Timbuktu evening

I didn't go for the whole thing - I think I can live without "Goffee and his amazing disappearing camel" which was on in the early afternoon to entertain the kids. Goffee was still there in the early evening, though, manning the Hay-on-Fire table. He's the man who started Hay-on-Fire, and this year the title is "Let there be Dragons".
Red Kite Theatre were there, too, and Hay Dial-a-Ride, the Bell Bank Club (for blind and partially sighted residents), the Warren (Hay's open space by the river), the Mother's Union and Haymakers (high class crafts).

I may well have missed someone out, but it was quite crowded, and most of the crowd were standing in rapt attention as the kora player performed. I wasn't sure what a kora would sound like, but it's not unlike a Welsh harp, except that he played it with his thumbs and it had a large round sound box at the bottom. I think he was a proper Malian griot, which seems to be their equivalent of a Welsh bard - a praise singer, though he did sing one women's song which was a lament about arranged marriages. While he was playing, a slideshow of pictures of Timbuktu was displayed on a screen to one side, and also a short film which showed people building a mud brick house.
Diana Jones was there in her genuine Welsh costume, too, and looked very smart in the tall black hat and flannel skirt.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the evening, and there was quite a positive atmosphere. It would be nice if the Malians finally decide they like us over Glastonbury or York.