For four days (July 26-29) Calgary will become the mecca for music lovers of all sorts thanks to the much anticipated Calgary Folk Music Festival. A staple in the city’s cultural community for the past 30 years, the festival has become an incubator of the indie scene and a gathering place for all sorts of people interested in supporting live music.
Audiences may come to hear artists they’re familiar with, but the Folk Music Festival is really about new music. The marquee of artists or first-time touring groups alike all share qualities that defy simple genres like folk and rock, making for powerful festival experiences. This year features 68 artists from 14 countries.
In its early years, the Folkfest’s audience was made up of a more stereotypical folk audience and featured lots of artists with beards and banjos; now you get a whole melting pot of indie artists, from punk bands to world musicians, plus all sorts of marquee names.
The melody may have changed over the years, but the festival continues to stay true to its roots. Taking place on Prince’s Island Park, it has been likened to a small town in a big city – a serene site built by the hands of 1700 volunteers and welcoming over 50,000 festival-goers. While there, check out any of the seven stages (one main stage and six side stages), browse the original tree-shaded artisan market, sample some cuisine from the global village or share a beverage with friends in the beer garden.
Main stage concerts, which can sometimes be the ‘big’ attraction, take place in the evenings Thursday through Sunday. But it is the ‘workshops’ happening throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday across the six side stages that make the Folkfest exciting and unpredictable. Also known as “jams” or “sessions,” each involves four to five festival artists playing together on the same stage. Often these jams are centered around a theme or acts of similar style. Sometimes they really throw a loop and feature artists of different genres. No matter what the grouping is, the artists take turns playing each other’s songs and improvising as a group.
Whether you are there for an hour or all four days (we suggest the latter), you are bound to walk away with a bit of inspiration and excitement.
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