FFWD Weekly
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Music
by Martin KempWhile the corndogs and Super Dogs may have been few and far between, this year's Calgary Folk Music Festival was a testament to the fact that the city is defined by not one but a myriad of cultural events, drawing artists and audiences as diverse as the city itself.
This was apparent right from the opening notes on Thursday night, when Ireland's Danu took to the mainstage, followed by steel guitar guru Freddie Roulette, then the inspirational Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, whose charismatic energy kept the clouds away. The solo Richard Thompson captivated all of the old folksters in the audience plus many of the younger ones, as he performed a range of tunes spanning his career. And there couldn't be a better way to end Thursday evening than with Blue Rodeo, who provided a mellow backdrop to the settling in of dusk.
And that's just one night.
The musical variety offered on the opening night was reflected throughout the weekend. Sometimes the audience was into it, sometimes it wasn't. On Friday, Great Big Sea fans stormed the island, many taking refuge in the beer tent until their band took the stage. This same audience just didn't seem to get the klez-mania of Winnipeg's Finjan, yet warmed up to the multi-octave vocals of Martin Sexton. Many in the audience offered little more than polite applause for both Jesse Winchester, who was fantastic, but a tad too mellow for the time slot, and BeauSoleil, who just didn't seem to cook like they normally do. And while Great Big Sea received by far the most enthusiastic response of the weekend, their set was standard at best – featuring pretty much the same material as any other concert they've done in Calgary. By the time Mary Chapin Carpenter took to the stage to nicely wind down Friday evening, many of the GBS fans had retreated back into the beer tent, missing out on a beautiful finalé.
The crowds for Saturday and Sunday mainstage concerts were a little smaller, yet more receptive to the eclectic mix of performers onstage. And with the possible exception of Ensemble Tartit, whose vocals and percussion were compelling, but a little too subdued for the crowd, the diversity of acts worked.
As always, the sheer variety of music available at the festival was no more apparent than at the workshops, which were scattered amongst the five smaller stages. And while a small number of audience members spent the day in front of an empty mainstage waiting for the evening to begin, magic happened throughout the rest of the park.
Where else in Calgary would audiences see Stephen Fearing jamming with Cordes En Folie and Lilison di Kinara? Or Kris Demeanor showcasing his fine songwriting along with Martin Sexton, Bad Livers, Jon Langford and Sally Timms? Here are just a few of the other highlights, in no particular order:
· Texas singer-songwriter Kimmie Rhodes, who charmed her way through a mainstage concert, accompanied by her son, her husband and Slide Guitar Mascot (and I mean that in the best possible sense) Colin Linden.
· Anything featuring Linda Tillery. Here is someone who actually puts thought into the workshops, working out some general direction with the other artists ahead of time. Not entirely spontaneous, but collaboration at its finest.
· The existence of Colin Linden. The guy loves music, and this was apparent every single time he was onstage. Same with fellow Blackie and the Rodeo Kings Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. It is a shame their concert was relegated to a side stage, though.
· Neko Case, Bruce Cockburn, Kev Carmody, Altan, Richie Havens (complete with lightning show), Musafir, Clanterra, and Kevin Welch and Kieran Kane.
And amongst the sunny weather and good music, there were only a few lower points. One was the early Sunday morning wind, which didn't show a lot of peace, love or understanding towards one of the mainstage speaker towers.
Despite much anticipation, the Trance Planet workshop proved to be a logistic nightmare. After DJ Rob Faust and 11 or so world musicians waited 45 minutes for the complex setup to be completed, the generator decided to quit. But perseverance won out as the workshop went ahead without sound, until electricity was restored. The patient audience was rewarded with 15 minutes of crazy jamming.
Sure, she's nice as heck, but Natalie MacMaster's mainstage show seemed to lack anything close to enthusiasm. She did, however, take part in a very well received workshop with a stage full of other fiddlers.
Like art, music can be very subjective. Not every performer receives standing ovations. The important thing, however, is that the Calgary Folk Music Festival offered a little bit of everything to around 35,000 people over a four-day period. Festivalgoers were probably not enthralled by every single performer, and likely left one act or another to make a Port-a-Potty pilgrimage. But that's the point. If the weekend's lineup was chosen with the goal of satisfying everybody, all the time, it probably wouldn't have been as interesting as it was.
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