Vancouver Folk Festival, BC, Canada

When this is the view from the front of a festival, how can you not love it?

Vancouver Folk Festival is held at Jericho Beach in Vancouver, smack bang on the beachfront in a beautiful park, complete with huge shady trees and natural water features hidden throughout. I was lucky enough to be here for the 40th edition of the festival, and it was an absolute cracker.

Now, this is my kind of festival. I spent four days lounging under trees watching music, dancing barefoot in the grass, and taking a break to wander down the beach and ogle the sunset. And the music wasn’t bad either.

Can I jump straight to my number one musical highlight? ILAM is originally from Senegal, but these days calls Montreal home. He came over west with his band for Van Folk Fest and charmed the pants off the crowd. Definitely me. He started his career in hip hop group Beneen Squad, and definitely still carries some of that attitude across into his solo career. His music is one of my favourite styles - a melding of African and Caribbean influences with rock and blues. He has a huge amount of energy, and it was seriously infectious - he managed to get a mostly-seated crowd up and dancing every time I saw him.

Cold Specks was one of the first artists I saw as I came through the gates at Van Folk Fest, and man that was a good way to start! That voice! She is from Toronto, and grew up in a Somali-Canadian family where her father played the oud, so her musical influences were interesting right from the get-go. She plays a beautiful brand of folk music, peaceful yet powerful. Her voice was captivating on a sunny Friday afternoon, and it seemed the perfect start to another weekend of music.

I ticked off my bucket list this weekend too: seeing Corey Harris live. I love Corey Harris, particularly his Mississippi to Memphis album from 2003 (how was it that long ago?!) and Zion Crossroads from 2007. That Zion Crossroads album got a LOT of spins on Roots N All in my early days - it was my first year on the show when that came out and I seriously loved it. So when I saw that not only was Corey Harris on the lineup, but he was joined by blues legend Alvin Youngblood Hart, I was ecstatic. I sat there, singing along with the songs I knew, and you couldn’t get the smile off my face. Mission accomplished. It was a brilliant show, and so great to see two of our current blues legends doing a show together.

One of my favourite parts of this festival is that, while the headliners all had their own shows from about 3pm, before that it was primarily bundled shows. The ‘Sisters in Song’ show featured Shawn Colvin, Tift Merritt and Kathleen Edwards; ‘Tending the Flame’ showcased Jim Kweskin & Meredith Axelrod, The Slocan Ramblers and Bob Bossin; ‘Old Fashioned, New Fangled’ involved The Mae Trio and Si Kahn among others. It’s a strategy that I’ve seen utilised at the end of other festivals, but never to this extent and never throughout the program like this. Initially it was pretty confusing, I must admit, but I think it’s a brilliant idea! It meant that I saw artists that I may not have tracked down otherwise, and fostered a sense of community among the artists and the audience that was genuine and beautiful.

The Revivalists were the last act of the festival, and I can see why. Definitely a party band. They hail from New Orleans, Louisiana, and bring all the energy and sass that you’d expect from that music-rich region. They’ve been making music for over a decade, so they have their onstage formula down pat: extremely high energy antics + upbeat songs you can dance to. And dance we did.

The artist I wish I’d seen more of? Nive and the Deer Children. I caught her in an afternoon show with ILAM and Mbongwana Star, but sadly for me I only heard one song. Her voice is beautiful, and her band is tight. Definitely one that I’ll be following up on. Nive Nielson is from Greenland, and her band incorporates a little cumbia, guitar, string bass, musical saw and trombone.

There was also a pretty special tribute to Leonard Cohen which I caught the end of. Marlon Williams, Matt Holubowski, Leif Vollebekk and Katie Moore joined together to pay tribute to one of our finest songwriters. Marlon Williams was amazing, nailing the songs and giving them his own flavour too. It would have been brilliant to see more of, for sure.

I could write forever about all of the amazing artists on this lineup (it seems like a common problem I have!), but other notable mentions go to Mbongwana Star, John K Samson, Noah Gunderson and Kathleen Edwards.

That’s three festivals, three weekends in a row! And yep, I’ve got another up next!

Sarah Howells, Festival Hunter, signing off.