| The Calgary Folk Music Festival announced its 27th lineup on Wednesday, May 17 for the summer’s sunniest musical event, taking place at Prince’s Island Park from July 27 to 30. The musical buffet to which fans have become accustomed continues this year with renaissance man/songwriter Kris Kristofferson, alt-country pioneers Son Volt, vocal charmers The Roches and songwriting genius Dave Alvin, among many others.
Perennial favourites Ani DiFranco, Neko Case and Dan Bern will return to the stage, joined by Stephen Fearing, Feist, Robbie Fulks, Broken Social Scene, Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards and recent Juno winners Bedouin Soundclash. International flavour will be provided by Mauritania’s Daby Toure, whose Afro-centric music is formed by strong rhythms; by Belizean dub-poet Leroy "The Grandmaster" Young; and India’s father-son combo of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Salil Bhatt.
Alberta artists will once again be well-represented, with a special presentation by Sorrow Bound, whose Hank Williams-inspired CD was released earlier this year. Kris Demeanor and his Crack Band, Jay Crocker and the Electric Apes, Rachelle van Zanten, Tim Hus and curmudgeon Lorrie Matheson will also represent the Alberta contingent, rounded out by Ronnie Hayward and his Trio. In all, more than 60 artists will be featured.
A new feature at this year’s festival will be a Boot Camp series taking place at Cantos Music Foundation. Groups of 12 to 15 people will study songwriting, guitar, Scottish traditional music or vocal techniques. Each workshop will be facilitated by a different set of musicians, like Luke Doucet and Stephen Fearing. Other changes include two hours of programming concurrent with the mainstage evening shows, and cutting the traditional afternoon mainstage show on the weekend.
Kerry Clarke, artistic director for the festival, is excited about many artists, including Kristofferson, whose rare live appearance in Calgary is a coup. She is also excited about booking Afro-baroque artist Stew.
"Amazing social commentary," she says. "I saw him in New York and thought he was very unique. Also Ari Up versus Double Standard. Loved the Slits, (so) the combination of Ari from that group plus an Austrian dub band was too much to pass up."
Of the overall flavour of the festival, Clarke says it’s like an ice-cream shop –– too many flavours to focus on just one.
"We have some dub, which we haven’t had in the past, some of the legends of folk, some of the new folkies whose songwriting is strong but not necessarily in a traditional folk format, like Great Lake Swimmers, Elliot Brood, and Luke Doucet. (There is also) some more new and established traditional, acoustic folk like House of Doc, Jez Lowe, Back of the Moon, Frigg, La Raquette A Claquette, and quite a bit of fusion (like) Angel Brothers, Little Axe, Elen McIlwaine and the usual boundary stretchers (D.Rangers, Mammals, Tania Tagaq). We explore so many different styles, approaches and methods of songwriting that there’s little we’re missing genre-wise, except perhaps heavy metal and classical."
Adult passes for the four-day event start at $120 and there is a special youth/student four-day pass for $75. These early bird prices are in effect until June 21, when advance prices kick in.
Tickets are available at Megatunes, Ticketmaster or the Calgary Folk Music Festival office at (233-0904). Go to www.calgaryfolkfest.com for more information. |
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