folk prints spring 2016
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FOLK PRINTS SPRING 20�6
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Past Estelle Klein Award Recipients
Sadie BuckHarvey GlattMike StevensArthur McGregorPaul MillsGrit LaskinSharon, Lois & BramBernie FinkelsteinStan RogersRichard FlohilKen WhiteleySylvia TysonThe Friends of Fiddler’s GreenIan TamblynJackie WashingtonEstelle Klein
Past Executive DirectorsPeter MacDonaldErin Benjamin
STAFF
Executive DirectorAlka Sharma ..... [email protected]
Office ManagerJennifer Ellis [email protected]
BookkeeperLynn Rae
Export Development Coordinator Carolyn Sutherland
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Phone: 1-866-292-6233 or 613-560-5997Fax: 613-560-2001www.folkmusicontario.ca
Mailing address:508-B Gladstone AvenueOttawa, ON K1R 5P1
Printing and layout by Orion Printing
Cover photo by Dave Delouchery2015 Mill Race Festival of Traditional FolkMusic, Cambridge, ON
Please visit bit.ly/18LoEZK for ad rates,formats and sizes.
Submissions and pictures welcome! We cannot guarantee inclusion of your submission in Folk Prints (but we’ll try!). Please send submissions in text format only. If you have pictures, call us before sending them.
The views expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of Folk Music Ontario. Questions or comments regarding Folk Prints should be brought to the attention of Alka Sharma at [email protected]. Articles and photos may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the author and/or photographer.
Funders, Sponsors and Partners ........................................................................................................... 4
The President’s Message ....................................................................................................................... 5
The Executive Director’s Message ........................................................................................................ 6
Can Musicians Change the World? ....................................................................................................... 9
New Members ....................................................................................................................................... 11
FMO Member Festivals ....................................................................................................................... 14
Savanna Campfire .............................................................................................................................. 16
Warren RobinsonCarolyn BigleyBill MarshallMagooJim McMillan
BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015/16Executive Committee
PresidentRachel Barreca.............. [email protected]
Vice PresidentNicole Colbeck........................ [email protected]
TreasurerJan Cody ................ [email protected]
SecretaryAmie Therrien .. [email protected]
Member-at-LargeAndy Frank ............. [email protected]
Directors
James Keelaghan [email protected] Lauzon ................ [email protected] McEwen ............ [email protected] Merrifield .......... [email protected] Partridge.................. [email protected] [email protected] Sinclair ................ [email protected] Switzer ... [email protected]
Past Presidents
Alex SinclairScott MerrifieldPaul MillsAengus FinnanSam BaijalDoug McArthur
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
FUNDERS
PARTNERS
SPONSORS
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ThepresidenT’smessage by Rachel Barreca
In a couple of weeks, I am going to walk a big chunk of the Camino de Santiago. My mind is on journeys. I dream about walking. My head and heart are, not surprisingly, full of Oliver Schroer’s music. My thoughts turn towards what it means to join a long line of pilgrims, past, present, and fu-ture. When I took over as Presi-dent of the FMO board from Alex Sinclair back in Decem-ber, I was also keenly aware of the history and future of this organization. I am grate-ful to Alex, who served in the role for a few crucial years of financially choppy waters. He continues to provide our orga-nization with a lot of wisdom and stability, not to mention that great sense of humour of his. Since that changeover, the committees of the board have been very busy. And so it is that I write to you with some updates about the present. Our staff and board of direc-tors are working hard to serve you, our members. After the creation of our new vision and mission state-ments and new five-year Stra-tegic Plan, we are now in the business of implementing those strategies in big ways and small, to support the growth and development of the folk music community and in-dustry. The Finance and the Rev-enue Generation committees and FMO Executive Direc-tor Alka Sharma continue to have the financial stabil-ity and health of FMO top of mind. Alka is seeking out new
funding sources and strength-ening our relationships with the organizations that already provide us with grants. We are diligent in our management and oversight of financial doc-uments and processes. Most importantly, we are putting a lot of energy into seeking out innovative new revenue streams, as our future depends on this. Alka, I am sure, will tell you all about one or two of those opportunities coming up very soon. The Communications com-mittee is working on ways for us to be more transparent and update members about our ac-complishments. We know it is important that you under-stand how our Strategic Plan is implemented and how our work impacts you. Now that the Strategic Plan is in place, the committee responsible for all of that hard work last year turns its eye towards the creation of a set of value statements for FMO. They are also developing a process for regular audits of the Strategic Plan and a path-way towards the creation of the next plan four years from now. Springtime isn’t just about the growth of plant and ani-mal life. Oh no! It is also time for renewal and change on our board: it is nomination season! Our Nominations committee is getting ready for our annual elections by collecting nomina-tions for the five open spaces on the FMO board of directors. If you have ever considered run-ning for the board, please give it more serious consideration
and take action. We need good people like YOU! (For more in-formation, visit our website.) As you probably already know, the Ontario government is developing a new provincial culture strategy. The Advoca-cy committee has created the official response from FMO, and we hope you have all read the proposal and responded as individuals and member orga-nizations. We are busy little beavers and there isn’t enough space to enumerate everything the team of dedicated and smart people who run your Folk Mu-sic Ontario are doing, but I will say this: we are doing it all for you. We work hard to be an inclusive, innovative, responsive, and collaborative organization. Our eyes are on the future where we see a thriving, inclusive folk music community with local and in-ternational impact. Won’t you join us on that journey?
