Ottawa Folk Festival 2012

This year's format change for Ottawa Folk Festival involved a divide between free and paid events and a slight change to the site layout. Thankfully some of the sound bleed and bad sound mixes of 2011 were gone as well as the stupid split audience for the CUPE stage. M and I had paid tickets for Friday 7th and went to free events Sunday 9th. The one downside of the paid/free divide is that people who want to mix between the 2 halves frequently have to go through security every time...


Kathleen Edwards

Nonetheless, Friday's lineup was excellent and had clearly enticed lots of people to brave the weather forecast; to my eyes a much bigger audience than last year. We arrived to see the end of Alberta Cross's set (no complaints there) and finally managed to hear Kathleen Edwards. I've read a fair bit about Ms Edwards recently but had so far only managed to hear one song, 'Change The Sheets', but thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the set from this popular songstress. Sadly Timber Timbre's solo performance on the Tartan Homes stage wasn't as good as his 2011 show at First Baptist Church - between the on/off drizzle and competing with Old Man Luedecke on the next-door Ravenlaw stage, his songs seemed a bit lost and the entrancing atmosphere of 2011 just wasn't there. The set from Old Man Luedecke was much jollier and set the scene for Lindsey Buckingham.


Lindsey Buckingham

The large crowd were intently silent for much of Buckingham's set - albeit interspersed with loud cheers especially when Buckingham played some Fleetwood Mac favourites (though solo works such as 'Come and Go Insane' were equally well applauded). Crowd favourite went to a delicate rendition of 'Never Going Back Again'. Closely following was 'So Afraid' which Buckingham partially played - twice - with a power cut at the same point in the song both times. It happens, I suppose, and didn't seem to irk either Buckingham or the audience too much.


Belle Starr

Today's free side of the Hog's Back site had much more of a festival vibe and there was much to enjoy amongst the smaller events. We arrived in time for a guitar masterclass with Michael Jerome Browne, which was an interesting demo and history lesson of various styles of country/blues guitar. Following this we caught part of Julia Dales' set (still impressive) before the start of 'Wild Things' on the Legacy stage. Yukon Blonde, Black Dogs and Belle Starr played a jam-ish set; all interesting but by far the best were country-folk trio Belle Starr, including a captivating rendition of 'Jolene'. Interesting to see Stephanie Cadman in a different guise after her late night show at 2011's Ottawa Chamberfest.


Jill Hennessy

The last show we saw was Jill Hennessy, who had returned (near) to one of her childhood homes to promote new works as well as album 'Ghost In My Head'. Familiar with the name but not the music, her warm set, with lots of stories (like the stories!) helped stave off the early evening cold. Best song of the set was 'Erin' by quite some margin.

All in all an excellent 2 days at the festival; an improvement on 2011, with lots of new bands to investigate :)

Music, Poetry and Cake (Gateshead and Lanchester)

Piano at the ready! (by M) After a good few months prep, the concert Piano Music and Poetry (organised through the Gateshead Piano Workshop folks) came around pretty quickly. As one of the participants, I was excited and also a little nervous about the prospect of a Paying Audience. The work paid off, as all the performers were excellent! Well appreciated by the compact audience. The format was in relation to National Poetry Day which was on 2nd October. Each performer chose a poem either in direct or indirect relation to their piece. A summary of the programme: Alan - Liszt Consolation No 4 and Mozart Adagio in B minor Graeme - Chopin Nocturne Op. 62 No. 2 with 'Uncertainty' by Adam Mickiewicz me - Clara Schumann, andante con sentimento with 'Clara Wieck und Beethoven' by Franz Grillparzer Jim - R Schumann Kinderszenen 1 and 7 with 'My child, we were just children' by Heinrich Heine Ernie - Debussy Clair de lune with excerpt from 'Fêtes g...

Sounds of JUNOfest

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar . Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars... A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs , were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable. After a short break - in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few ...

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