Touching the Earth and the Sky at the Calgary Folk Festival

It's Day 4. A serious thunder storm hits mid afternoon. But by now we are very close to being back in Middle Earth, and simply shrug it off.

At the last workshop I attended on Sunday I am hearing Jaune Toujours from Belgium again. They are the obvious hit of the frenzied Bacchanalia this year - attracting all the people who want to work some serious earth magic through moving body parts in syncopation to some jiving melodies. I am standing next to one of the Festival artists and we have this delightful conversation about the joy of these festivals being the discovery of acts one has never heard of before. He asks what kind of instrument one of the band members is playing. Why he thinks I know will remain one of life's mysteries. I tell him it is a Balkan xylophone, but stringed. He nods in agreement; that description was close enough to the sound of the instrument to seem right.

Sonny Landreth opens the final show with music straight out of the bayou. Love that Louisiana jiving sound that inspires songs like Sonny's tribute to a Louisiana Trailer Park titled: "In the Promised Land." There is a sense of humour to his music which is infectious.

The tweener act is Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko, a duo billed as from Ontario and Mali. Sounds of Africa fill the air. Is this Prospero's Island? Are the natives about to take it back from the vendetta nursing Prospero? Mount Royal College's Shakespeare in the Park is doing "The Tempest" this year at the other end of the site, and this Island may be magicked.

The Sparrow Quartet is next. Two banjos, a cello and a violin. The female vocalist, who plays one of the banjos, can not be from this universe. This group must have been the court musicians for the Faerie King and have been left behind when the Faeries left Middle Earth. Serene, sensual, heart quickening, and soul restoring set. Another CD purchased just before the CD tent closes.

Claire Jenkins Avec Band (well more accurately half the band) remind us that "if you go out in the woods today" you will have some serious jigging to do. So we do.

The only way I can describe Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band is that he is some sort of blend of prophet and Caliban, if Shakespeare had written Caliban as a hero. Is Vulcan's Forge hidden in Mystic Valley (Valle Mistico near Tepoztlan, Mexico) where they have been recording? Did Vulcan and his wife Venus arm this band with powerful instruments and infused them with the power to play them so that all the world has to hear and be swayed by the message? There is no describing the force of the music which invades your mind via your heart. Simply buy the CD when it is released latter this year. In fact, buy 2 and give one to your best friend.

I made it!

Ani DiFranco is about to play and I am still here and we might get through the set without a severe storm. What fun she is to hear. Your feet are tapping out the tunes of protest. It seems it will be a joyful march toward creating some change. Ani has written a song about the "Holy Atom" in response to her efforts to prevent a nuclear waste dump being located on a Native Reserve. During that process she experienced congressmen and lobbyists laying GOD on her. When GOD becomes the official excuse for everything, something is bankrupt besides Wall Street. Ani is really good at reminding the emperor and his minions that that suit of new clothes was a rip off.

Ok, it is time to count the CDs bought, and which I will enjoy immensely, while I subsist on Kraft Dinner for the next 10 days! Hey, winter is long here, and I purchased them to help preserve the memory of many outstanding performances.

Sam Roberts was so right: "If it is played from the heart, it is folk music."

Amen ! Go in Peace !