The best acts you've never heard of
Folk Fest 2007 was full of ’em
TESSA VANDERHART STAFF
PHOTOS BY JOEL TRENAMAN.
Depending on whom you ask, you should either definitely go to the Winnipeg Folk Festival next year, or you definitely shouldn’t.
You should go because it’s a whirlwind of 250 musical performances — the best acts you’ve never heard of, in every genre — the best, craziest people you’ll ever meet, and a campground experience so lively they have to call it “Festival” camping.
You shouldn’t go, of course, because Winnipeg’s best-kept secret is, frankly, not all that well-kept, and there are only so many good spots in the shade to relax and take in the harmony (and no, I don’t think that word is uncalled-for here) of music at the fest.
Un-hippie-like sentiments aside, it’s a damn shame if you missed it. If you weren’t there, or if you were but didn’t manage to make it outside of the campground, here is a highly biased list of the artists you need to know about.
Ndidi Onukwulu — say it with me: in-DEE-DEE on-NOO-kwoo-loo. She wowed at the “Not So Old Time Rock ’n’ Roll” set with Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir (see below) and Crooked Still (see further below). Get this: she’s gorgeous, she’s from Toronto (!), she closes every set with a song called “This May Be the Last Time” — and — did I mention? — she can sing! Oh yeah, and she is a wonderful human being.
In her own words: “I grew up living a life that, um, was not fun. And the kind of life that I will spend my life trying to work to ensure that no child has to go through that kind of stuff. And I resonated with a lot of pain, I knew a lot of pain. And what I’m writing, they are dark but they are real. Those are tangible emotions. And it’s not the nicest sort of scenarios, but life isn’t nice. And I feel like, I put it out there but play it with pleasing melodies so people can listen, and know that, you know, maybe it’s a song about death, or maybe it’s a song about cheating or something not so nice, but everyone goes through it and it doesn’t have to weigh so much; you can make it light. . . . It comes from my soul — I write about what I’ve seen.”
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir are CBC Radio 3 darlings, but if anyone needed a little more convincing their live show would do it. They closed the workshop stages (daytime multi-performer sets) on Sunday with “Whiskey, Women & Death (The Happy Peoples Workshop)” — improvising to nearly every song coperformers the Earl Brothers, Elliott Brood and Ben Weaver played.
Judd Palmer, banjoist, harmonica-player and vocalist of AMGC had this to say about his festival experience: “When we first started out playing folk festivals, we were way more of a — our roots were sort of, nasty, late-night, smoky bars with a lot of whiskey going on — that was our scene. And then we started playing folk festivals and initially, I was paranoid; I’m like, we’ve gotta come up with a different sound if we’re going to survive on the folk-fest circuit. But over the years I’ve lost that terror — so now, essentially, we just play what we play and it seems to work better than when I was paranoid about playing the right music for the folk festival.
“I think part of the reason people come to folk festivals is to hear different things . . . so the best thing is just to be who we are, on Sunday afternoon, to play like we’re in a bar at three in the morning.”
Crooked Still has the dubious distinction of playing two amazing sets that I was only able to hear from a distance for various reasons (reason one: interviewing AMGC’s Palmer; reason two I cannot tell you because it would incriminate me). They call themselves a “hot young bluegrass group” and the best thing is: it’s true. The second-best thing is that the cover of their Shaken By A Low Sound is incredibly pretty and shows exactly what you’re getting: cello, double-bass, banjo, and raven-like vocals.
Ben Weaver has been called “a rural Tom Waits” and “a hillbilly Leonard Cohen.” Both are close — but not quite.
A week later, I still have a song lyric of his stuck in my head: “Everywhere that I’m going to be is far away from here.”
In regard to a song prepared specifically for the “Whiskey, Women, and Death” workshop, Weaver said: “I guess I write all the time, pretty much. Last night, I really didn’t have anything to do, so I just sat down and wrote it. I write a lot on the road, which I guess a lot of people don’t do, but I do a lot because I love the tone — it makes it easier for me to lose myself and go wherever the song wants me to go.”
Cat Empire, to be honest, didn’t do very much for me. But they were the hit of the fest, and as such, deserve full mention here. Purveyors of cateye-logoed, satisfyingly percussive jazz-funk with upwardly mobile piano and, admittedly, thrilling trumpeting, they are definitely worth checking out for yourself.
Death Vessel — Joel Thibodeau has one of the most unforgettable voices I’ve ever heard. I didn’t get to talk to him, and you know what, I don’t even want to bias you with my futile words. Visit his MySpace immediately! (myspace.com/deathvessel)
Actually, while you’re at it, check out these honourable mentions!
African Guitar Summit, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Boom Pam, Joel Plaskett, Elliott Brood, That 1 Guy, Jill Barber, Chirgilchin.
See you next year!
Tickets for the 2008 Winnipeg Folk Festival, July 10-13, will go on sale in approximately May 2008. Check out winnipegfolkfestival.com for a countdown.
