I got back last Monday from the Northwest Folklife Festival, held at Seattle's civic center, May 25-29. It was a tremendous festival, both in sheer size, and in the variety of the music and dance. The festival showcases the folk/traditional performing arts communities in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. It also showcases some jazz and classic rockabilly bands.There were several non-Northwest performers, myself included.

The size and scope of this festival is overwhelming. I can only do a thumbnail sketch, but hopefully others who were there might add their experiences to this thread. I would guess any number of participants will have an equal number of different experiences, with some overlap, as there were 28 stages, both outdoors and indoors, with a total of about 1,000 performers, which included many large dance troupes, and buskers.

Friday was the day for showcasing NW school groups, along with professional performers. Seattle has an outstanding high school jazz band, from Garfield High. I was staying with friends whose HS-aged son plays jazz trumpet. One of the more fun acts to see Friday was the Kingston trio tribute band! I don't normally listen to that style of folk music, but it was sheer fun nonetheless. It brought back memories of my parents LP of the trio's live show at San Francisco's "Hungry i" club. They did "Zombie Jamboree," amongst other KT hits, and between songs talked about the KT's history, and controversies surrounding their approach to folk music, and their success with that approach. Hank Cramer was part of this trio. You know you've made it when 1. Your band has been around for 49 years, through personnel changes, and has become a sort of brand name, and 2. There's a tribute band for you!

Saturday I spent most of the afternoon at the "Maritime Showcase," Northwest Court Stage. I was one of the performers, doing a solo set, as my singing partner Richard Adrianowicz had to stay back home due to health problems (see "Radriano in hospital" thread). Hank Cramer graciously stepped in to accompany me on guitar on one song. Seattle's own version of The Johnson Girls, "Broadside" (great band name!) performed, along with The Cutters, Shanghaiied on the Willamette, The Shifty Sailors, and, from Vancouver, a foursome including Jon Bartlett & Rika Ruebsaat, longtime folklife performers. John and Rika did a couple of duo sets during the fest, as well. They are outstanding interpeters of traditional song, and very knowledgeable about what they sing. Sundat afternoon the same stage showcased "fidlers and fluters,' with some trult outstanding celtic musicians. The personal highlight was seeing Irish fiddler Randal Bays's group. Straight-ahead tunes, ewofiddles and guitar, with no flashiness; just brilliant playing. Sorry I can't recall the names of the other fiddler and the guitar player. Anyone fill that in? I personally find that straight-ahead approach to the music much more satisfying than Irish music jazzed up several notches.Just personal taste.

There was sea of people throughout the festival. Every stage was full of listeners. You just wouldn't believe how many people were walking through the civic center area and listening to the music. Among the recognisable folk music enthusiasts (it's the folk music radar in effect), there were many hundreds of teenagers there. I had wondered whether the civic center was usually a weekend cruising place, no matter what was hapening there, but saw that many of them were really enjoying the scene, stopping to listen to and talk with buskers, rocking out to the rockabilly concert, and watching ethnic dance troupes on the outdoor stages. It was great to see so many of them just enjoying the hell out of being at Folklife.

The downside of Saturday night was the singing session at one of the nearby pubs. About 50 people converged on the pub early in the evening, ordered dinner and drinks, and a couple of hours later, when more musicians showed up, started to sing. Management, though, refused to turn off the recorded music, which was loud. It wasn't like we weren't buying the place's food and drink, and, to my knowledge, there were no complaints from the other customers. So, someone stood up and said, "F---- 'em if they won't turn down the music. Let's go to McHugh's." So, half the place made an exodus. We ended up at a performers/volunteers party hosted by the Canadian consulate, held an outdoors session, and on Sunday night, went to the singing session at McHugh's pub. I met Mudcatter Mary Garvey at the Sunday session, and heard her lovely singing voice.

It was heartening to see throngs, literally thousands of people from 11am on, taking part. Examples: a full-sized performance theatre filled with hundreds of people, listening with rapt attention to a solo Uilleann piper (Tom Creeghan), and contra dances going from 11am into the night with hundreds of dancers throughout. This is the kind of respect traditional music commands in the Northwest. What amazing, supportive communities for this music.

Well, I've made this opening salvo long enough, and there's so much more to say about this festival. Have at it, eh?

Chanteryranger