... it's a really obscure number. I doubt you've heard of it.
That little joke pretty much summarizes my weekend. I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings, as well as all of Saturday and Sunday at Gallagher Park in for Edmonton's 31st annual Folk Festival. It was my first Folk Fest and, I have to say, it was phenomenal!
For starters, Edmonton boasts the largest folk music festival in North America [followed closely by Winnipeg's, which, unexpectedly, has an amazing music scene] and is hosted at a ski hill right near downtown Edmonton. Mainstage is at the bottom of the main hill, and from the top of the hill all the way down to the bottom, you can see the entire crowd sitting on a patchwork of tarps and blankets. As the sky darkens in the evening during the mainstage performances, people hold candles and the entire hill is lit up. If you've ever flown at night - you know those pockets of lights you can see far below you, representing a town or city that you're flying over? That's what the hill looks like, only you're right in the middle of it.
The lineup this year was incredible! Van Morrison, Ben Harper, Sarah Harmer, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Patrick Watson & The Wooden Arms, and Colin Hay, not to mention the dozens of equally talented, if less known, other artists. The side stages were an array of acts from all over Canada and the world. Probably the coolest session I saw was with Tony McManus, a classical celtic guitar player, and Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, a group from Mali, Africa. An ngoni is a traditional West African instrument and the group has a West African sound with an American twist. You would never think think that such a group would be able to successfully collaborate with Tony McManus or that they would produce something so interesting and amazing together, but it was incredible! They were jumping in on each other's pieces and ended with a completely improvised song, complete with a verse made up on the spot by the singer from Mali. It was fascinating to watch them watching each other, figuring out where they were all going without ever saying a word. If they had been recording, that piece would definitely have made it on an album!
Edmonton Folk Fest sells 10,000 four-day passes, plus 1,000 evening passes [for each evening] and were completely sold out within four hours of the box office opening on June 1 of this year. [This does not include the kids ages 11 and under who attend for free with their families.] 2,400 volunteers are required to help with set up, take down, first aid, dealing with garbage, selling raffle tickets, monitoring the entrances, ferry-ing performers to and from the park, and countless other jobs.
The event is huge, and the people who like this festival love it. This weekend was unforgivingly hot during the days and chilly [and even rainy] in the evenings. During one session we were informed by festival volunteers that a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect and to expect rain within 20 minutes, and nobody moved. We zipped up our jackets, threw our bags into garbage bags or under tarps, and kept listening. I had no idea that Edmonton had so many folk/indie/bluesy-music lovers that were so dedicated to and passionate about participating in the event. I now count myself as a passionate festival attendee - I will go every year that I possibly can.
It was an enormous relief to me to hear so many talented musicians who have not lost the art of music. So many music "stars" these days are not so much musicians as they are performers - they may not be able to replicate their music onstage without a back track or lip syncing, but they can look great in interesting outifts and they can shake it, so who cares, right? Wrong! I care. And apparently so do thousands of Edmontonians. I want to listen to artists, who craft their music with all the talent, precision, hard work, love, and beauty of Michelangelo painting in the Sistine Chapel. People who can improvise onstage or collaborate live with another group with no planning, who write their own music, who try to communicate a message, who interact with their audience through their music, who love listening to other artists' work, who believe in music - those are the kind of musicians I want to see. Those are the kind of musicians I got to see at Folk Fest this past weekend. My soul feels restored.
Edmonton takes a lot of flak from a lot of people. Edmontonians themselves love to hate their city, and we trash talk it all the time [but that doesn't make it okay for others to do so]. Hating Edmonton is one of the things we love most about living here. And sometimes we are a part of something that reminds us WHY we live here: Folk Fest or Heritage Days or Fringe or a million other festivals, for example. We may not look like much from the outside, but there's really something here, if you take the time to see it. Maybe that's why Edmonton Folk Festival has such a terrific reputation among performers : we'll surprise you.
"Open up your ears and heart
You put a big bird in a small cage it'll sing you a song"
Song of the Day: Big Bird In A Small Cage by Patrick Watson
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