Different strokes for different folks
Ottawa Folk Festival celebrates its 16th year
by Charlotte Bailey, Fulcrum
BLUESFEST MIGHT BE over, but that doesn’t mean that festival season is finished in Ottawa. August will give way to the Ottawa Folk Festival, a weekend of international bands coming together to expose Ottawa to the world of folk music.
“It’s a really unique experience,” said festival director Dylan Griffith. “It’s [a] chance to see some stellar artists in a really intimate environment.”
Although this will be his first year directing the Ottawa Folk Festival, Griffith isn’t new to the scene by any means; he directed the Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon for five years.
Read more: Different strokes for different folks
17th Annual Ottawa Folk Festival Announces Evening Schedule, Additional Artists
Image courtesy of The Ottawa Folk Festival
OTTAWA, Ontario (July 20th, 2010) – The Ottawa Folk Festival has released the full evening schedule for the 17th edition of its annual celebration of music, dance and community engagement, revealing a few late additions to an already exciting and eclectic line-up that includes such diverse artists as acclaimed alt-folk stars Calexico, avant-garde Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq, Canadian roots-music icon Jim Cuddy and Buryat folk-rock sensations Namgar.
“I love the challenge of putting together the schedule for such a diverse line-up,” enthuses Festival Director Dylan Griffith. “You want each night to flow and have a certain cohesion, and you end up finding a sort of crazy internal logic where nobody other than Namgar could play before The Hidden Cameras.” Asked to choose a favourite of the three nights, Griffith explains that while “each night has its own distinct flavour, you really need to take in the entire weekend to get the full folk festival experience.”
Headlining the first night of this year’s festival will be legendary alternative hip hop collective Arrested Development. With their infectious energy, socially-conscious lyrics and irresistible fusion of gospel, jazz, soul, R&B and yes, hip hop, Arrested Development is sure to get the folk fest crowd out of their lawn chairs and up on their feet – making a lot of new fans in the process. Also featured on the CUPE Main Stage on Friday night will be Toronto-based folk-rock orchestra Rock Central Plaza, local favourites The Acorn and award-winning folk troubadour Jon Brooks. Meanwhile, across the park in the Galaxie Dance Tent, the gospel-tinged folk of Bruce Peninsula will kick off the night, followed by the high-energy bluegrass of Toronto’s The Foggy Hogtown Boys and the sweaty, tent revival roots-rock of Pennsylvania’s Hoots & Hellmouth.
Saturday’s main attraction will undoubtedly be acclaimed Arizona alt-country ensemble Calexico, but they are merely one highlight in a night full of stellar acts. Quebec’s Galant, tu perds ton temps, one of a handful of late additions to this year’s line-up, will start the night on the CUPE Main Stage with a rousing set of traditional folk, sung a cappella with only minimal percussion for accompaniment. Staying in a traditional vein, Scotland’s award-winning Celtic trio LAU will take the stage next, followed by west coast country crooner Carolyn Mark and local hero Jim Bryson, who will be backed up by Canadian indie rock icons The Weakerthans. Over in the Galaxie Dance Tent, English troubadour Frank Turner will open the night with his distinctive brand of punked-up folk anthems, while Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and Buryat folk-rock ensemble Namgar will fuse the ancient and the modern in what are sure to be two stunning and unforgettable sonic experiences. Not to be outdone, Toronto’s infamous gay church folk collective The Hidden Cameras will finish off the night in the dance tent with their manic, much heralded and not-to-be-missed live extravaganza.
The festival’s final night will get off to a toe-tapping start in the Galaxie Dance Tent with a two-hour trad dance party featuring Ottawa’s own Old Sod Band. Two more local favourites will keep the party going as bluesman Terry Gillespie and African groovemaster The Mighty Popo take the stage, priming the crowds for an adrenalin-fueled, tent-shaking closing set by Bhangra-Celtic fusion outfit Delhi 2 Dublin.
On the CUPE Main Stage, the Festival’s final night will kick off with hot up-and-coming country combo Ladies of the Canyon, followed by the one-two indie-folk punch of Portland quartet Horse Feathers and Toronto two-piece Bahamas. Bringing back the country vibe – with a healthy dose of bluegrass - festival favourite Jenny Whiteley will take the stage next, backed up by her crack band of seasoned players. The evening’s penultimate act and this year’s one bona fide legend, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is guaranteed to charm and delight, spinning tall tales from his storied life in between a selection of songs from a repertoire that spans over 40 years. Closing out the night – and the weekend – Canadian roots-music icon Jim Cuddy will take the stage last, joined by just-announced special guests Luke Doucet & Melissa McClelland.
