The 13th annual Discovery Coast Music Festival happening this weekend in Bella Coola is a family-friendly, multi-cultural event featuring award-winning performers from across the country and around the region.
Start tapping your feet at a free, noon-hour, outdoor concert on Friday with the Woodshed Orchestra and Digawolf, then dance that evening to another freebie at the Valley Inn Pub with Ivan Coyote and Del Barber Band.
On Saturday morning, savour a free breakfast from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the festival site before the music begins with the festivals biggest entertainment lineup ever -- Treehouse TV’s Bobs & LoLo, rising pop stars Carmen & Camille, plus hilarious comedy, African gospel, Middle Eastern electronic rock, blues, reggae funk, storytelling, acoustic guitar, children's entertainers and more.
Some of the entertainment profiles from the program are as follows.
• Daniel Lapp has been an innovator, mentor and staple of the west coast music scene for over 20 years. Since learning his first tunes from his farming/fiddling grandpa, his fiddle playing has garnered him praise from critics around the world. Daniel has appeared on various prestigious world stages including the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies. As founder and president of the BC Fiddle Orchestra, Lapp has collected over 1000 original fiddle tunes by more than 100 BC composers. On trumpet, he has explored the history of the instrument, and jazz music in general, from its earliest forms to contemporary settings with his band, Lappelectro.
• Kat Danser's music draws a direct line from the Canadian Prairies to the Mississippi Delta. This Edmonton-based guitarist, songwriter and vocalist has been dubbed “The Queen of The Swamp Blues.”
Her style is steeped in tradition yet distills a refreshing approach to roots, blues, and gospel music for the 21st Century.
She has won many award nominations and and won Best Roots & Blues Album of the Year Winner (2011) Blues Underground Network.
• Dean Bareham-Dean Bareham, artistic director of Green Fools Theatre–also known as the infamous “Gustavo the Impossibilist” who set his own stilts on fire–is back with a new show that is fun for all ages! As Teddy he will make people laugh, make things disappear, balance stuff, fling objects in the air, and spin plates. An interactive show where the audience shares the spotlight.
• Digawolf, AKA Jesse James Gon, is a passionate singer-songwriter who performs with great respect for his Tlicho culture. His songs have a contemporary context – part blues, part folk, part rock – complimented by masterful guitar playing that draws inspiration from the land. His recordings have received Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and his fourth CD, Distant Morning Star, was nominated for a 2010 Juno.
• Ivan Coyote was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. An award-winning author of six collections of short stories, one novel, three CD’s, four short films and a renowned performer, Ivan’s first love is live storytelling. Over the last thirteen years she has become an audience favourite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer’s festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
• Del Barber, 26, of Winnipeg, has already made his mark as the granddaddy of Folk Festivals in his home town. His first CD in 2009, Where the City Ends, was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for roots Solo Album of the Year. His sophomore record, Love Songs for the Last Twenty (June 2010) has maintained a frequent presence on college radio. Now an artist in demand who’s toured coast to coast twice.
• Carmen & Camille are twin sisters who have performed all over the world and have been compounding success since the release of their debut album.
In 2010 their Juno nominated single, Shine 4U, broke into the top 40 on the Canadian radio charts, won the Chum Emerging Artist Initiative Award and landed the girls at #18 on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart. With major press from Much Music Video Awards, Much on Demand, Toro Mag, Flare, E!Talk, Billboard, Stuff Mag, Elle and several songs from their first album featured on MTV’s The Hills.
Though they work in Los Angeles, Carmen and Camille still spend time in their home town of Vancouver. Their roots, however, are actually in Bella Coola, with close connections to the Robson and Gurr families.
• Mamaguroove delivers a highly infectious, homegrown, eclectic brand of revolutionary music that drives the listener headlong through a universe of musical styles ranging from Latin/flamenco based rock, to reggae, funk, folk, world beat, and even metal. Ethereal lead vocals and harmonies merge with symphonic guitar riffs, blistering rhythms, smooth fretless bass, and wild, rich saxophone. Grown from the roots of back-to-the-land-life, their songs express a strong connection to work, raising families, and addressing social and political issues that are found both in their own backyard and the world abroad.
