The 14th Annual Ottawa Folk Festival wrapped up last night, and - thanks to a succession of acts who delivered with impressive understatement - ended on a mellow high.
Dirk Powell and Martha Scanlan
Prime time on the main stage belonged to multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, cut loose from Cajun combo Balfa Toujours to share a bill with singer-songwriter Martha Scanlan. Powell's bare bones Mountain fiddle and thoughtful guitar, combined with Scanlan's high pitched, bluesy quiver, made for a comfy set of tempered Appalachia, interrupted here and there by some straight-ahead country-folk. The addition of harmonica man Ray Bonneville, who was everywhere over the course of this Fest, added a buzzy zest.
Chris Whiteley and Diana Brathwaite
A detour to the indoor stage found a couple of an entirely different kind: jack-of-all-musical-trades Chris Whiteley and blues-bent singer Diana Braithwaite. Together, they have been writing songs in the tradition of the old Bluebird recordings of the '30s and '40s. Although neither of them quite has the voice for it, they convey the jazzy sound of that catalogue nonetheless.
Whiteley is an impeccable marvel on everything from Depression era trumpet to open tune, slide guitar, while Braithwaite croons with cleanliness and color. They even throw in a neat vaudeville turn, as Braithwaite one-handedly strums the guitar hanging from Whiteley's neck while he puckers away on the horn.
Eliza Gilkyson
The climax of the evening, expectedly, was the main stage appearance of the peerless Eliza Gilkyson, one of the best songwriters alive. It is this country-folk diva's ability to politicize almost anything, regardless of how simple, that astounds you. Her opening number for example, the self-penned The Party's Over, quickly goes from unpretentious ballad to a lament for modern America. As well, she converts her father Terry's classic Greenfields to a word on our deteriorating environment.
It's metaphoric fatalism delivered in a languid, experienced voice, but one not averse to the odd confession of optimism, like the beautiful Paradise Hotel. As host Karen Flanagan McCarthy described the divine Miss G in her opening introduction, "Here's a Texan that we like."
Afro-pop combo Cheza followed Gilkyson, and got the crowd - what remained of it on yet another chilly night - on its feet. Despite the infectious quality of heir Swahili-born rhytms, however, the band merely served as an incongruous coda to an evening of listener's music. Had the fest as a whole incorporated more acts of this variety, their place on the bill might not have seemed so out of place.
Gilkyson and Kris Kristofferson were the main highlights of a festival that, while it didn't display the energy of last year (the absence of dance floor conducive genres like Cajun, Klezmer, and - see above - Afro-beat is responsible for that), delivered a sizeable amount of quality nonetheless.
In addition, novice festival honcho Tamara Kater is to be congratulated on the many new additions - from the re-configuring of the site to the new push on publicity - that resonated well with returnees and first-timers alike, and to her expert handling of the Kris Kristofferson performance where crowd control, due to inclement weather, became an issue. One can only look forward to the innovations she will introduce next year.