Peace,Rachel Barreca
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Happy spring! I certainly hope that everyone is enjoying some warm weather wherever you are in this fine land. This year Folk Music Ontario will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary. We are very excited to have the conference in Ottawa at the Delta Ottawa City Centre (formerly the Crowne Plaza, which I know many of you were at when the OCFF had its conference there for three years in a row). The hotel has been extensively renovated and we are really excited about how this year’s conference is shaping up. We will be throwing a birthday party on Sunday, October 23 after the conference ends, so please be sure to stick around for the festivities! There will be much fun to be had and we hope that you will enjoy all that we have planned for you. This past year with the hard work of the Board of Directors, Folk Music Ontario has put out its five-year Strategic Plan. Here is what the Vision, Purpose and the Plan look like:
VisionA thriving, inclusive folk music community with local and international impactPurposeSupporting the growth and development of the folk music community and industryStrategiesEmbed Inclusivity and Diver-sity: By everyone in every-thing, everyday1. Increase & Diversify Rev-
enue: Strengthen existing and develop new and inno-vative revenue streams
2. Expand Member Value: De-liver services year-round targeted to evolving mem-ber needs
3. Maximize Collaboration: Create collaborative oppor-tunities to achieve our vi-sion
4. Be the Advocate: Raise the profile of FMO and cham-pion folk music
Folk Music Ontario is committed to these strategies and will be providing the membership with a check-in to make sure that we are on track with what we have put forward. If you have any questions about any of the above, please feel free to give me a call. For the third year in a row, Folk Music Ontario held a Festival Members retreat. This year, the retreat was held in Peterborough, Ontario where the Peterborough Folk Festival was instrumental in helping out with the logistics of the weekend. The working group, made up of Brad McEwen, Max Merrifield, Ryan Kemp and Ruth Parsons put together another great weekend of
workshops/panels. We are grateful to the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Arts Presentation Fund for the funding to put this together. FMO was also busy collab-orating with APCM (Associa-tion des Professionnels de la Chanson et de la Musique) to provide our membership with a singer/songwriter workshop in Ottawa in November 2015 and in Sudbury in March 2016. We had a total of 16 participants in Ottawa and 11 participants in Sudbury. This helps with the year-round programming that Folk Music Ontario has planned for its future. We are grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for providing funding for this initiative. I am very excited to let you know that I have been ap-pointed to the Folk Alliance In-ternational Board of Directors. This will provide an opportu-nity to have a Canadian voice at the table and to help solid-ify the relationship between FMO and FAI. I look forward to working with Folk Alliance International in strengthening the North American folk com-munity. Don’t forget to register with the advance purchase rate if you are member and if you are an artist, don’t forget to apply for the FMO’s Offi-cial/Family Showcase and the Songs From the Heart contest, sponsored by Stingray Music.The deadline for all of these is May 31, 2016. Looking forward to seeing many of you at all the music festivals! Have a great sum-mer.
