Happy Easter everyone!
We’ve been busy at Acoustic Harvest! Our upcoming concert with Dala will be our third in six weeks and promises to be every bit as successful as our recent concerts with Grit Laskin and Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines. It’s been exciting to see such good turn outs and such enthusiastic audiences and it’s especially nice to see people coming out on a regular basis.
I was very sorry not to be at the Grit Laskin event, as Lillian pointed out to me this was a rare opportunity to see Grit present his lecture/concert on the art of guitar making, unfortunately I had a previous commitment. From what I’ve heard it was a wonderful evening and I think I should let Lillian say a few words here…..Yes, it was a brilliant presentation from a master craftsman and singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; Grit played his own beautiful guitar, the concertina and the English bagpipes and treated us to a few of his best and most poignant songs. His lecture on sound and vibration was riveting and fascinating. His display of around 50 slides, (no two guitars are ever the same!) with accompanying description and history highlighted his dedication to telling a story and to creating the most exquisite inlay art the world has ever known.
I was at the concert with Suzie and Rick and what a fabulous evening that was! Not to take anything away from Rick, who’s a fine singer (no pun intended) and you have to love that growl, but Suzie’s voice just keeps getting better and better. The guitar playing with Suzie, sometimes on bass, was superb and it was just great to watch two players at the top of their game enjoying playing together.
Before I go on to tell you about our upcoming concert I just want to mention something Suzie did that impressed me. She thanked the volunteers, by name! Now many of our performers do thank Lillian and Jason, and so they should, they do a fine job, but they often fall short of thanking all the volunteers and that’s a shame. Acoustic Harvest is lucky to have a great crew who work hard behind the scenes, giving their time and occasionally their money, to make sure that performers and audience feel welcomed and have a great evening. So, thanks to Ada (who we missed last concert), Brian, Duncan, Fran, Heather, Lillian, Sytske, Tomek, Topaz and occasional help from Judy. And thanks too to Reverend Dan who often stays to help us out.
Coming up on Saturday, April 27th, we’re proud to welcome DALA back to our stage. We have quite a long history with Dala: we met Amanda first because her Dad, Dominic, was part of the Toronto Song Circle; Amanda and Sheila were on my radio show Acoustic Workshop quite early in their career; I think they’d just put out their first CD Acoustic Harvest was one of the first shows they did. It’s all been upwards since then, Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, touring with Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café, opening for artists like Tom Cochrane and Arlo Guthrie, and, in 2009, being the only Canadian Act to play at the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival. (www.dalagirls.com). They’re also very funny, witty and irreverant, as they laugh and joke with each other between songs you feel the strength of their long and close friendship.
Opening for DALA, we're pleased to welcome Annie Sumi. Annie has been described as an ethereal folk artist whose songs "take you to places of quiet wonder, of unspoken love and of tranquil landscapes". Annie's music has earned her a lot of attention and critical acclaim including a nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
With DALA and Annie Sumi April 27th will be a concert that will be uplifting and joyful and thoroughly entertaining. To book your tickets go to www.acousticharvest.ca
Recently, Lillian, Tomek and I attended a Digital Bootcamp, an event sponsored by the Toronto Blues Society and very ably hosted by Derek Andrews. This was aimed specifically at musicians with four panels on digital and social media topics, but we still thought we might pick up some tips that would be useful for Acoustic Harvest. It certainly was informative and highlighted how rapidly technology is changing the world for musicians and in many ways making it harder to make a living. If you’re interested in reading more about this there are some interesting articles at www.rootsmusic.ca
Stay tuned for the next newsletter, we’re already hard at work planning our next season at Acoustic Harvest and may have some exciting news soon.
Heather Fielding
We’ve been busy at Acoustic Harvest! Our upcoming concert with Dala will be our third in six weeks and promises to be every bit as successful as our recent concerts with Grit Laskin and Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines. It’s been exciting to see such good turn outs and such enthusiastic audiences and it’s especially nice to see people coming out on a regular basis.
I was very sorry not to be at the Grit Laskin event, as Lillian pointed out to me this was a rare opportunity to see Grit present his lecture/concert on the art of guitar making, unfortunately I had a previous commitment. From what I’ve heard it was a wonderful evening and I think I should let Lillian say a few words here…..Yes, it was a brilliant presentation from a master craftsman and singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; Grit played his own beautiful guitar, the concertina and the English bagpipes and treated us to a few of his best and most poignant songs. His lecture on sound and vibration was riveting and fascinating. His display of around 50 slides, (no two guitars are ever the same!) with accompanying description and history highlighted his dedication to telling a story and to creating the most exquisite inlay art the world has ever known.
I was at the concert with Suzie and Rick and what a fabulous evening that was! Not to take anything away from Rick, who’s a fine singer (no pun intended) and you have to love that growl, but Suzie’s voice just keeps getting better and better. The guitar playing with Suzie, sometimes on bass, was superb and it was just great to watch two players at the top of their game enjoying playing together.
Before I go on to tell you about our upcoming concert I just want to mention something Suzie did that impressed me. She thanked the volunteers, by name! Now many of our performers do thank Lillian and Jason, and so they should, they do a fine job, but they often fall short of thanking all the volunteers and that’s a shame. Acoustic Harvest is lucky to have a great crew who work hard behind the scenes, giving their time and occasionally their money, to make sure that performers and audience feel welcomed and have a great evening. So, thanks to Ada (who we missed last concert), Brian, Duncan, Fran, Heather, Lillian, Sytske, Tomek, Topaz and occasional help from Judy. And thanks too to Reverend Dan who often stays to help us out.
Coming up on Saturday, April 27th, we’re proud to welcome DALA back to our stage. We have quite a long history with Dala: we met Amanda first because her Dad, Dominic, was part of the Toronto Song Circle; Amanda and Sheila were on my radio show Acoustic Workshop quite early in their career; I think they’d just put out their first CD Acoustic Harvest was one of the first shows they did. It’s all been upwards since then, Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, touring with Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café, opening for artists like Tom Cochrane and Arlo Guthrie, and, in 2009, being the only Canadian Act to play at the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival. (www.dalagirls.com). They’re also very funny, witty and irreverant, as they laugh and joke with each other between songs you feel the strength of their long and close friendship.
Opening for DALA, we're pleased to welcome Annie Sumi. Annie has been described as an ethereal folk artist whose songs "take you to places of quiet wonder, of unspoken love and of tranquil landscapes". Annie's music has earned her a lot of attention and critical acclaim including a nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
With DALA and Annie Sumi April 27th will be a concert that will be uplifting and joyful and thoroughly entertaining. To book your tickets go to www.acousticharvest.ca
Recently, Lillian, Tomek and I attended a Digital Bootcamp, an event sponsored by the Toronto Blues Society and very ably hosted by Derek Andrews. This was aimed specifically at musicians with four panels on digital and social media topics, but we still thought we might pick up some tips that would be useful for Acoustic Harvest. It certainly was informative and highlighted how rapidly technology is changing the world for musicians and in many ways making it harder to make a living. If you’re interested in reading more about this there are some interesting articles at www.rootsmusic.ca
Stay tuned for the next newsletter, we’re already hard at work planning our next season at Acoustic Harvest and may have some exciting news soon.
Heather Fielding
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