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Major Festival Announcement
Following a successful presentation to Prince George City Council on October 29th, 2007, the Board of Directors of the Prince George Folkfest Society, for many sane reasons decided to move the festival from the summer to the winter.
We as a Board are delighted to announce:
COLDSNAP 2008, JANUARY 26TH-FEBRUARY 2ND 2008
Partnerships are now being solidified for the winter COLDSNAP music festival organized by the people that brought 4 years of Prince George Folkfest!
This is your invitation to join us for the event up to what will be a premier cultural experience for B.C.
Westjet in-flight magazine in 2007 listed Folkfest this past year as amongst the best 18 Canadian Music Festivals! COLDSNAP will continue with providing the same quality of artistry!
Thousands of spectators have come through the gates in the first four editions, to share community time and see the likes of Sarah Harmer, Bruce Cockburn, Matthew Good, Martyn Joseph, Sonny Rhodes, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Stephen Fearing, Daniel Lapp, The Lee Boys, Gordie Sampson, Corb Lund, Watermelon Slim and The Workers, Grupofantasma and many other international performers. The best of world beat, blues, jazz, contemporary and traditional folk, bluegrass, country, hip hop, modern rock and more….
January 26th through February 2nd will see 8 days of music at different venues throughout the city.
This is an experiment for our City to enliven our midwinter. Whitehorse, in the Yukon, has held their annual Frostbite Music Festival for many successful years and it is an event the whole city becomes involved in.
Please check out our new website www.coldsnapfestival.com for upcoming news on tickets, venues and who's playing!
Tickets will be on sale December 8th at Books and Co ph 250 563 6637 Studio 2880 ph 250 563 2880
Our Society will continue to present throughout the year ...watch for details!
info@coldsnapfestival.com
Jo Beattie AD PGFF/COLDSNAP jocalico@telus.net
Focus on the Northern Uganda Development Foundation
(NUDF)
From the NUDF Newsletter
The Prince George Folkfest, an international assembly of
musical performers, meets yearly at Fort George Park, Prince George, BC. In
2007, NUDF was invited by Folkfest as a focus agency, to promote an education
program and raise funds for water projects in Uganda. Prior to Folkfest, NUDF
did a presentation at FolkQuest, where about 100 people attended. The purpose
was two-fold. Firstly, to inform Canadians about the difficulty of obtaining
clean drinking water in Northern Uganda and to raise funds to drill water
wells.
This event set the stage for a larger NUDF participation
at Folkfest. A tent was erected with education material, donated bottled water
from Costco, Superstore and Save On Foods and NUDF stickers for water bottles
donated by Sunshine Press and a water pump for display purposes on loan from
Northern Hardware. The water pump loaned by Northern Hardware proved
multipurpose. Initially, it was to show what similar pumps would look like in
Uganda. A small red bucket was hung on the spout of the pump, to display
collecting of water, but as the concert progressed people started to donate
money by placing it in the bucket. A red five gallon gasoline container, filled
with water and weighing 60 pounds, was also on display to show what people in
Uganda carried on their heads for miles. Many people tried carrying the
container and found it a bit heavy. Many new members registered and a larger
network for NUDF membership was formed.
The highlight of the NUDF program was a live audio
connection to Folkfest, from Ogek village in Uganda villagers assembled. After
an introduction by Chris Opio, Chairperson for NUDF, the villagers in Uganda
sang for the Folkfest participants, while photographs of their village were
displayed on a large screen. This was received with great applause and
appreciation.
For more information visit the NUDF web site at: http://www.nudf.org
Folkfest 2007 in the history books
The tents are down, the sound gear has all been packed
away and the grass is starting to get back to normal. The Fourth Annual Prince
George Folkfest was a spectacular success.
We've started the planning for next year and look
forward to many more years of bringing the good citizens of Prince George and
northern BC an unbeatable weekend of music and fun.
PG Folkfest Four hopefully guarantees Folkfest Five in
'08
by Patti Stewart, reprinted courtesy of The
Prince George Citizen
Jo Beattie was beaming Saturday night as Fort George
Park swelled with at least 2,000 Folkfest fans. But at the end of more than 20
hours of live music, Beattie was just happy to say the festival should break
even this year.
That's what it's like getting a festival such as the
Prince George Folkfest to take roots in a community. Unlike cities such as
Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Prince George's festival is a toddler.
Theirs have been running for decades, while ours has now struggled for four
years.
It takes time and talent to build an annual music
festival and hopefully, Prince George's civic leaders as well as its legions of
music lovers will make sure Folkfest thrives into its fifth year. And here is
why.