TheexecuTivedirecTor’smessage by Alka Sharma
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forbiddenfolk
FEB. 15-19, 2017 | WWW.FOLK.ORGKANSAS CITY MO USA
REGISTRATION OPENSJUNE 1, 2016
OFFICIAL SHOWCASEAPPLICATIONS OPEN
JUNE 15, 2016
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NLFBSUDBURY.COM
SGWILLSPHOTOGRAPHY
up � the mountain
James Favron
…or has your contact information changed? Please take a moment to send us your new details,
by e-mail ([email protected])
or by snail mail to:
Folk Music Ontario 508-B Gladstone Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1R 5P1
Be sure to include your name, postal address, phone number,
e-mail address and website, as well as any business contact information. Thanks for helping us keep
our records straight!
haveYoumoved..?
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canmusicianschangeTheworld? by Si Kahn
What is the sound of one hand clapping? While you’re thinking about how to answer this tra-ditional Zen koan from a musi-cal perspective, here’s another question: What is the sound of more than 1,000 musicians working together for a common cause? One answer: Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay, an international non-profit network working to help stop the proposed Pebble Mine and to protect permanently Alas-ka’s Bristol Bay, a cultural and environmental treasure, and the world’s greatest remaining wild salmon fishery. Here’s how Musicians United got started. In Sep-tember 2010, I got an email through my website from Dan Strickland, an occasional folk singer who’s fished commer-cially in Alaska for over 30 years, including many years in Bristol Bay. Dan told me about the co-alition of Alaska Natives and other people who fish commer-cially and for sport, cannery
and lodge owners, environ-mentalists and many others working to stop the proposed Pebble Mine and to protect the people, communities, jobs, cultures, languages and wild sockeye salmon of Bristol Bay forever. “It’s a solid campaign,” Dan wrote, “but we need a theme song. Can you come to Alaska for a couple weeks and write one for us? We can’t pay you, but we can at least get you an air ticket, and we’ll feed you all the smoked salmon you can eat.” Straight to my Jewish heart. What else could I do? Two weeks later I was in Alaska, hosted by Dan and by Suzanne Little, not just a former Alas-ka State Senator representing the Kenai Peninsula, but a fine bluegrass picker and singer. It was a wonderful trip. I met and talked with doz-ens of people, working hard to understand the situation, looking for stories to turn into songs. I swapped songs with Alaska Native Bryce Edgmon,
the Alaska State Representa-tive for the Bristol Bay area, who had fished commercially in Bristol Bay himself for many years. Former Alaska State Senate President and lifelong Republican Rick Halford, an outspoken Pebble Mine oppo-nent, flew me 150 miles in his Cessna float plane, following the rivers that flow into Bristol Bay to get a first-hand look at the proposed mine site and the 50,000 year old Alaska Native villages along those rivers, so I could see and feel for myself the devastation that the Pebble Mine would create. As Suzanne, Dan and I trav-eled, played music and talked, we started to think about the roles that musicians could play in this righteous fight. For a starting point, we took the ba-sic good-heartedness of so many community and grassroots mu-sicians from folk, blues, blue-grass, gospel and the like. Just about every roots musician I know does something to help make the world a better place. Workers’ rights, an end to vio-lence against women, the envi-ronment, peace—you name it, we do it. But, for the most part, we do our social justice work indi-vidually. We might organize a benefit concert, sing at a rally or on a picket line, put together a CD to raise funds for an or-ganization and/or cause we care about. But we tend to do our good work individually, not collectively over a sustained pe-riod of time. So we thought: What would happen if at least 1,000 musi-cians around the world worked
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together on one campaign for as long as it took to win? Our answer: Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay. Here’s why. First, we as musicians have a fair amount of credibili-ty, particularly with the people who love and listen to our mu-sic. If we tell our friends and fans that a particular cause is important to us, at least some of them will take the time to consider whether it should also be important to them. Second, music can move people not just intellectually but emotionally. Facts and fig-ures about the proposed Peb-ble Mine can reach the head. A song about a young Alaska Native from Bristol Bay who is fighting for her home and cul-ture can reach the heart, and motivate people to do what they can to make a difference. Third, we as musicians have access to large numbers of people though our concert, festival and media appearanc-es. A thousand musicians can reach at least a million people personally, powerfully and ef-fectively every year. We’ve already had signifi-cant success:• We’ve signed up over 500
musicians, including such stalwarts as Connie Kaldor, Erika Kulnys, Eve Goldberg, Holly Near, John McCutch-eon, Tom Chapin, Ken White-ley, Kim and Reggie Harris, Maria Dunn, Theresa Doyle, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk of the Métis Fiddler Quar-tet, Matthias Malcher of the German bluegrass band The Looping Brothers, Irish sing-er Nuala Kennedy, Wood-Songs Old Time Radio Hour host Michael Johnathon and Local 1000 President Tret
Fure. One of our founding members was the late Pete Seeger--check out his two-minute video endorsement at www.musiciansunited.info.
