This great article written by Dave Eyre was published this week in Living Tradition and definitely worth a read:

The idea of uplifting the whole of a British folk festival to Spain might seem like a bizarre idea and a number of people wondered if it might happen. Well, happen it did and the whole event was a resounding success. Many a current festival will promise a smile on your face and music and song in your heart but few would dare to promise the sun on your back as well. Festival goers were indeed able to ‘Ban the Brolly’ as Programme Director Geoff Sargieson put it. With a loud and collective ‘phew’ from everyone there, the sun shone non-stop, daytime temperatures hovered around the mid-twenties and the Costal Del Sol lived up to its name.

Enjoy Travel, the company behind it all, is a well-established travel company with lots of experience of  taking music and groups abroad for activities associated with Irish music, set dancing, salsa dancing and jive sessions.  “Putting on a folk festival seemed like a good idea at the time and was another step to what we were already doing,” said Gerry Flynn from the company. “We approached Mike Harding and Geoff Sargieson to put a programme together and the result was the Costa Del Folk.” A folk music holiday? A holiday accompanied by folk music? Take your pick, but it didn’t really matter – there were a lot of satisfied customers at the end.

The facilities on offer were as unlike a folk festival as we normally understand it as it was possible to be. The accommodation was centred in the Hotel Alay in Benalmádena with spacious, serviced rooms; powerful showers; unlimited hot water and, of course, a lift. There was a swimming pool, though this was used mainly by the heartiest for after all, despite the glorious sunshine, it was the middle of March. The hotel was handily placed a few minutes’ walk from the Marina, the beach and two long pedestrianised areas stretching East and West with masses of restaurants, cafes and bars.

There was a bar in the hotel and although real ale was missing, the available beer was reasonably priced; there was a gin o’clock each evening, where those who hadn’t visited Spain before were pleasantly surprised at the size of the measures, in fact those who had visited Spain before were pleasantly surprised at the size of the measures too! There was cava for breakfast and since there was orange juice there was Buck’s Fizz. Only way to start the day. Breakfast and evening meal (which were included in the price) were both buffet style; there was a wide choice for both and most people there seemed to say complimentary things about the food.

The music was all that people could have wished for and more. Just like the more usual festival, there was a variety of settings – large open air stage, a stage in the bar; late night folk club; smaller rooms for workshops and more intimate performances by solo artists. There were sessions in the comfortable lounge. The bands flew in, gave rock-solid performances and sadly waved goodbye to those staying. Show Of Hands sang Galway Farmer as a 20-1 horse romped home in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and mixed together an Irish and an English song in their final set to reflect the nature of the  Festival. The Mighty Doonans were at the festival for most of the week, with occasional additions and subtractions to their line-up and Ben Murray, who a couple of weeks earlier had been singing on the stage of the National Theatre in War Horse, appeared with them and shared solos with Rosie Doonan.

The Demon Barber Roadshow seemed to be inspired by the weather to great performances, both outdoor in the afternoon and indoors late at night. Steamchicken, with their wonderful singer Amy Kakoura about the food. blasted the audience from the stage with some great jazztinged stomping sounds and Tom McConville and his talented band reeled, jigged and sang the night away.

There was multi-instrumental music and singing from the slightly feral Blackbeard’s Tea Party – and the run by three of them at the end of their afternoonset, off the stage past the sun beds and into the swimming pool (fully clothed) was a reflection of a massive exuberance throughout their shows.

It was great to see solo artists such as Dave Burland, who gave a masterclass in stage presence whilst singing favourites old and new – his version of Grey Funnel Line was especially memorable. Flossie Malavialle delivered a superb performance of a wide variety of material. It was simply great to hear her.

There were workshops, the percussion workshop with Gary Hammond of the Hut People being especially outstanding. Fake Thackeray (John Watterson) told the story of Jake with a series of words that tumbled over each other and the Hillbilly Troupe from Hull sang songs of the sea. Principal compére Mike Harding did a splendid job introducing the bands and another splendid job joining in with them. A number of Irish bands came across the water and entertained the audience with some great chorus singing,frenetic playing and represented all that was good about Irish music.

Another Irish performer, Niamh Parsons (accompanied by Graham Dunne), whose name should be written above a star, was taken to people’s hearts and suggested to everyone that the festival was the stuff for memories on dark winter nights. She was right and without waiting for winter. I am sure she’ll be delighted to know the stories have started already!

Then on the final night, it seemed as if the audience’s hair grew just that bit longer, the Cropredy T-shirts which had been carefully hoarded in hotel bedrooms the rest of the week suddenly appeared and Fairport Convention took the stage and delivered a rocking finale underneath a clear, star-drenched sky and with a full moon hovering above the stage.

Very sadly, it all had to end and though the traditional goodbye of ‘see you in a muddy field somewhere’ was perhaps a little more tongue in cheek than normal, there was certainly a lot of ‘see you next year’.

The future of the festival is assured for the same venue is organised for 14-19 March 2015 with Steeleye Span headlining. Already I understand there will be no individual day tickets for the event which looks like being a sell-out. And just as the final planeload of folk music lovers left Malaga, another similar festival by the same team was announced for Carvoiero in the Algarve for 2015 from 3-8 October. ‘Wilt thou go fight yon French and Spaniards?’ Definitely not, I’d sooner sing and play along with them.

Dave Eyre co-presents Thank Goodness It’s Folk on Sheffield Live 93.2 FM each Friday morning from 10.00 am – 12 noon. www.sheffieldlive.org