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Author Topic: Which festivals are you going to this year?  (Read 43335 times)

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boisterous budgie

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #160 on: July 22, 2012, 10:27:08 AM »

And we haven't mentioned Europe's best festival... De Gentse Feesten :)
Yesterday TREF played there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y66fIf71Y3k
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Jack Humphreys

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #161 on: July 22, 2012, 10:57:08 AM »

Thinking about BOOMBAL near Ghent  23-6 August. (The lure of Belgian Mazurkas etc)
Has anyone been? Pros and Cons? Any hints for an easy time?

Chris Ryall

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #162 on: July 22, 2012, 11:06:18 AM »

It's not a camping festival so you need accommodation - I stayed in Aalter last year - no problems. 

Massively dancey -  - only limited sessions in the bar but the beer is "wonderful"  :|glug ..  :|glug

Last year's blogette http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,5680.msg95728.html#msg95728
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boisterous budgie

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #163 on: July 22, 2012, 11:13:03 AM »

Thinking about BOOMBAL near Ghent  23-6 August. (The lure of Belgian Mazurkas etc)
Has anyone been? Pros and Cons? Any hints for an easy time?
Well, the last two editions were amusingly muddy - so I would certainly pack your wellies just in case. But I'm rather hoping for a sunny edition. I don't know if there is any space left and how your Dutch/French is, but beforehand there are courses with various levels - some of the teachers for the advanced courses are French speaking, some are Dutch speaking you would need to check. There is also a music "stage" the week before the festival with the brilliant Wouter Vandenabeele.

There is a noise allowed camping and a quiet camping ground. I would recommend the quiet one :) but you have a five minute walk through a corn field to get there (because of the mud, it felt rather like crossing a crocodile swamp). Being Belgium, there often is no soap to wash your hands after using lavatories - which always alarms me when you think of circassian circles etc being danced  >:E

It is a friendly festival with lots of dancing - with cows looking on bemusedly next to the dancing floor. And in the evenings they have little metal campfires near the bar with little sessions happening. There is a musical instrument vestiaire where you can leave your instruments when you aren't using them.

There are several buses back to the station on Monday morning which is really useful.
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boisterous budgie

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #164 on: July 22, 2012, 11:15:31 AM »

It's not a camping festival so you need accommodation - I stayed in Aalter last year - no problems. 

Massively dancey -  - only limited sessions in the bar but the beer is "wonderful"  :|glug ..  :|glug

Last year's blogette http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,5680.msg95728.html#msg95728

For the Gentse Feesten you could also camp in the Blaarmeersen. A recreational park with camping ground and swimming lake really close to the center of Ghent :)
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #165 on: July 22, 2012, 04:25:13 PM »

Have you heard the good news from Aix?  ;D
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I'm a Yorkie!
My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

Jack Humphreys

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #166 on: July 22, 2012, 08:25:05 PM »

Thanks for all this rich information. Melnet not only delivers. It does it fast!
Now,  will I be brave enough to go?

boisterous budgie

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #167 on: July 22, 2012, 10:19:49 PM »

Thanks for all this rich information. Melnet not only delivers. It does it fast!
Now,  will I be brave enough to go?

Travel by coach from UK is cheap and stops in Ghent.

Eurostar is fast and convenient - in less than two hours from Saint Pancras to Brussel Zuid. Goes to Brussel Zuid/Bruxelles Midi (the same thing - everything's in two languages in Brussels. Then it is half an hour by train to Ghent. You get off in Gent Sint Pieters. And there you take the bus to Lovendegem. Last time there was a shuttle from the bus stop to the festival field.

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Chris Ryall

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #168 on: July 23, 2012, 07:44:21 AM »

If you have a car - Norfolk Line ferries is efficient - usually  1/3 cheaper than P&O and drops you at Dunkirk, 20 minutes nearer Belgium.  Thanks Budgie, for the camping info. Tents seemed invisible last year, maybe the rain!  I was very comfortable in the wacky cinema/hotel on Aalter high street, though travelling did restrain my consumption of those lovely Flemish beers. I now recall those clever camp fires -can see how musicians might use them in better weather!

Jack - this is not just a festival - it's a phenomenon - can you imagine a thousand British Uni students doing French bal Folk?

Finally - while Gent Sint Pieters is still 2 buses away from Lovendegem, it is perfect for getting to Gent's improvisatiestage van't Smiske. I met Siska Huyge last weekend and she's to run it again, weekend 2 November.  Teaching is in French from Milleret/Mignotte  (ad hoc dutch translations from Peter Libbrecht). Iv'tS is a weekend of improvisation - last year had a "night at the cafe" and a Boombal evening bop bundled in.  A "third French master" ::) is in mind if numbers are sufficient .. :|glug
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boisterous budgie

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Re: Which festivals are you going to this year?
« Reply #169 on: July 23, 2012, 10:54:08 AM »



Jack - this is not just a festival - it's a phenomenon - can you imagine a thousand British Uni students doing French bal Folk?

  Teaching is in French from Milleret/Mignotte  (ad hoc dutch translations from Peter Libbrecht). Iv'tS is a weekend of improvisation - last year had a "night at the cafe" and a Boombal evening bop bundled in.  A "third French master" ::) is in mind if numbers are sufficient .. :|glug

Not just students :) literally all ages and types of people participate. That's what I really love, that it is inclusive and friendly.

Thanks, Chris Ryall, for the info about Milleret/Mignotte. Unfortunately I don't have enough buttons on my lilly to participate  :'( maybe the third master could cater for two row enthusiasts :)
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