Thursday 1 September 2011

Goffee and the Forest Spirits

I went to Open Mic at Kilvert's on Tuesday, having missed a few weeks. One of the beers on the bar was from the Talgarth micro-brewery, and it was pleasantly drinkable.
Goffee was there, famous in Hay as the Clown, but that night he was reading some of his own poetry. He had been to a gathering in the Cotswolds, which was also attended by a group called BakaBeyond (I think). It's a charity that helps a pygmy tribe called the Baka in the Cameroons. During the gathering they did a ritual with the pygmy music to call the forest spirits - "and they came," Goffee said, "three of them." He said it was one of the most amazing experiences of his life - and it had inspired him to write the poem about it.

(I performed too, but not very well - I got nervous and spoke far too quickly).

3 comments:

Rotters Brewery said...

Hey there, it's Glen here from Rotters (Talgarth) brewery..
Enjoy reading your blog, and i'm really pleased you enjoyed our beer! We have a small beer festival the weekend of 28th & 29th of October... It would be great to meet you if you can make it! We will making a one off brew for this event called Witches Pool, part of the proceeds from this ale will be donated to Walks Around Talgarth booklets (so they can afford to print more!)

Eigon said...

Thanks - and what a wonderful idea. I have a lot of happy memories of Pwll yr Wrach!

Rotters Brewery said...

Yes, it's a beautiful place. I'm thinking of getting a group of people to do a sponsored walk up there on the Saturday afternoon of the festival, with proceeds going to the same cause. Got to iron out the details yet though!