Well, my previous post was about a noticable and gradual shift amongst Ontario festivals to cater to mainly singer/songwriter performances. Those performers I must say for the most part are very talented, creative and gifted writers and musicians who are really good at what they do, I like many of them - some better than others, and they seem to be very marketable to young audiences. (Of course every listener has their tastes). I not expressing this as some sort of conflict between trad and songwriter - it's the lack of interest especially amongst the organisers in having trad music events at the festivals that is concerning. I used to look up to with awe at the older trad musicians I heard at festivals which gave me inspiration to follow up on their music and investigate more about it. I've taken some of that music with me in what I play now - I owe a great deal to those festivals and clubs that hired them. Mitch Podolak (former director of Winnipeg folk festival) in interviewing The Friends of Fiddler's Green last week said that the style of singing that they do is now completely absent from western Canadian festivals, and asked them what they thought of that and what their contibution has been to the music scene. I was a little shocked when Mitch said that - to think that English chorus harmony singing is a thing of the past in western Canada shows where our cultural diversity may be headed. But it's not just that style of trad that is absent - it's others as well. There will be a new generation that won't be exposed to this music at all at the festivals in the summer, and they'll maybe, possibly discover it by chance some day on recordings or somewhere else.
Arnie