Folk Festival ends on high note
Denis Armstrong, The Ottawa Sun
The 18th annual Folk Festival wrapped up Sunday night on a positive note.
Attendance for the festival, which was moved to Hog’s Back Park and extensively restructured by Bluesfest’s executive producer Mark Monahan, is up nearly 25% over the 2010 edition at Britannia Beach Park to between 18,000 and 20,000 total for the four-day weekend.
And that’s just the beginning. Next year, Monahan wants to grow the festival even bigger, upwards of 30,000. The question now is, what is he prepared to do with the programming in order to bring new fans to the park?
“We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the move to Hog’s Back Park and the changes we’ve made,” Monahan said Sunday night. “The structure of the Folk Festival is already there. If we focus on interactive programming, a tradition at the Folk Festival, we’ll retain the relaxed feel that people love.”
Read more on the Ottawa Sun website: Folk Festival ends on high note
Folk Festival takes new ride on Hog’s Back
Janice Thiessen, EMC News
EMC Entertainment – Families and counter-culture fans alike are eagerly anticipating the oncoming Folk Festival held in the centre of the city at Hog’s Back Park Aug. 25 to 28.
“(Our new location) gives you the opportunity to see a lot of these artists in an intimate setting.”
“It also gives people a chance to see artists in the workshops, there’s a lot of interactive opportunities,” said artistic director and Folk Festival supervisor Mark Monahan.
“It’s really a gem of a site, a beautiful setting in the heart of the city. ”
“We’re very excited to have Hog’s Back Park as the new home for the festival.”
The Ottawa Folklore Centre is one of the founding sponsors of the event and has been heavily involved with the preparations including setting up numerous interactive workshops.
“It’s really important to have their involvement and have local artists apart of the Folk Festival,” Monahan added.
The Folk Festival used to be held at Britannia Park but because of some limitations the festival was moved to Hog’s Back Park this year.
“The festival is not viable in its (older) location for a number of reasons, but mainly because of accessibility,” said Monahan.
Read more on the EMC News website: Folk Festival takes new ride on Hogs Back
Ottawa Bluesfest boss steps in after folkfest director steps down less than a year after hire
Bluesfest head Mark Monahan is in charge of booking acts for the 18th annual folkfest after the Ottawa Folk Festival?s artistic director Dylan Griffith stepped down before Christmas.
After less than a year in the job, the Ottawa Folk Festival’s artistic director Dylan Griffith quietly stepped down before Christmas, leaving Bluesfest’s Mark Monahan in charge of booking acts for the 18th annual folkfest.
“Basically he left by mutual agreement,” Monahan said. “There were decisions he had to make and issues around the changes, and we both decided that maybe it’s better if he went.”
Griffith had a two-word response to requests for an interview: “Old news,” he wrote, declining further comment.
Following a nationwide search, Griffith, a former Whitehorse resident, was hired last January to “hipify” the struggling festival and attract new audiences. He replaced Ottawa musician/facilitator Chris White, who co-founded the festival in 1994 and helped to build it into a family-friendly, musically adventurous weekend in picturesque Britannia Park.
Griffith booked a bold lineup for last August’s event that included hip-hop veterans Arrested Development, but the festival’s main stage was rained out on the final day, sending the event deeper into debt.
Bluesfest, Ottawa’s massive summer music festival headed by Monahan, stepped in and bailed out the cash-strapped folkfest in November by providing funds to pay outstanding debts. As part of the takeover, Bluesfest replaced a handful of the folk festival’s board of directors, bringing in experienced Bluesfest board members Bob Provick, Connor Grimes and James Leal, as well as the Black Sheep Inn’s Paul Symes.
The NAC presents Canadian Folk Music Award nominee Kate Reid
The NAC presents Canadian Folk Music Award nominee Kate Reid at the Fourth Stage on October 13, 2010
Singer-songwriter Kate Reid, nominated for the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award in the New/Emerging Artist category, performs at the National Arts Centre (NAC) Fourth Stage on Thursday, October 13, 2010. The NAC is thrilled to present this brilliantly talented folk artist whose unique approach to songwriting using humour, introspection and spoken word has garnered her both critical and popular praise on the Canadian folk music scene.
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Delhi 2 Dublin Win Inaugural Galaxie Supernova Award at 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival
OTTAWA, Ontario (August 30, 2010) – Vancouver-based Celtic-Bhangra fusion group Delhi 2 Dublin have been named winners of the Ottawa Folk Festival’s inaugural Galaxie Supernova Award. Presented to an individual artist or group set to ‘explode’ onto the Canadian music scene, the Supernova Award comes with a $4,000 bursary courtesy of Galaxie, as well as the opportunity for airplay on Galaxie music channels.
The Supernova Award is presented by the Galaxie Rising Star Program, which provides bursaries to rising Canadian music talent at festivals and events across Canada. Chosen by a jury appointed by the Ottawa Folk Festival, eligible artists had to meet three simple criteria: 1) be part of the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival line-up; 2) be Canadian; and 3) have released at least one but no more than three albums. Jurors were required to watch performances by all eligible acts over the course of the festival weekend (August 13-15, 2010) and then meet to deliberate and choose a winner after the conclusion of the festival.
