If the smell of patchouli, wafts of sound dancing in the wind and a crowd surging forward, unearthing an inexplicable urge to push toward the front sound familiar, there’s a good chance you’re a summer festival fan.
And this is going to be an unusual festival season in Kelowna with a string of new events on the roster, kicking off this Saturday, April 28th with a taster at the Streaming Café dubbed One Night Music Fest.
Headlined by award-winning Vernon musician Cara Luft, the event serves up West Coast singer/songwriters from the Prairies to the Coast, most from musical families.
Luft has just followed her critically acclaimed album, The Light Fantastic, with a new release, Darlingford, named for the small town in Manitoba where much of the recording was done. Once again laying bare personal heartbreak in a string of universally appealing themes, she proves honesty and a willingness to reveal one’s self through art is a formula that can’t be beat.
“We all need to know that we’re not alone when we experience difficult circumstance in our lives,” she told the Vernon Morning Star in interview this week. “When I sing these songs, audiences connect with them on an intimate level.”
Luft recorded her last album after leaving the well-known folk trio The Wailin’ Jennys to follow her own path.
“The direction (the Jennys) were going was a in a way that didn’t go with mine,” she said. “It was a hard decision… It was toy with fame or fortune or follow what I love to do.”
The Light Fantastic, produced by 5440’s Neil Osbourne and featuring Spirit of the West’s multi-instrumentalist Hugh McMillan, proved she had made the right choice, drawing praise from across North America, Europe and the U.K.; although this wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Luft grew up with music, playing autoharp and dulcimer in her family’s band before falling in love with the guitar. She moved to the Okanagan at age 20 to take part in a community living program at the Naramata Centre and, after the program was over, made the move to Vernon where she became a familiar face on the music scene.
She will be joined on stage this weekend by Andy Shauf, a young singer/songwriter who started playing in bands at the tender age of 14, recording three EPS before turning 20. Influenced by Hayden and Wilco, his latest release, a five-song EP called Darker Days, includes a string of songs that belie his youth.
The evening rounds out with Jordan Klassen, whose latest release is a four-song EP entitled Kindness, and James Lamb, whose just released a new full-length album, Imagineering.
Klassen’s songs have been featured on television shows like Royal Pains and the ’90s hit Felicity and Lamb’s claims to fame include headlining the Midsummer Folk Festival in Smithers and backing a string of prominent acts like the Buffaloswans, Language Arts and Niktex.
Following closely on the heels of the Streaming Café event will be the first multi-day festival of the season, the Fertility Festival, May 11-12.
Originally known as the Conduit Festival, and Cakewalk before that, the event opens its doors in a new location, Summerhill Pyramid Winery, with an art-meets-eco theme intended to celebrate the first blooms of spring. This will be followed shortly by the third Lille Gard Festival on June 30th at Bottega, a new East Kelowna venue officially opened this spring, and the brand new Keloha Festival, a light , indie-inspired pop/rock beach festival running July 6-8, put on by the team behind the Centre of Gravity.
Centre of Gravity, meanwhile, has just released its lineup this week with headliners Bloody Beetroots, Knife Party, local band Malibu Knights and Nero among the names for the early August festival (Aug. 3-5). The same crew, Wet Ape Productions, is also bringing a world-class DJ, Afrojack, to Kelowna for the May long weekend and, of course, Festivals Kelowna will continue with it’s summer concerts on Canada Day and with the Parks Alive concert series.
Tickets for this weekend’s One Night Music Fest are available at the Streaming Café, 596 Leon Avenue for $15 or online.
(With files from The Vernon Morning Star)