• Our members and friends have already written at least two dozen new songs designed to spread the word about Bristol Bay. Please check out our website to hear them, and hopefully to find one you’d like to perform and/or record. Even better, write one yourself!
• Now our members are not only performing the songs they’ve written, they’re put-ting them on their albums. Grammy winner Tom Chap-in put two original songs on his latest album 70, “Ride Out Any Storm” and “A Prayer for Bristol Bay.” Lo-cal 1000 President Tret Fure put her song “The Fishermen of Bristol Bay” on her new CD Rembrandt Afternoons. California autoharp player Laura Lind is recording her song “Can Can Salmon” for her forthcoming album.
• Our private showcase room at Folk Alliance Interna-tional in Toronto featured a stunning array of great Ca-nadian artists: Maria Dunn, Gwich’in fiddler Alan Benja-min, the Métis Fiddler Quar-tet, Doug Cox, the Once, David Francey, Nunavut band The Jerry Cans, Ken Whiteley & Eve Goldberg, Sherman Downey & The Sil-ver Lining, Andrew James O’Brien and Ashley Condon.
• My own 18th CD Bristol Bay with 16 new songs (including co-writes with Grammy win-ners Tom Chapin and Jon Vezner, and a beautiful in-
strumental by the CD’s pro-ducer, Jens Kruger of The Kruger Brothers) was the #1 CD on the international Folk DJ List for June, 2015. 100% of the income from the CD goes directly to support the work of Musicians United To Protect Bristol Bay.
For more information and to join with so many great art-ists around the world in this critically important campaign, please go to www.musician-sunited.info. If you’d like to be in touch with me directly, I’m always here at [email protected]. Or, best of all, let’s talk in person when I come to Folk Music Ontario this coming Oc-tober. It will be great to see you all.
**** Si Kahn is grateful for his family’s Canadian roots, and is honoring them with a special three-year tour of Canadian festivals. His paternal grand-father Gabriel Kahn, who was drafted into and escaped from the Czar’s army in Russia, was a pick-and-shovel laborer for the Canadian Pacific Railway when the CPR built the north-ern spur through the Ontario Shield in the early 1900s. He worked as a “hod carrier,” help-ing to build the Royal Alexan-dra Hotel in Winnipeg, lugging over 100 pounds of bricks and mortar on his shoulder up a dozen flights of stairs. He and Si’s paternal grandmother Ce-lia Liebowitz Kahn were mar-ried in Winnipeg in 1903. Their first child, who died in infancy, is buried there. Her gravesite remains unknown. This is an updated version of the article that originally ap-peared in Penguin Eggs, Can-ada’s Folk, Roots and World Music Magazine.
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JOINING HANDS AND VOICES IN SOLIDARITY ACROSS THEBORDER: WHY SHOULD CANADIAN MUSICIANS HELP STOP ALASKA’S PROPOSED PEBBLE MINE?
The answer is that it’s the Canadian mining corporation Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., headquartered in Vancouver, that’s trying to build the Peb-ble Mine in Alaska’s magnificent Bristol Bay region.
Northern Dynasty in turn has a close relationship with Taseko Mines Ltd, also based in Vancouver. Tsilhqot’in First Nation in British Columbia is fighting Taseko’s attempts to develop its proposed New Prosperity Mine in the sacred Fish Lake area 125 kilometres from Williams Lake, purportedly one of the largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits in the world.
