Despite the horrific rain and winds we experienced last week, Langley Fête managed to squeeze in some reasonable weather last Sunday.
A few days before I had watched in horror as the huge marquees were whipped up by the wind and blow into the tree's, thus breaking one of them. My cottage backs on to the field where the yearly shenanigans are held.
Not to be deterred by the elements the Village Hall Committee and volunteers assembled on the field when the wind had dropped, retrieved what was left of the massive tents and set about re-building it all higher up the field where the ground was less sodden.
Saturday had seen our family's usual annual Summer Solstice party at the bottom of our garden so I woke on Sunday with a huge hangover almost hoping the fête had been called off!
Not to be! - the 'soldiering on' spirit was well and truly absorbed by the committee and everyone was busying themselves setting up stalls and filling the beer tent with barrels and bottles.
The Langley 'lympic' Fête was opened by Ann Packer a gold medallist in the Olympics from a number of years ago.
Kontaani were the first band on at 3.30 and we whipped ourselves into shape and carefully carried the drums to the stage in our African shirts and our wellies!
After a swift hair of the dog whilst waiting for the pet show judging to finish we kicked into our set.
I was delighted that our dear friend Tess who plays with Tanante in Manchester joined in and played with us. Tess had been at the party the night before and was also suffering but she played brilliantly as always - I was so proud to be sharing the same stage as one of my heroines!
I was amazed to see quite a crowd had gathered and we seemed to be extremely well received by the villagers and visitors alike.
Walking back to the cottage afterwards I was stopped on numerous occasions by people complimenting me on how good the band were. I understand many of the other band members were stopped also!
During the performance I went badly wrong whilst leading the first number and completely threw the djun djun section. We recovered from this very quickly and the audience didn't even notice.
As our Pete said - it's not making a mistake that matters it's how you recover from it and he is absolutely right. Well - that's despite the look of sheer horror on our faces which gave it away a little!
As always, I was extremely proud of each and every member of the band - we played superbly well and had our usual moments of laughter and sheer enjoyment which is always present in Kontaani performances. The camaraderie is second to none - we all get on so well and it shows.
I think I can honestly say every member is proud to be a Kontaani drummer.
Long may it continue!
Marie x
A few days before I had watched in horror as the huge marquees were whipped up by the wind and blow into the tree's, thus breaking one of them. My cottage backs on to the field where the yearly shenanigans are held.
Not to be deterred by the elements the Village Hall Committee and volunteers assembled on the field when the wind had dropped, retrieved what was left of the massive tents and set about re-building it all higher up the field where the ground was less sodden.
Saturday had seen our family's usual annual Summer Solstice party at the bottom of our garden so I woke on Sunday with a huge hangover almost hoping the fête had been called off!
Not to be! - the 'soldiering on' spirit was well and truly absorbed by the committee and everyone was busying themselves setting up stalls and filling the beer tent with barrels and bottles.
The Langley 'lympic' Fête was opened by Ann Packer a gold medallist in the Olympics from a number of years ago.
Kontaani were the first band on at 3.30 and we whipped ourselves into shape and carefully carried the drums to the stage in our African shirts and our wellies!
After a swift hair of the dog whilst waiting for the pet show judging to finish we kicked into our set.
I was delighted that our dear friend Tess who plays with Tanante in Manchester joined in and played with us. Tess had been at the party the night before and was also suffering but she played brilliantly as always - I was so proud to be sharing the same stage as one of my heroines!
I was amazed to see quite a crowd had gathered and we seemed to be extremely well received by the villagers and visitors alike.
Walking back to the cottage afterwards I was stopped on numerous occasions by people complimenting me on how good the band were. I understand many of the other band members were stopped also!
During the performance I went badly wrong whilst leading the first number and completely threw the djun djun section. We recovered from this very quickly and the audience didn't even notice.
As our Pete said - it's not making a mistake that matters it's how you recover from it and he is absolutely right. Well - that's despite the look of sheer horror on our faces which gave it away a little!
As always, I was extremely proud of each and every member of the band - we played superbly well and had our usual moments of laughter and sheer enjoyment which is always present in Kontaani performances. The camaraderie is second to none - we all get on so well and it shows.
I think I can honestly say every member is proud to be a Kontaani drummer.
Long may it continue!
Marie x