Happy New Year!
It’s 2019!! We’re half way through this musical season, and it’s been a great one so far. In 2018 we had some wonderful performers with a variety of musical styles, kicking off the series we had the singing and dancing (remember the gumboot dance?) of Black Umfolosi, followed by Mary Kelly and John Sheard, all the way from the junction. Then, after our move to St. Paul’s we had Garnet Rogers and Archie Fisher, a wonderful concert and sadly their last as Archie, now in his eighties, is retiring from touring. That was followed by Lynn Miles, accompanied by Keith Glass and a treat of an opener from Piper Hayes. Finally, at the beginning of December we had John Huston and The MadriGALS bringing “A Christmas Carol” to life, and we were able to do the show with candlelight which really added to the ambiance.
As we move into the 2019 part of our season we’re happy to be bringing you the same variety with more wonderful performers and on January 19th we’ll be giving you all of that in one show as we present "The Pre-Winterfolk Review”. Now in it’s 17th year Winterfolk (www.winterfolk.com) “was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage our community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more”. That’s their mission statement and, you know, it could be ours!
Rick and I moved to Scarborough in 1996, November 22nd to be precise, so it would have been sometime in the spring of 1997 that he decided the one thing our wonderful new neighbourhood lacked was -- a folk club. A place where people could listen to all manner of acoustic music, folk (obviously) but blues, bluegrass, singer/songwriter and music that meets at the intersection of all of these. Our line up, this year and every year, keeps that ideal; you’ve probably heard Lillian speak of this, she mentions it often in her opening remarks. Of course, we spread it out over a few months and Winterfolk packs it into one weekend in February, this year from the 22nd to the 24th and, as always in venues on the Danforth, all within easy walking distance. Sometimes that’s half the fun, bumping into people on the street and exchanging notes on who you’ve seen and where to go next.
**********************SPECIAL OFFER***********************
This is probably a good place to tell you that Winterfolk is making a special offer to Acoustic Harvest guests. On this one night you can get a Winterfolk bracelet for only $10. That’s less than half price for the whole weekend!
**********************SPECIAL OFFER***********************
So, who are you going to see when you come out on January 19th?
Cassie and Maggie - 2018 JUNO nominees. “From the deepest roots of Canada and its very earliest musical traditions come Nova Scotian sisters Cassie and Maggie, putting their own 21st Century stamp on the Celtic soundtrack of this nation. Exciting and innovative, their talent is surpassed only by the sheer joy they exude in performance.
Alana & Leigh Cline are a Toronto based Celtic fiddle/guitar instrumental duo who combine Irish, Cape Breton and Scottish styles to create their own sound. They also include occasional Balkan tunes in their sets. Alana & Leigh have a self-titled CD released in October 2016.
Shake The Bellows - 2 accordions, 1 guitar, 3 voices, playing everything from French café music to Tex-Mex, Gaelic to Cajun, they are Bev Kreller, Kev Gould, Howard Druckman.
2X Juno Award Winner Donne Roberts' music makes winter feels like summer. The rhythm will make you dance and the melodies will make you sing along. The music is mainly in Malagasy the language of Madagascar.
Ken Yoshioka sings blues, plays guitar and harmonica with soul, originally from Kamakura, Japan. His music is based on deep south delta, Chicago and modern electric blues.
Ori Dagan is taking jazz to new and exciting places. His rich baritone voice and impressive abilities as an improviser produce an instantly recognizable sound.
Tony Quarrington Juno Award Winning Producer for Willie P. Bennett’s HEARTSTRINGS (1998). One of the most appreciated tributes to his work was Winterfolk’s album SONGS OF TONY QUARRINGTON Tony has many years professional experience in many types of music: folk, jazz, klezmer, rock,country, Hawaiian, blues, bluegrass and more.
Brian Gladstone the founder and Festival Director for Winterfolk, Brian Gladstone is a world class fingerstyle guitar player, an intuitive songwriter ….., a lyricist who can invoke a plethora of emotions in a single verse, and a dynamic performer who engages and entertains his audiences.
I think Rick would be thrilled and quite surprised to find us still going strong in 2019. In recent years, in recent months even, many folk clubs and smaller listening rooms have closed their doors, so it’s no small accomplishment to be in our 22nd season and, while Lillian is the Artistic Director and the ‘face’ of the club she certainly couldn’t have done it without the many volunteers who’ve given their time and energies to Acoustic Harvest. And, we’d be nowhere without you, our audience, so keep coming out and bring your friends, we’re always happy to see you.