Folk Music Ontario welcomes the following new members who joined us since the last issue of Folk Prints:
New Ontario Individual MembersGinny Clements, InnisfilAntony Cooper, OttawaJulie Corrigan, OttawaHolly Cunningham, North BayBrooklyn Doran, TorontoLaura Elston, TamworthJames Favron, DunnvilleKirk Felix, Richmond HillMadison Galloway, FergusMarie Gustafson, North BayDebbie Halton-Weiss, OttawaPiper Hayes, HamiltonBill Heffernan, TorontoNicolette Henderson, Port PerrySandy Irvin, Clayton
Mathieu Landry, SudburyAnna Ludlow, OttawaBrenna MacCrimmon, TorontoSandy Mamane, TorontoMax Marshall, RuthvenChloe Matamoros, TorontoPatty McLaughlin, InnisfilMax Merrifield, SudburyMary Murrill, TorontoGillian Nicola, WaterdownAimee O’Connor, TorontoDavid Owen, UxbridgeMartha Renaud, LaSalleWild Rivers, TorontoMichael Schatte, TorontoColin Scott, BrantfordClaire Senko, WaterfordRyan Shimizu, Toronto
Mitch Silvester, MerrickvilleAshlea-Elizabeth Smith, GravenhurstTanya Speight, GrimsbyAmanda Lynn Stubley, LondonDione Taylor, TorontoSean Thornton, OshawaJanet Whiteway, TorontoRon Whitman, WellandJulie Wilkinson, Belle ValleeThompson Wilson Shaw, HamiltonWilliam Wood, Toronto
New OntarioOrganizational MembersACTRA RACS, TorontoFolkzone, OttawaMusic Canada Live, Ottawa
newmemBers
Toronto Songwriting School, TorontoWoodland Cultural Centre, Brantford
New Out-of-ProvinceIndividual MembersColleen Brown, Edmonton, ABKen Simms, Delta, BCApryll Aileen, Rothesay, NBStuart Fuchs, Nelson, NHIrish Mythen, Charlottetown, PEGreg Torrington, Montreal, QCUpdated: May 9, 2016
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June / juin
June 17 - 19 juinTOTTENHAM BLUEGRASSFESTIVAL - Tottenham647-209-2593888-258-4727tottenhambluegrassinfo@gmail.comwww.tottenhambluegrass.ca
July / juillet
July/juillet - September/septembreSUMMERFESTIVALS ATHARBOURFRONT CENTRE- Toronto416-973-4000info@harbourfrontcentre.comwww.harbourfrontcentre.com/festivals
July 7 - 10 juilletTD SUNFEST - [email protected]
July 7 - 17 juilletRBC ROYAL BANK BLUESFEST - [email protected]
July 8 - 10 juilletCANTERBURY FOLKFESTIVAL - Ingersollcanterburyfolkfestival@ingersoll.cawww.canterburyfolkfestival.on.ca
July 8 - 10 juilletMARIPOSA FOLKFESTIVAL - [email protected]
July 8 - 10 juilletNORTHERN LIGHTSFESTIVAL BORÉAL - [email protected]
July 14 - 17 juilletRIVER AND SKY MUSIC/CAMPING FESTIVAL - [email protected]
July 14 - 17 juilletSTEWART PARKFESTIVAL - Perth613-264-1190stewartparkad@gmail.comwww.stewartparkfestival.com
July 15 - 17 juilletHOME COUNTY MUSIC& ART FESTIVAL - [email protected]
July 22 - 24 juilletHILLSIDE FESTIVAL - Guelph519-763-6396info@hillsidefestival.cawww.hillsidefestival.ca
July 29 - 31 juilletBLUE SKIES MUSICFESTIVAL- Clarendon Station613-279-2610www.blueskiesmusicfestival.ca
July 29 - 31 juilletTHE MILL RACE FESTIVAL OFTRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC- Cambridge519-621-7135mill_race@yahoo.comwww.millracefolksociety.com
FmomemBerFesTivals
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August / août
August 1 - 7 août GODERICH CELTICROOTS FESTIVAL& CELTIC COLLEGE - Goderich519-524-8221festival@celticfestival.cawww.celticfestival.ca
August 5 - 7 aoûtLIVE FROM THE ROCK FOLKAND BLUES FESTIVAL - Red Rock807-886-9910redrockfolkfestival@gmail.comwww.livefromtherockfolkfestival.com
August 11 - 14 aoûtFERGUS SCOTTISH FESTIVALAND HIGHLAND GAMES - Fergus519-787-0099 / 866-871-9442info@fergusscottishfestival.comwww.fergusscottishfestival.com
August 12 - 14 aoûtKINGSVILLE FOLK MUSICFESTIVAL - Kingsville519-997-7777info@kingsvillefolkfest.orgwww.kingsvillefolkfest.org
August 12 - 14 aoûtTROUT FOREST MUSICFESTIVAL - Ear [email protected]
August 19 - 21 aoûtPETERBOROUGH FOLKFESTIVAL - [email protected]
August 19 - 21 août41ST SUMMERFOLK MUSIC &CRAFTS FESTIVAL - Owen [email protected]
August 29 août - September 5 septembreASHKENAZ FESTIVAL - [email protected]
September / septembre
September 2 – 4 septembreSHELTER VALLEY FOLKFESTIVAL - Grafton905-349-2788festival@sheltervalley.comwww.sheltervalley.com
September 14 - 18 septembreCITYFOLK - Ottawa613-230-8234info@cityfolkfestival.comwww.cityfolkfestival.com
October / octobre
October 20 - 23 octobreFOLK MUSICONTARIO 30THANNIVERSARYCONFERENCE - Ottawa613-560-5997 / [email protected]
COMING UP IN 2017:
February 10 - 12 févrierHILLSIDE INSIDE - Guelph519-763-6396info@hillsidefestival.cawww.hillsidefestival.ca