• The Woodshed Orchestra is an ecstatic, soul-filled, communal, multi-headed, celebration emancipation experience. Take a bowlful of New Orleans second line, add a spoon of Tom Waits, drop in a dose of Sly Stone, a bone of Leonard Cohen, a hit of the scene from Al Green, add some Blossom Dearie theory, a pinch of Loretta Lynn, a dollop of Asleep at The Wheel, a wallop of NRBQ, a sprinkle of vintage Rush, a bucketful of the Sun Ra Arkestra, a bushel of Monk, some essence of Randy Newman, a peck of the Fairfield Four, a blast from the Who, a shot of Dr. John, a hint of Ginsberg, a strand of Stravinsky, a packet of Prince, a taste of the Klezmatics, a teaspoon of the Ramones, a cup of Stevie Wonder and a good measure of Howlin’ Wolf.
• Caley Watts and her band-mates Niki Watts, Paul Grace-Campbell, and Buddy Thatcher bring a unique blend of folk and gypsy rock to the festival. Watts who hails from Bella Coola and has performed at various venues and music festivals over the years, delivers music that reflects her appreciation for her rural roots, Indigenous heritage and the environment.
• Todd Butler is a veteran contributor to CBC Radio and Television, with more than 30 years of live performance experience as both a musician/vocalist and a comedian. He provides outstanding musicianship and outrageous political satire, enrapturing the audience with poignant tales of what it means to belong, to be an outsider, to be searching for something real in these crazy, virtual times. “
• Jaffa Road is an acclaimed Toronto based world music group made up of some of Canada’s most exciting and innovative interpreters of inter-cultural music. Their music creates a unique sonic landscape that draws organically from the worlds of Jewish music, Classical Arabic and Indian music, modern jazz, electronica, rock, pop, and dub. Their song, L.Y.G., off their debut album, Sunplace, recently won grand prize and a Lennon Award in the prestigious John Lennon Song Writing Contest. The band was also awarded Best World Music Artist at the 2010 Toronto Independent Music Awards.
• H’sao, a group of four siblings and two childhood friends deliver masterful a capella singing that sets them apart on the vast soundscape of world music.
Drawing from gospel, traditional African music, including their own Chadian roots, H’sao displays clear soul, pop, and R&B influences. Elements of their various influences are smoothly blended with African rhythms to create fresh songs in a unique style. All the members of this Montréal afro-pop group are singer/songwriters.
The singers’ energy is palpable and their joie de vivre, irresistibly contagious!
H’Sao has filled concert halls around the world, and was invited to perform in honour of Queen Elizabeth II during her last visit to Canada on July 1, 2010.
• Brent Morton, AKA Drum & Bell Tower, of Williams Lake offers melodic and danceable journeys for life on a crowded planet. Drum & Bell Tower is a melodic and driving song writing experiment offering commentary on political, environmental, and social realities. Recordings and live shows are solo, putting to work voice, acoustic guitar, high-hat, and drum. With musical hints of artists like Beck, Neil Young, and the acoustic side of Zeppelin, the sounds range from mellow strum style to chopped and rocking riffery.
• Bob’s & Lolo debuted in 2003, and have been capturing the hearts and minds of children, parents and educators throughout North America since then. Now familiar faces as the dynamic, singing duo regularly featured on Treehouse TV, Bobs & LoLo deliver action packed, musical adventures both on and off-screen. Acclaimed for their energetic and interactive live performances, Bobs & LoLo are sure to have young audiences on their feet, singing and dancing along before the first song is done. Featuring award-winning music from their three albums, Bobs & LoLo aim to inspire their young audiences to care about the world around them.
• The climbing wall will be returning to the grounds and be set up on Saturday and Sunday.
• The Kids’ Site will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon, though it will close for the one-hour Bobs & LoLo stage performance from 2 to 3 p.m.
The Kids’ Site will feature face painting, the Bounce House, a puppet-making craft, a Toddler Tent, and Stream of Dreams fish painting.
• Dean Bareham, artistic director of Green Fools Theatre–also known as the infamous “Gustavo the Impossibilist” who set his own stilts on fire–is back with a new show that is fun for all ages! How does Teddy, who’s afraid of his own shadow, manage to survive in a world full of things that freak him out? When you’re a clown nothing is easy, but it always works out somehow–doesn’t it? Watch as Teddy attempts to conquer his fear of dogs, bugs, shadows, heights, and monsters under the bed! Teddy will make people laugh, make things disappear, balance stuff, fling objects in the air, and spin plates. An interactive show where the audience shares the spotlight.