August 13, 2012

Demetra: Festival season

Prairie Wind Music Festival
I had the privilge of starting the summer off with the Prairie Wind
Music Festival, a brand spanking new festival out of Cypress River,
MB. The Festival was beautifully located and featured mostly local
Manitoba talent including the likes of The Sweet Alibi, The Reverend
Rambler and The Empty Standards. I had just returned to Manitoba
after a month touring Eastern Canada w/Jenny Berkel and it felt great
to reconnect with my Winnipeg peers.

TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival
Next up was the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival on June 25th.
I had my own show at my favorite venue in Canada; 'Times Change(d)
High and Lonesome Club.' The show itself was a blast. It was the
first show I had played with my full band since our month long East
Coast tour in May and felt great to be back on stage together. It was
so lovely to see a lot of new and friendly faces there!

Brandon Folk Festival
The Brandon Folk Festival was on July 20-22. This festival is always
a favorite of mine as it incorporates visual, art, and theatre, into
it's music fest and is run by a tight knit group of very lovely
volunteers. This year was a very exciting for me as I got to play a
workshop with the beautiful and incredibly inspiring Jane Siberry. I
discovered Jane 10 years ago while I was deep into making visual art
at age 17 when my art mentor introduced me to her music. Her use of
her voice and the songs of love and spirit, all resonated deeply with
me and inspired much creativity. I never really considered that 10
years later I might be singing with her. It was such a magical
experience. Some other acts I was excited to see was local folk act
Nathan, Geoff Berner, Jenny Omnichord, and the return of Wax Mannequin
who played the fest in 2011 as well. The fest was also the debut of
my new looping pedal which enables me to layer my instruments, most
importantly my voice to create the vast soundscapes I have been
hearing in my head for years! I am very excited to incorporate this
new element into my shows in the future....

Churchill Festival of the Whales?
No no, this is not a real festival, but right after Brandon FF I took
a 50 hour train ride to Churchill, MB for a week. I was determined to
go listen to the songs of the whales. I was lucky enough to be able
to spend to full evenings right down to the last fleck of sunlight
(around 11 pm) just floating on Churchill River with Beluga whales
surrounding me. The whales take over the river from the beginning of
July till the end of August, and whale songs fill the air. The whales
are not shy and will even brush up against your boat, kayak, canoe or
any vessel of your choice. The rest of the week was spent taking
walks to Hudson's Bay and enjoy the whales from shore, as well as some
pretty epic tundra exploration via ATV, and even a free helicopter
ride where we came across a polar bear swimming in the Bay near an
abandoned ship wreck. Once again I was overwhelmed by the beauty of
the North, and all of my energy was restored.

Fire and Water Festival
The Fire and Water was an unexpected festival that booked me about 2
weeks before the date. This was my first time attending and
definitely won't be my last. This festival is run by some of the
friendliest people I have ever encountered and featured an amazing
artist village that was set up right on the lake.

Salmon Arm Roots and Blues
Coming right up, is the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues festival on August
17-19. I have heard only the most amazing things about this festival
and couldn't be more excited to play there! I have created a little
tour around the festival so be sure to check out my shows on the
website to catch one in a town or city near you!

Harvest Moon Festival
This is a lovely festival in Clearwater, MB on August 13-15. I've
been attending this festival for years, but the website describes it
the best: "The Harvest Moon Festival celebrates the harvest season and
local food production, while providing an opportunity to link those
from rural and urban communities. The festival is a key to promoting
the Harvest Moon Learning Centre, the generous spirit of the Town of
Clearwater, the talents of local artists, tasty produce of local
producers and the beauty of the Pembina Valley." I am very pleased to
be contributing through music!

This is where I will leave off for now...
There are some more exciting festivals, events, tours and even some
new recordings planned for the fall/winter, but I will go into more
detail in a future post.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Hope to see you soon
somewhere along this long and winding road....