February 10 - 12 févrierWINTERFOLK XV - [email protected]
March 3 - 6 marsWINTER FOLK CAMP- Haliburton705-457-9110singingdog1@gmail.comwww.winterfolkcamp.com
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Ever since humans discov-ered fire, we have been gather-ing around a campfire to cook food, keep warm, tell stories, regale adventures and sing songs. It is part of who we are. Though we have known it for a long time, only recently sci-entists have been exploring how singing songs around a campfire or otherwise affects the brain. Singing together creates a sense of community, a sense of belonging; we work better because of song, singing releases endorphins, singing binds us together. Historically, as the song travelled beyond the Savanna campfire, it carried the news – a terrible story of a lion or a polar bear, stories of kings and queens, stories of comedy and tragedy. Songs were used to help the work whether it was hoisting sails, toting bales, lift-ing rocks from Giza to Stone-henge. It was the song that fuelled work from the cotton field to the road gang. A collec-tion of campfire songs became the folk songs of various tribes that defined them and to some extent continues to define tribes today – Rai, Bulgarian, Celtic, Corsican, and so on. At various points the cul-ture campfire song has been threatened and for various reasons. Often when one tribe overwhelmed another tribe, cultural aspects of the de-feated tribe were suppressed. This happened in Scotland in the Seventeenth century when the English suppressed the Gaelic language and song and in some cases banned the singing of Gaelic songs all to-gether. In some ways the tra-dition was held together by the singing of Mouth Music which
savannacampFire by Ian Tamblyn
intoned Gaelic but it was only sounds. The songs of Ireland and Haida Gwaii were nearly lost when starvation and sick-ness took so many people that the cultural chain was affect-ed. The past was broken and it took years to rebuild and re-call the aural and oral cultural tradition. The campfire nearly died. The aural tradition is key to the continuation of the Sa-vanna campfire, for it is the passing on of memorized song that keeps the whole thing go-ing. If the tradition is lost, the connection to the past is lost as well. This loss can be quite literal. I recently spoke to Nor-man Halladay who wrote the book Inukshuit. He was talking to me about a series of cairns, gates and Inukshuit that he found at the south end of Cape Dorset. For years he had heard about them but he could never get anyone to take him there. It was felt by those in the town of Cape Dorset that this area was to be avoided because it was said to have evil spirits. One day he mentioned this to an elder in the community who laughed at the story. The elder said the place was in fact quite wonderful and full of good spirits. He said the problem was that the people had forgot-ten the song about how to get there. According to the elder, there are lots of shoals and rocks at the south end of Cape Dorset and it is quite tricky to get there safely. However, the elder knew a song that would guide one safely. The song was needed in the same way Bruce Chatwin describes in his book Songlines about Australian Aboriginals “singing” their way across the desert. Nor-
man asked the elder if he could take him to this spiritual spot, and with the elder’s guidance and song they travelled safely along the shoreline. But now that elder is gone. A few years ago I met a remarkable Inuk man named Mariano Aupilarjuk from Rankin Inlet. He sang a song that he said was 200-300 hun-dred years old. When I asked a friend to translate it she said she could only get some of it because Aupilarjuk was sing-ing words from a poetic form of Inuktitut Inuit only used for song. Aupilarjuk passed away in 2012, and with him that link to the aural tradition of his people was gone. It would have to be said that the church of various de-scriptions both discouraged and encouraged song – in most cases it was their church songs replacing the indigenous song. As another form of repression, the indigenous song was seen as barbaric, animistic, or sac-rilegious and replaced by a church music supporting the church’s doctrines. Sometimes this suppression is so complete there is nothing left of the au-ral tradition. For example, Greenlandic Inuit have lost most of their indigenous songs to Lutheran hymns and are quite amazed to hear the “Ca-nadian” Inuit sing their songs. In other places like the South-ern US, the Baptist church’s actions led to Southern Gospel music which has its roots in the call and response field hol-lers, and so the campfire song morphed into something new but was not snuffed out. A sim-ilar transition happened in the Bahamas. In the 1800s, minis-ters from England came to the
