The third annual Jasper Folk Music Festival will kick off Sept. 11, supporting an all-Canadian line up.
Headlining the three-day festival, which starts Friday evening, is Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra followed by Harry Manx on Saturday night.
For Ian Griffiths and his band, headlining Friday night is a reminder of how far they've come.
“One of the first gigs that we ever did with Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra was actually at the Jasper Heritage Folk Fest, because I won a local competition,” said Griffiths, in reference to the former festival, which folded after the 2006 festival season.
“We weren't headlining it, but it was one of the first festivals that we ever played, so it's really cool to come back nine years later after we're established and have four albums under our belt,” said
Griffiths, who grew up in Hinton and used to play at the Downstream Lounge on open mic nights as a teenager.
Since then, the band has developed its sound, replacing three members with three new musicians.
Eager to share their new sound, the band released its fourth album in August called Love with nine new tracks about—you guessed it—love.
Despite describing is as a “heartbreak record,” the songs are not your typical sappy tunes.
Blending electric guitar, piano, accordion, fiddle and standup bass, the band's sound comes across as a blend of east coast folk music and traditional European folklore music, with the occasional electric guitar riff thrown in for good measure.
“Our music has changed in leaps and bounds,” said Griffiths. “This most recent record has a real 50s pop influence, which none of the other records have at all. I'd say the previous record had a more Americana feel.”
In a nod to Canada's European history, the band also managed to include some French lyrics on their new album with the track “Wolfe et Montcalm,” referencing two generals that died in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City in 1759.
To record the album, the band met on two separate occasions at a cottage on Quadra Island, off the east coast of Vancouver Island near Campbell River.
“This is the first record that has piano and electric piano on it,” said Griffiths, adding Love also includes the band's new fiddler player, Mack Shields, and Keith Rodger on standup bass.
“This record also has electric guitar, where our other records were only acoustic guitar,” he added.
On vocals is Griffiths and Kurt Loewen, who also plays electric guitar.
“I'm really excited and a little nostalgic to be playing at the Jasper Folk Music Festival,” said Griffiths.
On Saturday night, headliner Harry Manx will entertain the audience with a blend of blues and classical Indian music.
Manx is known for a distinct sound that has earned him numerous awards and nominations over his storied career.
“I think my music is kind of a hybrid style of Indian music meets blues music,” said Manx, during an interview with the Fitzhugh in July.
Manx started his music career at a young age, working as a roadie and soundman at El Mocambo, a well-known music club in Toronto where the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Bon Jovi and the Ramones all once played.
He credits the bar for his blues education. It was later in life, while living in India that he picked up the second half of his sound.
There he met Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, the inventor of the 20-stringed Mohan Veena, which has become Manx’s signature instrument.
Under Bhatt’s guidance, Manx learned eastern scales and ragas—extremely complex and regimented musical patterns that form the basis of Indian music.
Years later, he decided to blend Indian ragas and blues scales, which eventually led him to his indo-blues style, which he’s toured with ever since.
In the last decade, Manx has won seven Maple Blues Awards, six Juno nominations, the Canadian Folk Award for Best Solo Artist and CBC Radio’s “Great Canadian Blues Award.”
In addition to the musical acts on Friday and Saturday, organizers have also added music workshops and a Sunday line up.
The festival starts on Friday, Sept. 11 at 5:30 p.m. with the last band taking the stage at 9:30 p.m. On Saturday things kick off at 11 a.m. Sunday's workshops begin at 11 a.m. and will wrap up with a final jam between the Pick Brothers, Joal Kamps, Birds of Bellwoods and others, starting at 3 p.m.
The main gate for the festival is at the corner of Turret Street and Maligne Avenue at Centennial Park.
A weekend pass costs $100 and can be bought either at the gate or online at www.ticketweb.ca by searching “Jasper Folk Music Festival.”
Friday night tickets cost $45, while Saturday tickets cost $65.
Visit www.jasperfolkmusicfestival.ca, for more information.
Paul Clarke
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