Summer is pretty much here and with it a plethora of festivals. Firstly, to recap, M and I finally made the Canadian Tulip Festival on its last weekend. As well as tulip-related events, there was a live music stage, food tent and market - a lesson for next year to go earlier!
Friday 20th May we turned up for the Capital Sounds evening. The schedule featured local bands, only slightly disrupted by a thunderstorm. We saw The New Records; Claude Munson and The Storm Outside; and Shannon Rose and The Thorns (Capital Sounds bios available here). The New Records (photo above) played a mixture of covers and original songs, which was a smart choice for a high school indie band. A momentary 'what year is it' moment during their rendition of The Strokes' 'Last Night'; generally quite polished, and I think their forthcoming EP should be interesting. Claude Munson, plus his band The Storm outside, played a set much more rooted in blues, folk and country in the singer-songwriter vein. Still pretty interesting - myspace here.
The last band we saw before heading home to avoid the storm, were Shannon Rose and The Thorns, photo above. Possibly (for me at least) the most interesting set of the 3. Shannon Rose has an EP series reflecting the seasons, and as of 20th May, her Spring EP was due to be released. Distinctly folk-tinged indie-pop with a hint of otherness, definitely worth a follow up. The main website has links to Facebook, Bandcamp etc.
Overall a pretty good evening - I have no idea how the Tulip Festival organisers chose the bands for Capital Sounds but the quality was good all evening. We didn't see the final band, Dry River Caravan, but see here for more information.
We briefly returned the following Sunday for a few more music events featuring the Nomadic Orchestra of The World and Japanese dance, but the rain meant we saw very little of the actual performances.
A short footnote about the Spring Ottawa International Writers' Festival for which I also volunteered. The last event of the spring was on Monday 3oth, featuring Afghan politician Fawzia Koofi talking about her background in a riveting chat with CBC's Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld. Prior to that, I attended an event featuring CBC journalist Mellissa Fung and James Loney talking about their experiences as captives; an 'ghazal concert' featuring readings of ghazals (Persian verse) and Persian music; a discussion of semi-autobiographical historical novels including Suzanne Desrochers' Bride of New France; and a discussion on the history of Canada focusing on Sir John A Macdonalds' last election campaign and Pierre Trudeau's Night of the Long Knives. An interesting and inspiring mix!
Looking forward to the rest of the summer, I am due to volunteer at a few Music and Beyond events in July, plus attending a few concerts with Ottawa ChamberFest. Prior to that a few evenings at the Ottawa Jazz Festival to see Robert Plant and Elvis Costello.
Friday 20th May we turned up for the Capital Sounds evening. The schedule featured local bands, only slightly disrupted by a thunderstorm. We saw The New Records; Claude Munson and The Storm Outside; and Shannon Rose and The Thorns (Capital Sounds bios available here). The New Records (photo above) played a mixture of covers and original songs, which was a smart choice for a high school indie band. A momentary 'what year is it' moment during their rendition of The Strokes' 'Last Night'; generally quite polished, and I think their forthcoming EP should be interesting. Claude Munson, plus his band The Storm outside, played a set much more rooted in blues, folk and country in the singer-songwriter vein. Still pretty interesting - myspace here.
The last band we saw before heading home to avoid the storm, were Shannon Rose and The Thorns, photo above. Possibly (for me at least) the most interesting set of the 3. Shannon Rose has an EP series reflecting the seasons, and as of 20th May, her Spring EP was due to be released. Distinctly folk-tinged indie-pop with a hint of otherness, definitely worth a follow up. The main website has links to Facebook, Bandcamp etc.
Overall a pretty good evening - I have no idea how the Tulip Festival organisers chose the bands for Capital Sounds but the quality was good all evening. We didn't see the final band, Dry River Caravan, but see here for more information.
We briefly returned the following Sunday for a few more music events featuring the Nomadic Orchestra of The World and Japanese dance, but the rain meant we saw very little of the actual performances.
A short footnote about the Spring Ottawa International Writers' Festival for which I also volunteered. The last event of the spring was on Monday 3oth, featuring Afghan politician Fawzia Koofi talking about her background in a riveting chat with CBC's Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld. Prior to that, I attended an event featuring CBC journalist Mellissa Fung and James Loney talking about their experiences as captives; an 'ghazal concert' featuring readings of ghazals (Persian verse) and Persian music; a discussion of semi-autobiographical historical novels including Suzanne Desrochers' Bride of New France; and a discussion on the history of Canada focusing on Sir John A Macdonalds' last election campaign and Pierre Trudeau's Night of the Long Knives. An interesting and inspiring mix!
Looking forward to the rest of the summer, I am due to volunteer at a few Music and Beyond events in July, plus attending a few concerts with Ottawa ChamberFest. Prior to that a few evenings at the Ottawa Jazz Festival to see Robert Plant and Elvis Costello.
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