#ottawafolk2012 highlights

Thanks again everyone for being part of the 2012 FREEWHEELIN’ Ottawa Folk Festival presented by TELUS! We started out making a list of highlights but realized that who better to tell us about the best parts of the ‘fest than you! Here are some of the magical moments that you captured at this year's festival:

A Dynamic Duo

With all the discussion of solo acts at this year's Ottawa Folk Festival presented by TELUS, it was a pleasure to find a group formed exclusively around the concept of a couple. Whitehorse – the Hamilton-based project of husband-and-wife duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland – took to the Tartan Homes stage with a variety of instruments too broad for just a set of four hands, but their smouldering on-stage chemistry and wide-ranging musical abilities more than made up for this horse's physical deficiency.

Despite the unseasonably cool evening temperature, McClelland sported a floaty red dress that barely  reached her knees. At least once mid-set, she – and her husband adamantly agreed – expressed her hope that “my dress and the wind co-operate.” She needn't have worried. With the amount of samplers, keyboards, drums, bass, and different microphone filters, the amount of work the couple needed to put in racing between sections of the stage would have kept body temperatures balmy. From the opening chords of the first song - “Killing Time Is Murder” from their 2011 debut – the couple definitely brought the heat, mixing head-knocking percussion with progressively more blistering guitar work. “When all is said and done/ time will waste everyone” went the opening refrain. Not if things keep up like this, the undulating audience appeared to answer in unison.

“We put our new record a week ago, so here are some new ones,” said Doucet, before dropping into a number dedicated to the band's hometown. Title “No Glamour In The Hammer” may reveal an unintentional truth about Hamilton, but the big, fat, menacing square basslines brought a funk appeal to the tune that augers well for Whitehorse's future. If the band can continue to transcend genre barriers this easily than the hugely popular duo of Jack and Meg White – of The White Stripes – had better watch their back.

Two more selections rang out from the new album, “The Fate Of The World Depends On This Kiss,”  the building rhythm only periodically broken by some equipment issues on stage, once humourously following the lyric “there's no getting out of this one.” But Whitehorse did find a way out, playing through the ensuing complications with an ease their fans clearly appreciated. A failing drumbeat was taken up en masse by audience clapping. “I'm as sober as a judge/ but the jury's certainly drinking tonight,” sang the grinning couple, stage techs ferreting nervously around the mess of wires at their feet.

Everything was quickly back in order for a few popular cuts from the group, with the Bruce Springsteen cover “I'm On Fire” expertly delivered, and “Broken” developing quite the mid-set groove. Voice distortion appears to be an element the band is working with greatly, as is vocal and percussion sampling to extend both atmospherics, and the phenomenal harmonizing qualities of Doucet and McClelland. This was perhaps most apparent on the very promising opening track from their new disc, “Achilles Desire,” where spaghetti western guitar tones swim expertly around snippets of keys, a Pink Floyd-esque chorus, and a thoughtfully fuzzed out high-range. “I don't have much/ but I am a rich man,” sang Doucet, in a final truth spoken straight from the horse's mouth...           

 

- Cormac Rea         

Folk Goes Green By Numbers

The festival is all about music and community, a community that goes hand in hand with the environment. While we often talk about the number of people that come out to the Ottawa Folk Festival presented by TELUS, there’s a whole other set of numbers that we’d like to share with you.

13,250

The amount of water bottles we’ve diverted from a landfill since going water bottle-free in 2009.

16,000

The number of plates we divert from the landfill every year by washing reusable plates.

34,000

The number of forks, knives and spoons we wash instead of using plastic ones.

75%

Thanks to the Green Team, who goes through everything that’s thrown out at the festival, we’re able to recycle or compost up to ¾ of the waste at the festival. That’s 35% more than the city’s average!

You’ll often get lectured on ways to save the planet, but here, it’s become a natural part of the festival. Whether you’re eating tasty organic food, putting your beer cup in a cup sucker or taking in the beauty of Hog’s Back Park during a bike ride, it’s all part of the festival’s history of greening initiatives. 

The festival has always had the environment at it’s core and led the way as the first festival in Ottawa to go water bottle-free but we’re always looking for ways to make it greener. Here’s a look at a few of the green things at this year’s fest:

Envirotent

This is the place to go if you want to learn about solar power, making natural cosmetics or edibles of the wild. I got the chance to stop for the homemade cosmetics workshop. I learned about some natural products that can replace harsher store-bought items, such as sugar and oil as an exfoliant and peppermint as a skin soother. 

Green Vendors

We already touched on this in our foodguide and artisan guide, but there’s great natural jewellery and clothing. And don’t forget about the organic food -  B. Goods Bakery is a great for fair trade coffee and organic treats!

