the Woodford Folk Festival – which is far more than a folk festival, both in terms of the breadth of music as well as the other cultural and artistic experiences it caters for. The festival occurs over 6 days, in a communal village set-up with adjacent camping grounds. There are over 400 events in about 20 or so venues throughout the festival village, so it can be a bit overwhelming at times when it come to choosing which performances to see at what times! The good news is that it doesn’t really matter where you go or what you see, you know you will enjoy it and revel in the talents of the performing artists. 
The whole experience is in the context of a wonderful sense of community, with largely shared values reflecting goodwill and peace. Check it out at the web-site: http://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com .Anyway, I went with a small group of friends to one of the venues (Sitting Duck Café) to listen to the engrossing and somewhat eclectic and hip gypsy/latin/jazz sounds of a group called Monsieur Camembert. So, we were sitting there enjoying the music and taking in everything the venue has to offer, when (out of the blue) the lead vocalist asked if there were any Leonard Cohen fans in the audience!?
I’m sure you can picture what happened: like a sprinter’s reaction to the starter’s pistol, I instinctively lifted off my seat and (along with a dozen others) yelled out my affirmation! What followed was an amazing rendition of “Dance Me To The End Of Love” – not only was it an unusual arrangement, but also tenderly beautiful. 
More importantly, this track is on the group’s 2003 album ‘Absynthe’ and so, Jarkko, there’s another cover to add to your list!If you ever plan to visit Australia around the Xmas/New Year period, I would strongly recommend you attend some or part of this truly amazing festival!
I wish you all a fantastic 2004!
Cheers,
Andrew (Darby)
Whilst I would love folk to come along to our LC Birthday celebration in September