They are called the New Orleans Social Club, their
members are legendary and they played Friday night at PG Folkfest. Flooded out
by Katrina in 2005, the veteran musicians traveled from across North America to
meet in Fort George Park.
George Porter, the bass man, came in from Boston;
Crescent City's legendary piano man Henry Butler came from Denver; Leo
Nocentelli, famed guitarist from The Meters came from San Francisco. Raymond
Weber, the group's beat man, and Ivan Neville of the legendary Neville family,
son of Aaron and nephew to the hosts of other Neville family talent.
I never saw Ray Charles live in performance, but after
Henry Butler's amazing performance on the keyboards, with his the soulful voice
and stage presence, I know longer feel deprived.
Angus Lyon and Ruaridh Campbell brought traditional
Scottish music, as well as original pieces tinged with tango and jazz. They
didn't disappoint with new original songs such as Mirrlees Lane along with
traditional favourites.
Juno Award winner Donne Roberts had his troupe of
excellent players to take the crowd into a world African beat. A member of the
famed Afrikan Guitar Summit and veteran partner of Madagascar Slim, Roberts was
a compelling showman.
The beat went on with other outstanding performances by
Watermelon Slim and the Workers, Amy Milan, Joel Fafard, Chad VanGaalen, the
Paperboys and so many others.
Local music was very much in the scene and on stage
including Prince George's Navaz, Maureen Washington, the Colin Pearson Trio,
Versus, cc Hamel, the Cottonweeds and Matt Robinson. The entire musical menu
was eclectic, electric and entertaining and certainly will provide many happy
memories for the crowd.
The drive to make sure there's a Prince George Folkfest
Five begins now because after four years of magical music, summer just wouldn't
be the same without it.
Corb Lund Band brings new Canadiana classics to
enthusiastic Folkfest audience
by Patti Stewart,
reprinted courtesy of The Prince George Citizen
Corb Lund couldn't have picked a better song to kick-off
his headline act at the Prince George Folkfest Saturday night in Fort George
Park.
Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer made it perfectly
clear the crowd was in for a brilliantly entertaining evening under the stars.
It's a comical song, with a toe-tapping, head-bopping rhythm that shouted out
to the audience 'let the good times begin'.
The southern-Alberta born Lund started off in the music
biz in the early 90s with the hard-hitting punk group The Smalls. His entry
into the world of alt-country has been hailed across Canada, with songs such as
Truck Got Stuck, Gonna Shine Up My Boots, All I Wanna Do is Play Cards and Good
Copenhagen exemplifying the best in new Canadian music.
No need to gush here - the crowd said it all when
children, parents, grandparents, 20, 30 and 40-somethings came to their feet
dancing. And the usually poker-faced Lund was all smiles, tall, dark and
handsome, dressed in blue jeans, a red and white striped rugby shirt and the
customary cavalry inspired black western hat.
The familiar songs were celebrated, a new work,
inspiring. "I think I may have been watching the History Channel too much,"
Lund said as he carried us into Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier, the title track
from his new CD to be released in November, It's a tribute to the front-line
men of the cavalry that have fought and defended their countries from ancient
to modern times, even during the Afghan invasion when horse soldiers traversed
otherwise impenetrable territory.
To many, the Corb Lund Band is pure Canadiana, music for
the folks and about the folks. His songs, all original and all written by Lund,
tell stories of the truckin' life on the highways of Canada, at the rodeos in
Cloverdale or Williams Lake, and life on the ranch in the foothills of Alberta.
One favourite sample of the engaging lyrics came from
Little Foothills Heaven, a classic little two-step with deep-hearted sentiment.
"It's my little foothills heaven on that northern rock range, my favourite
place to be and mister that ain't gonna change."
While Lund is the definite leader of the five-man pack,
his band of Hurtin' Albertans provide the gel that melds the lead singer's
voice with perfect instrumentation. Kurt Ciesla brought his "big butch bass
bull fiddle" providing its satisfying rich, resonating tone. Brady Valgardsen
kept the beat solid on drums, while Grant "Demon" Siemens excelled on guitars,
mandolin and banjo.
Naomi Kavka and Josh Sandu, known together as The
Arbitrarys, opened for Lund, winning the opportunity through the Festival's
Folkquest contest. And what a treat it was to hear new, original music from the
up-and-coming singer/songwriters of Prince George. Their style is emotive,
melodic and sometimes jarring with Kavka providing soaring vocals, as well as
beautiful work on guitar and cello. Sandu's skilled guitar work and strong
voice makes The Arbitrarys a duo that should make music headlines in the
future.
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