlessly through the streets, jangling to themselves and muttering the occasional ‘hey nonny’ to no-one in particular, when wham, they receive a subliminal message from the Daleks and all of a sudden those ankle bells and harmless looking handkerchiefs become deadly weapons turned on the unsuspecting and mildly bemused population.

The Morris in the Town Hall watching Spiers and Bowden (who incidentally kicked out a blinding set in that difficult sleepy post lunch slot) are loitering in the cloisters around the edges of the hall. Looking suspicious. However, rather disappointingly, the worst they can come up with is some pretty vigorous dancing.

Anyway, back to reality. Salsa Celtica was definitely the highlight of Saturday’s action, and managed to coerce pretty much the whole audience to get on their feet and attempt the dance equivalent of their music, a cross between Celtic and Salsa, which (I know, I tried it) involves pogoing while spinning your partner and trying to appear incredibly sexy at the same time. This nigh-on impossible task led to hilarity for all involved and topped-off a great day of music which included the blossoming fiddle-singer Lisa Knapp, James Chadwick’s soulful blues folk and the rather impressive Luke Daniels Lost Music of the Gaels.

The crowd was as mixed as the music and and really brought home how diverse and how very much alive folk music is in all it’s different guises.

As one of the first festivals of the year the Oxford Folk festival promises great things for this year in folk. And the Morris bide their time.

Links:
Morris dancing
Mainly Morris dancing
The Morris Ring
Morris Dancers.net