Who would have thought that there was a Folk Festival being held in November in Canada... and yet, there is! Last night I went to the Barrie Folk Festival for the first time, thankfully it was an indoor event so we weren't sitting outside freezing our butts off. It was held at Georgian College in Barrie and my mom and I attended the evening concert full of some of my absolute favourite folk musicians. As Awesome as all the performers were.. the event definitly did NOT have a "folk" feel that I'm used too. It was a very awkward crowd and being in an enclosed space for folk music is just..wrong.

But whatever, the stuff that was going on ON stage was pretty spectacular.

The First group for the evening was a french traditional folk group called Dentdilion who had some really great tunes and an awesome vibe. Check out their website [link] ...may need to be translated..

Next up were The Good Lovelies who were also at Mariposa this summer and got to sing with Fred Penner ... actually that was one of their stories for the evening was how completely star-struck they were when they sang with him in July. Anyhoooo they are a witty bunch with Unbelieeevable harmony, Definitly worth Checking out!!! [link]

I came to discover that The Good Lovelies are also buddies with another one of my favourite duo's: Sheesham and Lotus. If you EVER get the chance to see these guys live DO IT. They are a spectacle for the eyes and ears. They made the theatre turn all the stage lights off and they set up 3 simple lights on the floor shining up at them, so you got a reaal 1920's feel ...reminded me of "Mr.Cellophane" number from the movie Chicago. You can see what I mean here: [link]
Plus, I think this was the first time Sheesham and Lotus got an encore... they were thoroughly unprepared and surprised .

After the intermission was a Celtic band named Hawp, with traditional Scottish songs, Highland dancers and all! [link]

Then came the 2nd greatest musicians of the night.......DALA . These girls have gone from being nobody beginning acts to the highlight of any folk festival. They played some of my favourite songs along with many new ones that I loved just as much. Many were off their new album but also some which haven't been recorded yet (which is highly irritating because I want to buy them now! lol). Two highlights of their set can be seen on youtube:
Levi Blues - This is a cute little ditty about the ones the love and miss when they are out on the road.
[link]
Horses - They said this song was written after they met a teen who had been a top athlete, but after a tragic accident he was restricted to a wheelchair, and can no longer speak. They wrote this song for him:
[link]
More Dala can be seen here: [link]

Then came the finale and the ones we'd been waiting for: Tanglefoot! Due to it being their Farewell tour we wanted to see them one last time even after seeing them in the summer. They were fantastic as always and unfortunatly the small theatre couldn't really hold their amazing energy. The only benefit for the confined space was when they went to sing their monumental song "Vimy".
Al Parrish said that whenever he goes over to the U.K. for a tour or what have you he becomes homesick and one time thought of how those soldiers in WWI must have felt being away from home for week, months, years. Stuck in trenches and not thinking of the big picture, but of just surviving to another day. While waiting in the trenches all over Europe; Passchendale, Vimy Ridge, etc. that they might rename some of their surroundings to places from home: Kenora, Winnipeg, Montreal, for example. This song was written for these men and Tanglefoot was invited to sing in France at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 2007 for the 90th Anniversary of the battle. Normally the group sings this song completely unmiked (hence why it worked so well in the theatre setting) but here they are amplified to due the nature and size of the event: [link]
More Tanglefoot can be seen here:
[link]
On that note, don't forget everyone that Remembrance day is Wednesday and where a poppy. Lest We Forget.