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Bahamas and taught “freed” slaves religious tunes. For one reason or another the ministry left around 1870. When Sam Charters came to record Baha-mian music in the 1940s, the people were still singing those hymns but in his words the music “had gone back to Af-rica.” Another threat to the campfire was the Gutenberg revolution, the invention of the press. By the mid-1800s the combination of the printed word and the Industrial Revo-lution threatened the aural tra-dition in song. As people moved to the cities to work in mills, the call to the campfire was lessened, and with news now being transmitted by newspa-pers, there was less need for the minstrel to bear the news, to carry the message, to sing the songs. By the end of the Victorian era, the songs that had been carried by the aural tradition for hundreds of years was so threatened that people like Cecil Sharpe or Francis Child began collecting the songs before they disappeared forever. The British traditional folk world is still keeping this custom. In Canada this tradi-tion was maintained by Edith
Fowke, Helen Creighton and Marius Barbeau in the early part of the 20th century, en-suring that the fire would not go out. It could be said that the era of recorded music – the last hundred plus years – has also threatened the aural campfire as it has individual-ized the listening experience. However, with the invention of radio, the aural tradition was brought to the airwaves and now the campfire song was being broadcast as far as the wattage could carry it. The folk song was replaced by the popular song, which once off the hit parade, as it were, was recycled as the campfire song. Everybody knew the songs of the day, by the likes of the Andrew Sisters, Jimmy Rod-gers, Wilf Carter and Woody Guthrie. During my formative years, we all listened to the same radio station on the AM band. If there was a new song by a band or group everyone was singing it by the weekend, and the local band playing it at the dance halls. It is no ac-cident that the literal campfire songs of this day come from the period spanning 1930-1980. It was the era of the radio – af-
fordable and common to all. The Savanna campfire, which has been burning for at least 18,000 years, faced a new threat in the 1980s with the invention of the Walkman. The individualization of the camp-fire had now become complete; each person now had their own campfire songs. However, and most importantly, they were no longer shared by the com-munity. Today, if you add in cyberspace, the iPod and wide-spread downloading, though there is now a global village of music, it has scattered the fire to the wind and threatens the continuance of unique tribal voices. By globalizing the vari-ous campfires, all is threat-ened. Is technology then the new oppressor? And yet the need for the campfire has never been more evident. Though the church is not the force it once was in the western world, the relatively recent boom in community choirs speaks to the original notion that singing together and sharing songs gives people a sense of wellbeing, a sense of community, a sense of belong-ing that harkens back to the songs shared around a camp-fire a long time ago.
2016BoardelecTionsFMO’s Board of Directors is a dedicated and enthusiastic group of thirteen volunteers, elected democratically by the membership via advanced balloting during the fall and at the annual conference in October. Five directors on the Board will be completing their terms this fall, and the new slate of candidates will be published on the FMO website in the next few weeks.
To read more about the Board election process, please visit www.folkmusicontario.ca – click on About Folk Music Ontario / Board of Directors. Advance balloting for FMO members will begin September 17, 2016. Please cast a ballot - your vote is your voice!
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