What an experience! We've done Soul Medicine Festival before...but we've never DONE Soul Medicine Festival, if you know what I mean? Anna and I got up early to go and join in the medicating and we are so glad that we did!
We arrived around 11:30am and had a nose around. We met some amazing people and we want to tell you all about it!
Our first real stop was with Nici at her Acorn and The Moo stand. We had a lovely chat about all things natural and healing. We bought little fairy rings to hang and I bought some Poppet Magic! I will use their words to explain what that is:
Photo taken from https://www.facebook.com/Acornandthemoo
"An old folk sympathetic magic dating back hundreds of years, very popular in English and especially Shropshire folklore as protection and love spells
The doll represents a person and intention which when awoken sends that intention and healing to them in reality...
1-Choose your poppet
2-Choose from my mini apothecary the herbs,flowers and spices that will aid your intention
3-Choose a candle to seal the intention.
4-Take home with instruction card
5-Add any person touches that will represent the intended, scraps of fabric from their clothes,hair,crystals,their favourite biscuit
6-Weave into the fibers your herbs and any other bits your fancy
7- awaken your doll and tell it what you need/desire
8- put it somewhere safe to do its work, traditionally under or next to your bed but on your altar or anywhere you fancy
9- when you feel it’s done it’s job-burn,bury or release into running water
All handmade all locally sourced ingredients "
Even if you don't put any faith in these sorts of things, it's a mindful and peaceful practice that gets your mind thinking of good intentions and puts you in a great space emotionally.
We perused some more stands, and had a wonderful chat with some of the stall owners. It was a pretty miserable day with a lot of rain, but that didn't dampen anyone's spirits and everyone was super lovely. The universe wanted me to stop and take note at The Crystal Cabin's stall, and the marquee emptied it's contents on me as I walked up! Jules was really informative and lovely to talk to!
Next stop was Visabull's stall and we had a great chat about all things trees, art, t shirts, music, Jamaica and probably more that has slipped my mind. Julian specialises in Hand Printed Tree Ring Art and it's absolutely fascinating. His puns are also very witty and we enjoyed them a lot. I particularly love 'Lord of the rings', but Anna bought a t shirt that said 'Eco Worrier'. Julian's studio is taking part in Worcestershire Open Studios, which I'll link at the end. The studio is based in Feckenham and the event is a chance to visit the studios and explore the art work of four local artists. The event is taking place on August 19th, 20th, 26th, 27th and 28th and there's other things happening in Feckenham around those times too, so it's a great idea to do something different and experience people's creativity.
Image from https://www.facebook.com/VisibullArtandDesign
We checked in with Grandad and Brendon who were doing the sound for the day. Grandad had been driving all over the place for several different things and Brendon was for sure sleepy. Sound engineers don't usually have to get up early!
We met some beautiful people at Nature Makers Droitwich and Worcester and I fell in love with a dog called Pip. Here is a photo, because aww.
Image taken from https://www.facebook.com/naturemakersdroitwichworcester
We had lunch! From The Berry Press! Around 1pm I think. We had Smoothie Bowls. Here is a picture I nabbed from their social media so that I could casually brag, because they were amazing! We actually weren't hungry at all until it was getting on for 9pm!
Image from https://www.facebook.com/the.berry.press
Next up it was time for me to go and do something I've been exploring recently, which is Mindfulness, and this was with Dina (Healing Dimensions with Dina). It was a great session and really expanded on what I've already been learning and trying to implement. Dina is a really down to earth and friendly person, and I feel it takes all the intimidation out of a new practice when someone can be funny and just very real about something like that. I really enjoyed the session with you Dina! Thank you!
Image from https://www.facebook.com/HealingwithDina
Once I stumbled back out of that tent, the band had started arriving! Before we played, we enjoyed a beautiful acoustic set from Livvie Wilkes. She sang and played some of my most favourite tunes, and I loved her vocals!