Keep it green folks!

- Gabby

Great Big Sea - Quintessential Canadian Folk

Along with beavers, snow and hockey, Great Big Sea is a symbol of Canadiana. They are quintessential Canadiana Folk. While the first mention of Great Big Sea may not conjure up the typical granola-folk associations; they are definitively folk in the true meaning of the term. 

My dad expressed this thought while he watched Great Big Sea for the first time at Ottawa Folk Fest this Saturday. He said (well, screamed more like it) over the energetic performance that Great Big Sea, with its distinct maritime sound, took Canada back to its roots, representing the Celtic contribution of what makes Canada what it is today. And, while most people were probably not thinking about this historical and sociological significance while dancing to “Ordinary Day,” it is certainly something to be proud of.

This was Great Big Sea’s first performance at the Ottawa Folk Festival presented by TELUS. However, they have performed in Ottawa’s Bluesfest in the past years. So, how do the performances compare? Last night’s performance was a more down-home, back to the roots performance compared to the more rock-based and pop-driven shows at Bluesfest, I overheard a few people in the crowd say. Having been to both their Bluesfest and Ottawa Folk Festival shows, I can truthfully say that both of them have been pure energy and rug-cutting, good, clean fun!

Their performance on Saturday was a definite crowd-pleaser. They started off a cappella with “Donkey Riding “, which got the audience revved up as they led into “Captain Kidd.” They had the devoted and huge crowd singing to "General Taylor," and played my favourite (and native Newfoundlander Tom Power’s of the CBC), “Sea of No Cares.”  Throughout the whole night, Great Big Sea kept up their high-energy talent and you could tell that they loved every minute of it, as did everyone in the audience.

Whether you call them Newfoundlander, pop, rock, blues or folk, Great Big Sea has found a new home at Ottawa Folk Festival!

- Danielle

Artisan Village at Ottawa Folk!

The Ottawa Folk Festival, presented by Telus, offers us so much more than just music. The artisans, both local and from afar, have some great goods that can serve as souvenirs of the festival!

Blue Frog Creations

Heather Caton from Blue Frog Creations has some beautiful handmade glass beads. She hails from Waterloo, Ontario, and uses sterling silver to showcase her glasswork. Be sure to ask her about her custom work, or send her an email with a request!

Heartfelt Creations

If you’re looking for some very unique pieces of jewellery, you must stop by Heartfelt Creations. Tunica Harris is an Ottawa artist, and has been for 15 years. He uses nickel-free sterling silver to make his creations. The electroplated leaves, which are natural leaves, covered in gold, silver or copper are my personal favourite!

The Fairies’ Pyjamas

Check out Michelle-Lynn Johnson designs, at the Fairies’ Pyjamas. All of her products are fair-trade produced in Nepal. This year, the women’s clothing collection is featuring organic cotton!

Dyefusion and AswekImports

Come see Shaheen with his radical, tie-dyed designs (tea-towels, shirts, bags, aprons, etc.) and also take a peek at the great Tunisian artisanal pottery being offered by his dad at their collaborative shop-tent! You can support Tunisian artists and see a young entrepreneur’s work.

Gestalt

If your pants seem a little loose after dancing off some pounds in the dance tent, you’re in luck! Heather Church is visiting the Folk Fest from Bayfield, Ontario. Her laser-etched belt-buckles are one-of-a-kind! She also has the coolest website name, ever.

Quichua Crafts

The Ottawa business is at the Fest and is featuring handmade products from Ecuador. Be sure to check out their colourful jewellery and clothing that features fruit and vegetable dyes as well as all of their alpaca products.

Massage Tent

Featuring three local practitioners, the massage tent is sure to be visited by many folkers! They are currently offering head, face, neck, shoulder, hip and lower back massage, as well as reflexology and Ashiatsu. Visit Marilou Richard, Andrea Unsworth, and Debbie Schinzel and hear about their city-wide services!

Going Global Home Décor

Martia Toppozini is the owner of Going Global from Kemptville and she travels to find an eclectic mix of handmade, fair trade items. Most of her products are from women’s co-ops. My personal favourite are the paper products called Poopoopaper. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

A Curious Collective

This tent offers the creations of 20 local artists in one, travelling shop that is soon to open a permanent location on York Street. There are simply too many great products to mention in here, but I always have a soft-spot for owls! These ones are made out of recycled fabrics and look pleasant to cuddle.

RAW eco jewellery

Devaki MacDonald is visiting from Collingwood, Ontario and has truly unique and rare jewellery. All of her pieces are made from recycled clocks and watches and are beautiful and eco-friendly!