As a special side-program this year, the festival will start each evening on the CUPE Main Stage with a short performance by one of three featured choirs. First up on Friday night is Folka Voca, the Ottawa Folklore Centre’s community choir, while Saturday will feature Ottawa’s premier queer community choir, Tone Cluster. As is tradition at the OFF, Sunday night will kick off with a performance by the Terry Penner Festival Choir, a unique group led by Andy Rush and made of festival attendees who rehearse over the course of the festival weekend.
In addition to its evening concerts, the Ottawa Folk Festival will present an array of daytime concerts, collaborative workshop sessions, and participatory activities for music lovers of all ages. The full daytime schedule will be announced on July 27th.
About The Ottawa Folk Festival
The 2010 Ottawa Folk Festival will take place from Friday, August 13 to Sunday, August 15th on the shores of the Ottawa River in beautiful Britannia Park. Over 40 local, national and international music acts will be featured on two evening and five daytime stages. The Festival will also feature a full program of participatory music workshops, children’s and family activities, an artisan village, environmental talks, food stalls, beer gardens and much, much more.
Tickets are available on-line at www.ticketbreak.com, by phone at 1-866-9-GET-TIX, or in person at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, Ten Thousand Villages in Westboro, and all three CD Warehouse locations.
For more information, please visit www.ottawafolk.org.
Folk Festival fills out its main stage, headline lineup
Arrested Development, Calexico, Jim Cuddy Band among top attractions
By AEDAN HELMER, Ottawa Sun
The Jim Cuddy Band is among the headliners for this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival at Britannia Park. (Ottawa Sun file photo)
The Ottawa Folk Festival has put the finishing touches on its evening schedule, which includes headliners Arrested Development, Calexico, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and The Jim Cuddy Band.
The full evening schedule for three-day festival, from Aug. 13 to 15 at Britannia Park, is available online now at ottawafolk.org, with a full daytime schedule to be announced next week.
The festival’s opening night is headlined by alt hip hop collective Arrested Development, perhaps not the first name that comes to mind when you think “folk fest,” but the fusion artists cap an already eclectic opening day.
Keeping with festival tradition, Ottawa’s Folka Voca choir kicks off main stage festivities on Friday after the 6 p.m. opening ceremony, followed by folk troubadour Jon Brooks.
Local indie darlings The Acorn are up next promoting their latest soft-spun No Ghost release, followed by Toronto roots orchestra Rock Plaza Central.
Read more: Folk Festival fills out its main stage, headline lineup
Festival fatigue? From May to September, there’s a festival every weekend. Is Ottawa in danger of …
Bruce Ward, The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa’s festival season is exhilarating and exhausting, but it also poses an existential dilemma: How do you wring every drop of fun from the festivals when so much is on offer? Let’s be optimistic and say our summer is about four months long — call it 16 weekends.
During those 16 weekends, Ottawans can choose from hundreds of events tied to smaller festivals and cultural celebrations, not counting the Tulip Festival and Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill. That’s in addition to the big four music shows — Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Ottawa International Chamber Music Fest, and the Ottawa Folk Festival.
And what about the possibility of festival fatigue? Will residents and visitors get turned off when confronted with Ottawa’s overload of shows and events? “Other than jokingly — ‘Oh, there’s too much to do, how do you choose?’ — I haven’t really heard any serious criticism of there being too many festivals,” says Jantine Van Kregten, director of communications at Ottawa Tourism.
“I find June, though, there really is a lot. It’s just one thing after another. Every weekend there’s not just one or two things, there’s multiple things to choose from.” Festivals bring a big payday to Canadian cities, including Ottawa. At the 2009 Bluesfest, the combined overall attendance was 395,044 with visitor expenditures of more than $65 million.
Full article on the Ottawa Citizen website: Festival fatigue?
Ottawa Folk Festival takes on new challenge
Phil Ambroziak | EMC
Organizers are hoping a new take on one of the city’s most popular summer music festivals will result in a new audience while still attracting longtime traditionalists.
