Edmonton Folk Music Festival
Encyclopedia
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is an annual four-day outdoor music event held the second weekend of August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. The festival continues to draw many people from around the world as both spectators and performers. The current producer of the festival is Terry Wickham.
The festival showcases performers in many genres. Most years, folk, celtic, bluegrass, blues, gospel, roots, and worldbeat acts perform. Past main stage performers include k.d. lang
, Joni Mitchell
, Stan Rogers
, Great Big Sea
, Oysterband
, Loreena McKennitt
, Norah Jones
, Steve Earle
, The Blind Boys Of Alabama
, David Gray
, Neko Case
, Van Morrison
, David Byrne
and Michael Franti
. In addition to mainstage and sidestage concerts by individual artists, the festival has artists collaborate on shared stages.
During the daytime hours of the festival, there are six active stages hosting workshops and concerts. One stage is devoted to children's entertainment. Food vendors number in the dozens, ranging from carnival fare to vegetarian and world cuisine. A large tent houses craftspeople and there is a CD tent where the performers' albums can be purchased. There is also a beer garden, which serves more beer than any other single event in western Canada.
The EFMF relies heavily on volunteers which keeps ticket prices down. Volunteers do everything from picking garbage to working as stage hands. There are approximately 2000 people on the volunteer list each year.
The EFMF is held at Gallagher Park, on the banks of the North Saskatchewan river
. During the winter the area is a ski club. The mainstage audience seating is a natural amphitheatre with great sightlines. The skyline of downtown Edmonton acts as a backdrop for the stage.
In recent years, a fifth evening of music has been added, with revenue from that concert being dedicated to the festival's endowment fund.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. The festival continues to draw many people from around the world as both spectators and performers. The current producer of the festival is Terry Wickham.
The festival showcases performers in many genres. Most years, folk, celtic, bluegrass, blues, gospel, roots, and worldbeat acts perform. Past main stage performers include k.d. lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Stan Rogers
Stan Rogers
Stanley Allison "Stan" Rogers was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter.Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his finely crafted, traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and the daily lives of working people, especially those from the fishing...
, Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...
, Oysterband
Oysterband
Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...
, Loreena McKennitt
Loreena McKennitt
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM, is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals...
, Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, The Blind Boys Of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind....
, David Gray
David Gray (musician)
David Gray is an English singer-songwriter. He released his first studio album in 1993 and received worldwide attention after the release of White Ladder six years later...
, Neko Case
Neko Case
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
and Michael Franti
Michael Franti
Michael Franti is an American poet, musician, and composer. He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock...
. In addition to mainstage and sidestage concerts by individual artists, the festival has artists collaborate on shared stages.
During the daytime hours of the festival, there are six active stages hosting workshops and concerts. One stage is devoted to children's entertainment. Food vendors number in the dozens, ranging from carnival fare to vegetarian and world cuisine. A large tent houses craftspeople and there is a CD tent where the performers' albums can be purchased. There is also a beer garden, which serves more beer than any other single event in western Canada.
The EFMF relies heavily on volunteers which keeps ticket prices down. Volunteers do everything from picking garbage to working as stage hands. There are approximately 2000 people on the volunteer list each year.
The EFMF is held at Gallagher Park, on the banks of the North Saskatchewan river
North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....
. During the winter the area is a ski club. The mainstage audience seating is a natural amphitheatre with great sightlines. The skyline of downtown Edmonton acts as a backdrop for the stage.
In recent years, a fifth evening of music has been added, with revenue from that concert being dedicated to the festival's endowment fund.
History
The first edition of the festival was organized as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Alberta, and was held in Gold Bar Park, moving to its current venue in 1981.Artistic directors
- 1980-1985 Don Whalen
- 1986-1988 Holger Petersen
- 1989-present Terry Wickham