Simply Sustainable

Leah Feor’s shop features her own silver and macramé creations as well as fair trade products from Argentina. Come visit her and use coupon code “fairtrade” to receive a 10% discount off of her fair trade items!

The artisan village is located right across from the food vendors, just steps away from the shows and workshops. See you there!

 - Michelle

Learning the True Art of Folk

What's a folker to do in the hours before their favourite musician hits the stage? See some amazing group performances, and learn some quirky tips and tricks from the experts of course!

Saturday may have been a little soggy, but that didn't keep any of the musicians and presenters away from the Ottawa Folk Festival presented by TELUS. The line-up was out in full-force, and I’m not just talking about the performances at our main stages.

From hands-on instructional workshops, to laid back interviews and musical mash-ups, there’s a lot more than meets the eye at this year’s festival.

If you're not musically inclined, or prefer to sit back and watch the pros do it, you could check out the amazing jam sessions with some of our headlining artists at the Slackwater Stage.

Sincerely Yours opened the stage on Saturday, a group made of four artists from near and far. John K. Samson played host, introducing himself as well as Melissa McClelland of the band Whitehorse, local Kelly Sloan, and John Gorka of Red Horse. With just their voices and acoustic guitars, the music sounded wonderful, even from under an umbrella.

But really, what's more folky than sitting in on some of your favourite musicians' jam sessions with other amazing artists?

There were also several hands-on workshops, including a seminar on storytelling by Ruthanne Edward at the Legacy Stage. There were seats set up under the tent and she started off the talk by artfully explaining the best way to solve a draught is, obviously, to wash your car. Of course, she wove a much better tale than I could ever recall.

More importantly, she reminded each and every one of the audience members that they were storytellers too. From "How are you?" you casually answer, to describing how your day went, you tell stories every single day. So you may not be the next beatboxing champion, or a world-class harmonica player, but at least you can still have fun doing it, or at least learn a good party trick.

On that note, I’ll see you all at the yodeling workshop Sunday at 4 p.m. on the Legacy Stage.

 - Natasha

Review: Timber Timbre, Dark Roots Music

A sinkhole on the 417 may have swallowed a car this week, but the act known as Timber Timbre – albeit in stripped-down mode with just lead singer Taylor Kirk in attendence – went much deeper at the far corner of Folk Fest last night. Following Mirel Wagner's doom-laden blues on Thursday, Kirk's performance of heavy swampwater atmospherics was a perfect dovetail for fans of dark roots music. If this theme keeps up, the organizers will need to seriously think of changing the name of this stage from Tartan to Black Watch.

Kirk's Timber Timbre project began with two independently released LPs in 2006. At the time, Kirk's work was solo, and the Timber Timbre name references early recordings spawned late fall in a remote Bobcaygeon log cabin. “Songs Of The Wood” would be an appropriate alternative to the Timber Timbre name, were it a title not already owned by Mr. Frank Zappa, and tonight's solo performance – absent were multi-instrumentalists Mika Posen and Simon Trottier – was certainly a chance to take it back to the raw wood.

Disciples of Kirk's voice – it's rich, ponderous tonality comparable to a meditative Leonard Cohen trapped in the body of a demented Roy Orbison – will have been pleased by a song selection that went deep into Timber Timbre's earliest efforts. Newcomers to the band's sound may have wondered what all the hype around the Toronto based act was about, for Kirk's versions of his own work were slower and more experimental than the maximal sound the group is known for delivering. In any case, this set provided a rare occasion to hear an artist completely reinterpret his own works.

Songs “Bad Ritual,” “Magic Arrow,” “Lay Down In The Tall Grass,” and “Lonesome Hunter” provided a familiar beginning to the set (each song released on the most recent albums), but Kirk slowed the rhythm of each tune down to a barely registered beats-per-minute. “It's the last fest of the year,” he quipped mid-section, “and I've been looking forward to this night.”

One could easily read the musician's enjoyment as he launched into some unreleased material, before hooking up his mic to a four-track and sampling an admittedly unusual chorus of bird calls to introduce songs pulled from 2006's “Cedar Shakes” LP, and the rare-as-hen's-teeth 2008 EP, “Medicinals.” Timbre being one of the most important elements in bird song, many in the audience will likely have found their inner goose or zebra finch being channelled.

“It's not late/ it's only dark,” Kirk breathed into his penultimate tune, before the audience enthusiastically demanded his return. “Maybe I'll play “Pinball Wizard,” he joked amidst rain showers, but in the end it was the irony of the group's “Black Water” release that would have to take it home: “All I need is some sunshine” rang out as a fitting final chorus.             

- Cormac Rea