The Ottawa Folk Festival is scheduled for Aug. 13 to 15 at Britannia Park and, while it will still feature everything that has made it a popular event in the past, this year’s festival plans on being bigger and better than ever.
Although all acts that will be appearing at the festival have yet to be confirmed, Mr. Griffith noted that long-time fans will be pleased to see such folk music legends as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott while new groups such as Arrested Development will have a somewhat different approach in terms of lyrical content and how they connect with the audience.
“There will be new artists and new genres, but they will all have a connection to our roots in folk music,” Mr. Griffith said.
Full story on the EMC website: Ottawa Folk Festival takes on new challenge
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.
Kinnie Starr finds love in her music
Artist takes a break from hip hop to push new sounds
By Eric Volmers, Canwest news service
Kinnie Starr performs on the main stage at the Ottawa Folk Festival, Aug 21, 2009 at Britannia Park. Starr is a singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta. Her music, which blends hip hop and alternative rock, has been described as “hip hop aggro groove.”
‘I’m taking a rest while hip hop gets better,” says Kinnie Starr with a laugh, when asked about the lack of beats and rhymes in her latest work.
One can’t help but think the versatile singer-songwriter has trotted out this sound bite-worthy line once or twice before while on the publicity rounds behind her new album, A Different Day. True to its title, her fifth disc is certainly different from her last four, particularly in its dearth of hip-hop sounds. But the outspoken Calgary native makes it clear that her temporary alienation from the form is based on some compelling outside factors, not just the creative restlessness that has always defined her work.
Read more: Kinnie Starr finds love in her music
Ottawa Folk Festival: Audition Finals & Fundraiser
Come join us!
Ottawa Folk Festival will select the winners of two major music awards at an Audition Finals event on Thursday, June 10th at Library & Archives Canada. Six emerging talents will perform in competition for the Galaxie Rising Star Award and the One Fret Less Award (sponsored by Louise & Harvey Glatt.) Winners will receive a $1000 cash prize and a performance slot on a daytime stage at this summer’s festival. The Glatt’s will be joined on the selection jury by Dean Verger, of the legendary Rasputin’s Folk Cafe.
This event is also a fundraiser for the Ottawa Folk Festival and begins with a reception (light fare and cash bar) and silent auction at 6:00 pm. The showcase starts at 7:30 with host Bob LeDrew, perennial host of Show Tune Showdown, joined by CBC’s Alan Neal pounding the gavel for a live auction. Tickets can be purchased in advance through www.ticketbreak.com, at ticket outlets The Ottawa Folklore Centre, Ten Thousand Villages on Richmond Road, all CD Warehouse locations, or at the door. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for youth (ages 16-25.)
Preliminary auditions were held in March, when finalists were chosen from a slate of 25 competitors in each category (Youth and Open 25+.)
Chosen to compete for the Galaxie Rising Star Award are three Ottawa-based artists: Acorn Trail, the stage name of Travis Lefebvre, who cites Ryan Adams and Patsy Cline as influences; Kara Askwith, who plays atmospheric, jazz-tinged folk; and The Musettes, a trio of graduates from Canterbury High’s vocal program.
Finalists in the Open Category are all out-of-towners: Montreal-based Gabrielle Papillon (with Simon Honeyman) loves the journey of a song, and will be touring by train this summer with Halifax’s John Bryant; Guelph’s Ambre McLean has been compared to Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, and will also be performing on-board VIA rail; and Clarksdale Moan, named for the “B” side of a lost 1930 blues recording, features the vocals of Dewittville, Quebec’s Kevin Harvey with Kenny Pauze on “Stella” the steel guitar.
Come join us!
Ottawa Folk Festival
Audition Finals & Fundraiser
Ottawa Folk Festival will select the winners of two major music awards at an Audition Finals event on Thursday, June 10th at Library & Archives Canada. Six emerging talents will perform in competition for the Galaxie Rising Star Award and the One Fret Less Award (sponsored by Louise & Harvey Glatt.) Winners will receive a $1000 cash prize and a performance slot on a daytime stage at this summer’s festival. The Glatt’s will be joined on the selection jury by Dean Verger, of the legendary Rasputin’s Folk Cafe.
