Calgary Journal Online

Folk Fest workshop jams bring together unlikely combos

Hip-hop group Arrested Development jam with Canadian DJ Kid Koala, Calgary’s own DragonFli Empire and reggae artist Mutaburaka­ at a workshop last year.

Photo: Dave Kenney

But Kerry Clarke, artistic director of the 31^st annual Calgary Folk Music Festival says the heart of the event is the workshops, which take place mostly on the smaller stages.

“Audience members consistently tell us this is what they love about the festival,” she says, describing how people love to see artists collaborate.

Clarke compares the workshops to throwing a house of cards up in the air because it’s spontaneous and set lists aren’t programmed.

“Initially they were set up more as teaching workshops, but then they became a collaborative model,” Clarke says, adding that the workshops are like jam sessions.

Originally the workshops started by the founding artistic director of the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario, she says, the festival the Calgary Folk Music Festival is modelled on.

There are no strict rules around the workshops, says Clarke, adding they are simply combinations of artists according to different themes and styles.  Each workshop does have a host, however.

Clarke says the artists are put together because of commonality in instruments, a musical root, common band members or even artists who are friends.

“You’re trying to take, for us, 68 artists that are booked and about 64 of those are all doing sessions. Group them in different styles and themes so they have the experience of working together and sharing songs and stories,” she says, adding that it gives the audience a more intimate way of seeing the artists.

The workshops enable artists to play with each other, and they rotate playing so it doesn’t imitate a mini concert series, she adds.

Because most of the workshops take place on the six smaller stages, Clarke says the folk festival asks the artists to pare down the size of their band.

“They’re collaborative settings where you don’t necessarily need your full set up, like you would in a concert,” she says explaining that artists may share a drum kit and swap band members.

She adds that it forces the musicians to meet and hear each other.

“When else would you have a Scottish traditional artist meeting a hip-hop band,” Clarke adds.

Most musicians who perform at the Calgary Folk Music Festival do about one to three sessions each at a workshop, while some of the headliners do not participate, Clarke adds.

She goes on to say the genre of blues will be interesting this year because there will be different takes on it. Clarke gives an example of Debashish Bhattacharya from India, whose music is bluesy, but is radically different than the African American style of blues.

“You could put him with some of the other people who do blues and you end up with some really interesting blends,” she adds.

It can be a juggling act when it comes to placing all the artists in an appropriate workshop, Clarke says, because some of the artists do not stay the full length of the festival.

The smiles on the performers’ faces reflect Kerry Clarke’s sentiment that the workshops are the heart of the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Photo: Doug Callow

Volunteer and audience member, Barbara Bruederlin has attended the Calgary Folk Music Festival for five years, and says the workshops are her favourite part of the event.

“Each workshop is so different and I think that’s part of the beauty of them. You never know what you’re going to get. There’re such unusual musical combinations,” she says.

An example she gives is hearing African drums and bagpipes harmonize at a workshop.

Because of the overlapping times and simultaneous performances on different stages, Bruederlin describes the plan of attack to see the workshops to playing a game of Tetris.

Singer and songwriter, Chantal Vitalis, has performed in the workshops, such as a female solos workshop and one that included a Finnish throat singer and a Chinese two-stringed violin.

“I couldn’t imagine the Calgary folk festival without the workshops,” she says. For her it’s one of the main attractions.

As an artist at the workshops, Vitalis says one of the most important things is the listening aspect. She adds that trying to find the right key and dealing with instruments that are new or different to the artists at the workshops can be a challenge.

“Knowing when it’s appropriate to play and when it’s appropriate to just sit and allow the song to breathe,” she says.

Bruederlin says a certain magic comes together at Calgary’s Folk Festival because of the warm summer weather, the setting on Prince’s Island, and the vibe in the air.

She explains: “Sitting amongst the trees [and] leaning against a tree in the shade. Listening to this music on a beautiful summer morning, I don’t know how well it would translate outside of that setting.”

Clarke says she’s a little disappointed that some of the media focus is on the main stage, but that more and more audience members are taking interest in the workshops each year.

Calgary Folk Music Festival runs July 22-25 at Prince’s Island Park