One of the most delightful acts at the Folk on the Rocks (folk festival - this year July 21-22) was The Jerry Cans, the North's answer to Great Big Sea, a four-member group out of Iqaluit (lovely news article on them, and also a link to their website: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit-bred_jerry_cans_revel_in_homegrown_humour/ and http://www.myspace.com/thejerrycans). Lead singer/guitarist and rapid-fire humorist Andrew Morrison is in a class on his own, speaking as he does fluent Inuktitut as well as English, and possibly French; equally fluent is band member Nancy Mike, who is Inuit. Their music is just as multicultural: "If you ask band members Morrison and Mike about who influences their music, they point to growling balladeer Tom Waits, the veteran Iqaluit band Uvagut and the late Nunavik Inuk singer-songwriter, Charlie Adams." When Andrew revealed to the audience that he had just proposed to fellow band member Nancy, the audience roared approval - "You're ALL invited!" he responded. If this is the future of Canada's north, it looks very bright indeed.
The festival is a mellow version of some of the higher powered ones around the country, but a wonderful event. The logo over the main gate to the park on Long Lake:
The main stage provides audiences with a view of the lake:
There is the usual arts-and-crafts sale area, of which one booth was fibre artist Janet Procure (those are TJ's Nuts in the background to the right, TJ being her husband - smart businessman that he is, he was selling them in the beer garden, outfitted in a 1930s nut-vending outfit):
Speaking of beer gardens, Bill and Trudy and I spent a bit of time there - you can see that Bill and Trudy are experienced folkies. It must be said, in defense of the beer garden, that this was at 1:30 in the afternoon; a few hours later there wasn't a seat to be had.
The Yellowknife festival has a cultural area in which the Yellowknife Dene, who open and close the event with their drumming, illustrate some of their cultural heritage - here pictures of some impressive fish filleting, and of Dene hand games. The latter looked to be a lot of fun!
And finally - out of many experiences - there was Edmonton-based singer Anne Vriend. She has become an accomplished performer since I first heard her years ago. She sang a song about her grandmother - Dutch immigrant woman with a hard life - and - here's the wonderful part - I knew her! My first paying job, at 11, was putting together vegetable packing crates for her grandfather's business, at a half-penny (or a penny?) a crate, and both her grandparents attended the same church as I did at the time. It was an amazing experience to be brought back, in Yellowknife, to a woman from my past, through a song by her granddaughter from Edmonton. What are the chances?
Minnie, I am really enjoying following your new life. It sounds like a whole new world. In fact, it IS a whole new world. A friend passes on her husband's issues of the journal 'Yukon: North of Ordinary' to me and it is indeed an apt title. I envy your sense of adventure and your openness to new experiences. I must ask Susan if she is following your blog. Cheers from Halifax.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachel! it is indeed a whole new world. Perhaps it's a good combination of really being a new world, and being more open to everything than I was back in Calgary.
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