This event is also a fundraiser for the Ottawa Folk Festival and begins with a reception (light fare and cash bar) and silent auction at 6:00 pm. The showcase starts at 7:30 with host Bob LeDrew, perennial host of Show Tune Showdown, joined by CBC’s Alan Neal pounding the gavel for a live auction. Tickets can be purchased in advance through www.ticketbreak.com, at ticket outlets The Ottawa Folklore Centre, Ten Thousand Villages on Richmond Road, all CD Warehouse locations, or at the door. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for youth (ages 16-25.)
Preliminary auditions were held in March, when finalists were chosen from a slate of 25 competitors in each category (Youth and Open 25+.)
Chosen to compete for the Galaxie Rising Star Award are three Ottawa-based artists: Acorn Trail, the stage name of Travis Lefebvre, who cites Ryan Adams and Patsy Cline as influences; Kara Askwith, who plays atmospheric, jazz-tinged folk; and The Musettes, a trio of graduates from Canterbury High’s vocal program.
Finalists in the Open Category are all out-of-towners: Montreal-based Gabrielle Papillon (with Simon Honeyman) loves the journey of a song, and will be touring by train this summer with Halifax’s John Bryant; Guelph’s Ambre McLean has been compared to Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, and will also be performing on-board VIA rail; and Clarksdale Moan, named for the “B” side of a lost 1930 blues recording, features the vocals of Dewittville, Quebec’s Kevin Harvey with Kenny Pauze on “Stella” the steel guitar
OTTAWA FOLK FESTIVAL AUDITION FINALS and AWARDS
OTTAWA – Ottawa Folk Festival will select the winners of two major music awards at an Audition Finals event on Thursday, June 10th at Library & Archives Canada. Six emerging talents will perform in competition for the Galaxie Rising Star Award and the One Fret Less Award. Winners will receive a $1000 cash prize and a performance slot on a daytime stage at this summer’s festival.
Preliminary auditions were held in March, when finalists were chosen from a slate of 25 competitors in each category (Youth and Open 25+.)
Chosen to compete for the Galaxie Rising Star Award are three Ottawa-based artists: Acorn Trail, the stage name of Travis Lefebvre, who cites Ryan Adams and Patsy Cline as influences; Kara Askwith, who plays atmospheric, jazz-tinged folk; and The Musettes, a trio of graduates from Canterbury High’s vocal program.
Finalists in the Open Category are all out-of-towners: Montreal-based Gabrielle Papillon (with Simon Honeyman) loves the journey of a song, and will be touring by train this summer with Halifax’s John Bryant; Guelph’s Ambre McLean has been compared to Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, and will also be performing on-board VIA rail; and Clarksdale Moan, named for the “B” side of a lost 1930 blues recording, features the vocals of Dewittville, Quebec’s Kevin Harvey with Kenny Pauze on “Stella” the steel guitar.
This event is also a fundraiser for the Ottawa Folk Festival and begins with a reception and silent auction at 6:00 pm. The showcase starts at 7:30 with host Bob LeDrew, perennial host of Show Tune Showdown, joined by CBC’s Alan Neal pounding the gavel for a live auction. Tickets can be purchased in advance through www.ticketbreak.com, at ticket outlets The Ottawa Folklore Centre, Ten Thousand Villages on Richmond Road, all CD Warehouse locations, or at the door. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for youth (ages 16-25.)
The One Fret Less Award is sponsored by Ottawa arts enthusiasts and philanthropists Louise & Harvey Glatt, who will also be members of the selection jury. Joining the Glatt’s on the jury will be Dean Verger, founder of Ottawa’s legendary Rasputins’ Folk Café.
Galaxie supports emerging Canadian music talent through its Galaxie Rising Stars Program, which sets out to discover, encourage, promote and champion new up-and-coming Canadian artists and to support the best of this talent with cash bursaries to advance their careers.
Ottawa Folk Festival takes on new challenge
EMC, Phil Ambroziak
EMC Events – Organizers are hoping a new take on one of the city’s most popular summer music festivals will result in a new audience while still attracting longtime traditionalists.
The Ottawa Folk Festival is scheduled for Aug. 13 to 15 at Britannia Park and, while it will still feature everything that has made it a popular event in the past, this year’s festival plans on being bigger and better than ever.
Read more: Ottawa Folk Festival takes on new challenge