Winners Delhi 2 Dublin were chosen for their “dynamic and incredibly high-energy live performance, their innovative fusion of traditional and modern musical styles and instrumentation, and their ability to connect with and inspire their audience,” says Festival Director Dylan Griffith. Formed in 2006 to take part in a one-off club night, Delhi 2 Dublin combine traditional Indian instruments such as tabla, dhol and sitar with fiddle and programmed electronic beats and lyrics sung in both Punjabi and English to create a unique fusion of Bhangra, Celtic, dub reggae, hip hop and electronica sounds. Blending east and west, electronic and acoustic, mainstream and underground, Delhi 2 Dublin “have a broad cross-cultural and cross-generational appeal” says Griffith, “partly due to the various musical elements they bring together but more so because of their incredibly infectious energy and obvious love for creating and playing music.”
The Supernova Award was one of two Galaxie-sponsored awards presented as part of the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival. The first award, presented in June, went to Ottawa trio The Musettes, winners of the Under 25 category during the Ottawa Folk Festival auditions. Twenty acts participated in the preliminary round of auditions held in March, with three groups advancing to the final round held in June at the Canadian Library and Archives. The winners received a $1,000 bursary from Galaxie, as well as a performance slot during the 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival.
Since its inception in 2000, over 750 artists have directly benefitted from the Galaxie Rising Stars Program. Each year, the Program works with numerous music industry partners across Canada to discover, encourage and promote new artists. Louis Bellavance, Director of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program says “Galaxie has been able to help up and coming artists for over ten years and it has been an incredible journey to follow the careers of artists we have supported”.
For more information on The Galaxie Rising Star Awards, visit http://www.galaxie.ca. For more information on Delhi to Dublin please visit http://www.delhi2dublin.com.
Final Audition Winners Clarksdale Moan and The Musettes to Play Ottawa Folk Festival
The 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival Final Auditions took place on Thursday, June 10th at the Library and Archives of Canada, awarding two exceptionally talented acts Clarksdale Moan, and the Musettes with performance slots at this year’s festival.
Judges Louise and Harvey Glatt, donators of the One Fret Less Award, Kay Kanbayashi, artistic programming coordinator at the NCC, and Dean Verger, long-time proprietor of legendary folk café Rasputin’s, had the difficult task of selecting the top act in each category.
The admittedly nervous performers each put on strong, crowd-pleasing performances, making the judges’ decisions tricky to say the least. In the end two acts stood out above the rest. To Bob LeDrew, OFF board member and MC of the Final Auditions, the judges panel was not an envious place to be.
“I was really impressed with all six performances. I would not want to be a judge. There was a great diversity present in the acts in the style of music being performed from more traditional delta-blues to singer-songwriter” said LeDrew.
Winner of the youth category (aged 16-25), The Musettes won not only the coveted festival performance slot but also the Galaxie Rising Star award and a cash prize of $1000. The three charming young women that form The Musettes met at Canterbury High School, where they graduated from the vocal program. The Musettes music is a cheerful blend of harmonized vocals, ukulele, acoustic guitar and the fiddle that has been compared to The Wailin’ Jennies and The Good Lovelies. The Musettes members Laura Inostroza and Rachel Harrison beat out the other two acts in their category despite being short a member, as fiddler and vocalist Meaghan LaGrandeur was overseas doing charity work. They will use their prize money to invest in new equipment to further improve their sound. To The Musettes the big payoff is the chance to play in this year’s festival.
“It means a ton to be performing in the Ottawa Folk Festival. It’s such an opportunity to be playing with such well known performers,” said Laura Inostroza.
Open category winners (aged 26+), Clarksdale Moan took home the One Fret Less award as well as their time slot and $1000 cash prize. From Chateauguay, Quebec, Clarksdale moan is comprised of vocalist Kevin Harvey and guitarist Kenny Pauze, who together play definitive blues, complete with heart-felt vocals, slide guitar, harmonica and pounding foot stomping. A true blues act, Clarksdale Moan took their stage name from 1930’s blues band Son House’s elusive recording “Clarksdale Moan”. The duo’s emotional performance was what set them apart from the competition.
The 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival will take place August 13-15 at Britannia Park. For tickets go to www.ticketbreak.com.
Dylan Griffith – a fresh face at Ottawa Folk Festival
New artistic director hails from Yukon
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
A 38-year-old native of Vancouver who looks a bit like Lyle Lovett, Griffith is moving himself and his cat to Ottawa this month to take over the festival’s top job, a recently created position combining artistic direction and management. He is replacing Chris White, the festival’s longtime artistic director and co-founder, who resigned in the fall to pursue other opportunities.
“One of the big things is filling the shoes I’ve been left with,” Griffith said in an interview. “Chris did a great job for 16 years and is a hugely respected member of the Ottawa folk community, and here I am coming from the Yukon. I think that’s a challenge, but it’s also a real opportunity. People don’t have the preconceptions about me. I’m starting fresh.”
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