When I checked my phone I was surprised to find that Martin and Marie had been there since we had gotten there, but we hadn't seen them! They'd set up a little shelter by the stage which was shared by lots of the festival goers! Martin is new! We were let down on a few dates over the summer, so with the shortest of notice, Martin agreed to come and join us on the drums! We had a quick rehearsal on Friday night to touch base, and so he could actually meet the rest of the band (he's just my friend, actually). He and his lovely lady Marie were a fantastic addition to the line up and the vibes! Genuinely lovely people and it was a pleasure to play music together.
I believe Sugar and Teebs arrived around the same time, and Sugar brought his boy! Because he had also agreed to help us out last minute for the show on bass guitar. Now, you savvy Reggae Rebels may have seen that around a year ago, Taevon played ONE SONG with us at The Night Owl Reggae Cookout. He'd only been playing around 6 months I think when we did that, and he smashed it then. But oh my lord of lords, guys, did the boy do amazing! He picked up everything we threw at him and brought some absolute style to the set! We were so grateful to have you with us, Taevon!
I can't remember when Clive arrived, but he was there, and there were many hugs.
Dawn arrived with a small crew of family. I caught them crossing the field. Celebrity-like. So cool.
And woop woop, it was time to play our set! We had some chill out vibes going on as well as our usual consciousness and upbeat reggae. But I actually can't wait to tell you about the second set!
Image from https://www.facebook.com/Soul.Medicine.Fest
We put a song together especially for Soul Medicine Festival, with a bit of a difference. The first song of the second set was "Night Nurse" by Gregory Isaacs. The idea was to have a really stripped back, acoustic guitar featuring vocal feature, and man alive did Sugar & Dawn do the damn thing! It was phenomenal. Those harmonies were on point!
We also put in our rendition of Redemption Song, which is usually a feature of Teebs and Sugar, but they did a little vocal section swithcaroo, and Dawn sang it with a touch of harmony from Sugar. Guys, EYE-BALLED! It was so emotional and so strong. Everyone there was absolutely captivated. Don't worry - videos coming soon!
Again, just a huge thank you to Alex at Soul Medicine Festival (soon to be the Soul REVOLUTION!) for inviting us once again to this special and uplifting connection. It was an absolute pleasure talking to you all, but I have to say one last shout out... to Sherry at Soul inah Bowl who came to talk to us after the show. Girl, you're the nicest!
We ended the day listening to the beautiful voice of Glenda Laila - I was particularly excited when she sang Noku Mana, because the first dance at James and Gaia's wedding was that song and we'd never heard it before, and now it's come into our lives twice within a month! Must be a sign!
I also brought a beautiful hand-made chakra hanging from Chakra Project. So the project supports and trains a small group of women in Kashmir, North India, in traditional hand stitching skills, and I have just taken some of that home with me. You really need to check out what they do, because it is life-changing work.
I'm going to bring this blog to a close because I am somewhere else in my mind right now and it's all positivity!
Thank you to each and every musician that contributed to some beautiful music yesterday. We managed to bring the sun back out. Without you guys, life would be so dull.
Thank you to every person who listened and watched and experienced our music yesterday. We hope that it lifted you up, the way that Reggae music can.
Thank you to Martin and Taevon for being absolute super heroes and rescuing the performance, and for doing such an amazing job. Long may it continue.
Thank you to Grandad and Brendon for being our extended Reggulites family and making us sound so sparkly.
Thank you to everyone who spoke to us, interacted with us, or even just smiled, because that's what life is about.
And thank you to Will for coming back from his own gig to see us at the end, cause we love the actual socks off ya.
Our next public performance is at The Fusilier on August 5th for Jamaican Independence Day and we can't wait!
Please check out all of these amazing humans!
The Festival: https://www.soulmedfest.co.uk/
Martin (Cat) the drummer: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069559567148
The stall holders, practitioners and therapists:
There are more, but I'm not tech savvy enough to find them all.
And the musicians we saw:
And as always, our amazing sound engineers: www.db-acoustics.co.uk
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