ROBERT PLANT AND NITIN SAWHNEY - CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL
The Cambridge Folk Festival is a great musical safari for big name hunting. Into our aural crosshairs came one of the biggest: Nitin Sawhney, the ultimate musical polymath. Film composer, songwriter, conductor, producer, winner of an Ivor Novello Award and wizard of fusion music, he has scaled the dizziest of heights (not least getting the CBE for his efforts). Hot foot (OK warm footed) from Glastonbury, he presented an hour of his trademark mash-up of styles mainly Indian and western pop. He introduced himself on guitar and keyboard plus his super talented ensemble of two outstanding vocalists: Eva Stone and Shapla Salique. His musical partner of over 30 years, Aref Durvesh provided thrilling accompaniment on tabla.
The gig began with a spirited rendition of ‘Stole My Life’ from his album ‘Prophesy’. Shifting effortless from Hindi and English and back we were straight into Sawhney’s trademark Anglo-Indian world: bright, deeply colourful but with tinges of grey. Sawhney introduced each of the songs. He has a light, unassuming voice – slightly shy and very un-showbiz. His new album ‘Identity’ gave us the strongly worded ‘Definition of Happy’, a musical kickback on those who try to define others in terms of identity. There are often subtle political messages in Sawhney’s pieces. Maybe not so subtle in his song ‘The Immigrant’ which unashamedly speaks up for the great gains contributed by those who seek to come to our country. For me, the number had the strongest melodic line. The lyrics with Stone’s dreamy voice and Salique’s Hindi counterpoint took us ‘to a distant place we’ve never been before’. It was mesmerising. His track ‘Homelands’ was also utterly arresting. Beginning with a Gypsy (or was it a Yiddish) violin it took us far away from Cherry Hinton to lands beyond the Tibetan food vans. This was a haunting number enhanced again by the two amazing vocalists.
Next up on Stage 1 was a true rock legend. Robert Plant , he of Led Zeppelin and a host of re-inventions since his early days of the 1960s. Now in his mid 70s, Plant has lost none of his vocal power, and even less of his hair. Looking like a guru mix of Billy Connelly and Noddy Holder, he bounded on stage with his vocal partner, the brilliant Suzi Dian. This was no ‘golden oldie’ set from this true golden oldie but a freshly minted mix of numbers from his recent collaborations with the band ‘Saving Grace’. Plant’s soaring tenor still has the power to float above the heavy guitar and Dian’s muscley accordion. In his short intros, Plant showed that he has none of the mega celeb that he surely deserves. His Midlands accent still dominates and he has a gentle, almost avuncular manner. I loved that he steps well aside when the other musicians take their turn for the limelight. And he seems to be thoroughly enjoying the collaborative creations. Here too was a refreshing mix of musical genres: from Appalachian to Gospel via good ‘ole rock and roll. There too was Plant’s famous and still gorgeous harmonies as he duetted with Dian in numbers like ‘I’m Lost Again’. All this was brilliantly accompanied by Tony Kelsey on acoustic guitar and he many moments in the CFF sun.
This was a very happy set and hopefully introduced the great Robert Plant to a new generation.
