So Folked Up!
I guess you haven’t heard from me in awhile, summer’s been busy and I’m living it up! Speaking of summer, one of my very favorite events each year is the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Now, in case you haven’t been to a folk festival in awhile, the term “folk” sure has changed, especially here in Vancouver. The new slogan is “you are the folk, this is your music” since this genre has become so all-encompassing.
Now, I not only attend the festival, I am a volunteer of 5 years, 4 of which have been spent on the Lantern Committee. Now what, may you ask, is the Lantern Committee? Well, we get together weeks before the festival and get our creative juices flowing. We build lanterns out of bamboo, tissue paper, and lots of glue to be carried on bamboo poles. Each year we have a theme and this year it was ‘Things in the Garden’. There was a wasp, a grasshopper, a queen bee, a snail, a gnome, a leaf, a dragon (like I said, we get creative!) and so much more. We parade through the night crowd gathered around the main stage and then light the path for them to exit the park. It’s a magical experience and if you ever make it here, you should really check it out!
Photos: taken by my partner Dave Niddrie, this one is me carrying the leaf lantern, I’m wearing a headset cause we are pro-processioners, I’m the “head” and lead the group through the crowd and then I can have contact with the “tail” so I know what’s going on with everyone behind me. For more photos of the festival check out Dave’s Flickr profile.
Besides the lantern procession each night, I’m free all day to visit the 7 stages set up in beautiful Jericho Park nestled beside the ocean. You wander from stage to stage and some of the musical experiences that occur are just phenomenal. This year there was lots of dub, even dub from Vienna, Austria! It was a groovy time and such fun dancing in the hot sun.
After the festival, when I’m back in the real world, friends always ask me what my favorite part of the festival was, which is usually a hard questions but this year there was one moment that stood out above the others. It occurred at the volunteer after-party (its sweet being a volunteer!) Folks from all the different committees are there and we’re all glowing with the hard work we’ve accomplished during the day and ready to let loose and have a good time. So besides the good vibe already present, they bring in some of the performers from the festival for us to groove to, and man! was it groovy. It was a mash-up with Ganga Giri, Big Bass Theory and Dubblestandart, a blend of hypnotic organic beats, didgeridoo, bongos and dub vocals. But the climax was when the women joined in, three gals with uniquely distinct voices: Mihirangi from New Zealand – belting out sounds of rapture, Allison Russell from Vancouver - singing her style of soul, and Tanya Tagaq from Nunavut – a traditional throat singer of the modern kind. The women were pressed together as one undulating being, their voices flying out at us full force. The sounds layered together with the dancing and the sweat and it was unbelievable! A musical revolution occurred on that stage and I am so honoured to have been there to witness it and add my energy to it.
It’s a magical world you enter for three days where everyone smiles and music abounds, a little paradise that we create and all wish we could live inside forever. But alas, all good things must come to an end and we just have to try and keep that feeling flowing through our lives until next summer.
For more info on the artists I mention (or the many I didn’t) or to check out the festival and photos, visit the Vancouver Folk Music Festival website.