Heather Fielding
It’s 2019!! We’re half way through this musical season, and it’s been a great one so far. In 2018 we had some wonderful performers with a variety of musical styles, kicking off the series we had the singing and dancing (remember the gumboot dance?) of Black Umfolosi, followed by Mary Kelly and John Sheard, all the way from the junction. Then, after our move to St. Paul’s we had Garnet Rogers and Archie Fisher, a wonderful concert and sadly their last as Archie, now in his eighties, is retiring from touring. That was followed by Lynn Miles, accompanied by Keith Glass and a treat of an opener from Piper Hayes. Finally, at the beginning of December we had John Huston and The MadriGALS bringing “A Christmas Carol” to life, and we were able to do the show with candlelight which really added to the ambiance.
As we move into the 2019 part of our season we’re happy to be bringing you the same variety with more wonderful performers and on January 19th we’ll be giving you all of that in one show as we present "The Pre-Winterfolk Review”. Now in it’s 17th year Winterfolk (www.winterfolk.com) “was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage our community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more”. That’s their mission statement and, you know, it could be ours!
Rick and I moved to Scarborough in 1996, November 22nd to be precise, so it would have been sometime in the spring of 1997 that he decided the one thing our wonderful new neighbourhood lacked was -- a folk club. A place where people could listen to all manner of acoustic music, folk (obviously) but blues, bluegrass, singer/songwriter and music that meets at the intersection of all of these. Our line up, this year and every year, keeps that ideal; you’ve probably heard Lillian speak of this, she mentions it often in her opening remarks. Of course, we spread it out over a few months and Winterfolk packs it into one weekend in February, this year from the 22nd to the 24th and, as always in venues on the Danforth, all within easy walking distance. Sometimes that’s half the fun, bumping into people on the street and exchanging notes on who you’ve seen and where to go next.
**********************SPECIAL OFFER***********************
This is probably a good place to tell you that Winterfolk is making a special offer to Acoustic Harvest guests. On this one night you can get a Winterfolk bracelet for only $10. That’s less than half price for the whole weekend!
**********************SPECIAL OFFER***********************
So, who are you going to see when you come out on January 19th?
Cassie and Maggie - 2018 JUNO nominees. “From the deepest roots of Canada and its very earliest musical traditions come Nova Scotian sisters Cassie and Maggie, putting their own 21st Century stamp on the Celtic soundtrack of this nation. Exciting and innovative, their talent is surpassed only by the sheer joy they exude in performance.
Alana & Leigh Cline are a Toronto based Celtic fiddle/guitar instrumental duo who combine Irish, Cape Breton and Scottish styles to create their own sound. They also include occasional Balkan tunes in their sets. Alana & Leigh have a self-titled CD released in October 2016.
Shake The Bellows - 2 accordions, 1 guitar, 3 voices, playing everything from French café music to Tex-Mex, Gaelic to Cajun, they are Bev Kreller, Kev Gould, Howard Druckman.
2X Juno Award Winner Donne Roberts' music makes winter feels like summer. The rhythm will make you dance and the melodies will make you sing along. The music is mainly in Malagasy the language of Madagascar.
Ken Yoshioka sings blues, plays guitar and harmonica with soul, originally from Kamakura, Japan. His music is based on deep south delta, Chicago and modern electric blues.
Ori Dagan is taking jazz to new and exciting places. His rich baritone voice and impressive abilities as an improviser produce an instantly recognizable sound.
Tony Quarrington Juno Award Winning Producer for Willie P. Bennett’s HEARTSTRINGS (1998). One of the most appreciated tributes to his work was Winterfolk’s album SONGS OF TONY QUARRINGTON Tony has many years professional experience in many types of music: folk, jazz, klezmer, rock,country, Hawaiian, blues, bluegrass and more.
Brian Gladstone the founder and Festival Director for Winterfolk, Brian Gladstone is a world class fingerstyle guitar player, an intuitive songwriter ….., a lyricist who can invoke a plethora of emotions in a single verse, and a dynamic performer who engages and entertains his audiences.
I think Rick would be thrilled and quite surprised to find us still going strong in 2019. In recent years, in recent months even, many folk clubs and smaller listening rooms have closed their doors, so it’s no small accomplishment to be in our 22nd season and, while Lillian is the Artistic Director and the ‘face’ of the club she certainly couldn’t have done it without the many volunteers who’ve given their time and energies to Acoustic Harvest. And, we’d be nowhere without you, our audience, so keep coming out and bring your friends, we’re always happy to see you.
Heather Fielding