The sounds of traditional stringed instruments mixed with modern electronic beats and music from around the world will once again fill the air at Birds Hill Park this summer.
On Friday, the Winnipeg Folk Festival launched its first lineup after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing together an eclectic mix of music from here in Mantioba and around the world.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am. I mean, this is what we’ve all been waiting for, right?” CEO Lynne Skromeda said in an interview with CBC’s Janet Stewart.
This year’s headliners include Portugal. The Man, an indie rock collective from Portland, Oregon, and Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana.
“Portugal. The Man is a huge, huge thing for us,” Skromeda said.
The band won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group in 2018 for their single feel it still. His new single, What worries me? featured in the lineup launch video produced by the festival.
A self-described “gender-fluid multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, producer, and engineer,” Sultana rose to fame with the release of her 2016 single Jungle and released their second full-length album, Mainlandin 2021.
Award Winning Lineup
The lineup includes many decorated musicians, with many Grammy, Juno Award, and Polaris Award winners and nominees.
Colombian artist based in Toronto The music of Lido Pepper combines the Afro-indigenous rhythms and sounds of his native country with modern synthpop.
His 2020 album Miss Colombia won a Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, and their debut album, the papasa,took home Canada’s $50,000 Polaris prize in 2017.
The following year, Pimienta presented that same award to another artist at the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Fest. Operatic tenor and composer Jeremy Dutcher won the Polaris Award for his Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawawritten in the Wolastoq language.
The first solo album from Montreal-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell. outer childwas nominated for a 2022 Grammy for Best American Album, and is nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at this year’s Junos.
familiar faces
Old school fans have a lot to get excited about too.
Blues guitar legend Buddy Guy returns to the festival for the first time in almost 20 years.
Jerry Harrison, keyboardist for post-punk pioneers Talking Heads, has reunited with guitar wizard Adrian Belew, of King Crimson fame, to recreate his work on the seminal album. Stay in the Light.
Soul singer Bettye Lavette and folk icon Judy Collins will also perform.
The presence of these artists on the poster “really speaks to the heart of who we are and who we have been,” Skromeda said.
The lineup is also well-stocked with local musicians to listen to, including Winnipeg-based theatrical roots musician Boy Golden.
Joined the lineup by contributor Fontinefrom Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, who is making his solo debut after performing with several Winnipeg bands.
Winnipeg independent musician JayWood who released a new recording of his debut EP. Some days on Brooklyn, NY’s Captured Tracks label last year, will also appear.
Other Manitoban acts this year include Tataskweyak Cree Nation R&B and hip-hop artist Sebastian Gaskin, country singer-songwriter Bobby Dove, and banjoist Allison De Groot, formerly of Oh My Darling, along with her collaborator, violinist of North Carolina, Tatiana Hargreaves.
Dealing with COVID-19
The festival, which normally draws thousands to the park north of Winnipeg each July, has been suspended in 2020 and again in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organizers had hoped to hold smaller in-person concerts in August on the festival’s main stage, but that was canceled as the third wave of the pandemic gripped the province.
Anyone attending this year’s festival must be fully vaccinated, organizers announced last November.
At the time, Skromeda said that this year’s festival will be crucial for the organization’s financial future.
On Friday, he said the festival is confident its site will be safe for attendees.
“We feel great about the fact that while we know there is a risk, we also feel this is the time to start taking back what people know and love, which is the Winnipeg Folk Festival.”
Reference-www.cbc.ca