Anna's Next Adventure: Calgary Folk Festival ...

Main stage

Life is about decisions. Every day, we make decisions - some big, some small, some super important, some trivial, some mundane and some fun. This weekend, I made lots of fun but difficult decisions ... at the Calgary Folk Festival. With 68 music artists, all unique in some way, it was a tough decision to decide which bands to see and when to see them. As with most decisions, there were some non-negotiables - for me, I simply couldn't miss Michael Franti and Spearhead on Friday night and then Melbourne's own The Cat Empire on Saturday night. Apart from that, how I spent my 3 days at the festival was up for negotiation.

One of the smaller stages

The beautiful weather meant a sell out crowd

Over the three days, I managed to see a total of 36 bands (some more than once) from all over Canada, USA, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Niger, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Scotland, Ireland, Czech Republic, England, Belgium and Sweden. The reason that it was possible to see so many bands lay in the unique structure of the weekend. The schedule offered a range of concerts - one band performing - and workshops where 3-4 bands collaborated on stage. In theory, this was a good idea and could have resulted in some interesting new music being produced. The reality didn't quite match the idea but when it did, it was fabulous. Most of the workshops simply consisted of the bands taking turns to play their own songs. This was great to get a sample of different music, but didn't really fit the idea behind the workshops. One workshop was particularly lacking in collaboration - the Swedish girl band, Baskery, didn't even bother to stay on stage while the others were playing. On the Sunday, the bands seemed to be in more of a collaborative mood, as the sessions I saw were all fantastic and all very different - a gospel and blues collaboration followed by an electronic and hip hop collaboration.

Del Ray, a unique blues musician

St Vincent collaborating with another band during one of the workshops

After seeing many of the bands, I was faced with another tough decision ... "They were good, when are they playing again?" So, I ended up seeing several of the bands two or three times. Each time I saw a band perform, the experience was unique, thanks to the workshop dynamics or the fact that the band was performing on their own.

The cowboy collaboration

Haydamaky, a crowd favourite

A decision that I fortunately didn't have to make, but most men contemplated a little too lightly, was related to the weather. The entire weekend was filled with sunshine and blue cloudless skies. Friends were keen to point out that it was typical summer weather in Calgary. The decision that the men seemed to take far too lightly was the decision to go shirtless. From my time so far in Canada, I have noticed that as soon as the sun makes a brief appearance, Canadian men feel the urge to remove their shirt. Thanks to the beautiful weekend, far too many men seemed to make this choice. Unfortunately most of them didn't have the body to pull it off. Note to guys feeling the urge to take their shirt off ... Are you 6 foot tall, tanned and toned? No? Then keep it on. Please.

The lead singer just looked like he was enjoying him so much, it would have been impossible not to enjoy their performance

The Swedish girl band, Baskery - great music, terrible attitude

Thanks to the stunning weather, there was another decision to be made - to dance or to lie in the sun. I managed to do a bit of both over the three days. The festival events occurred on 6 stages during the day and the main stage at night. Several of the smaller stages were set up under the trees, providing a perfect place to lie on the grass and doze off to the mellow sounds wafting through the trees. Other workshops and concerts were more upbeat and required some dancing in the sun. On Friday and Saturday nights, I managed to squeeze my way to the very front of the main stage to listen and dance to my two favourites. On Saturday night, I got some odd looks when I knew all the words to The Cat Empire's songs but then felt very out of place when I was surrounded by Calgarians who knew all the words to the songs of Alberta's favourite young cowboy, Corb Lund. On Sunday night, the headline act was Roberta Flack (famous for 'Killing Me Softly'), with a more mellow sound - perfect for lying on the grass to listen and watch the sun set.

Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens

A classic folk festival hippy

The final decision of the weekend was deciding who my favourites were. Of course, Michael Franti and Spearhead and The Cat Empire were high on the list but there were also some great new bands that I will definitely be following in the future. Bands who were particular standouts were the funky hip hop band Coolooloosh from Israel (I can't seem to get the link to work on this one); Caracoal, French Canadian girl with a beautiful voice; St Vincent, an American waif of a girl with another gorgeous voice; Romantica, whose lead singer originates from Ireland but is now based in the USA; Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir whose gospel music mixed with some funk was amazing; and the Peatbog Faeries from Scotland whose mix of Scottish folk (yes, the bagpipes were a part of it) and funky jazz made for an interesting mix. My favourite musical discovery was the incredibly energetic and funky Haydaymaky, a Ukrainian band whose live performances were so upbeat and joyful. It's not the kind of music that I would necessarily purchase, but the live performances were simply too much fun to miss.

The lovely Caracoal

Hill Country Revue

Whilst the weekend was filled with decisions, all were fun decisions and I was happy with all of my choices.. Prince's Island park couldn't have been a better place to spend a fine Calgary weekend. What a good decision it was to go to the Calgary Folk Festival.