Manitoba flavour helps set new Folk Fest Friday record

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Melissa Proven and her hula hoop dance to the music. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

BIRDS HILL PARK -- Music may be the focus of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but it's people like Rich Hamon who are its spirit.

Hamon, aka the Bubble Man, was wandering the site all day Friday shooting bubbles over the crowd out of two paddles he dipped into a pie tin on his belt filled with solution as a crowd of children followed him and slapped his soapy projectiles out of the air.

The Pinawa resident has been attending the Folk Fest since 1982 and has become known as the Bubble Man since he started the tradition in 2002.

"It's some of the many things that make people smile. Everybody does a little part and makes the festival something you want to come to. It adds to the whole thing," he said.

Hamon was one of 16,000 people who made their way to Birds Hill Park yesterday -- a new Friday record -- as the festival kicked into high gear with 13 hours of music.

The seven daytime stages were packed with enjoying a variety of music at more than 30 different showcases and workshops. Festival-goers were treated to everything from local singer-songwriters to music from Mali. If you weren't dancing to the world-beat at the Global Gateway workshop, you could kick up your heels at the Bluegrass Hootenanny.

For fans of Celtic music, Alasdair Fraser and his (now grown) prodigy Natalie Haas showed off their close musical relationship -- they were eerily in sync -- with a set of Scottish reels.

No matter whom you were -- a performer, a volunteer or a patron -- everyone was digging the vibe under some threatening clouds that looked ominous, but never unleashed their fury.

"I love Canadian festivals. I have Canadian envy. You guys have health care and there's free massages for performers," said finger-picking wonder Mary Flower, who also showed off her slide-guitar skills at her showcase.

A new initiative at this year's festival featured a Manitoban act on each workshop stage during the last performance of the day, and the locals were doing their best to show off Winnipeg's diverse and talented music scene.

Winnipeg roots group Jackpine made its festival debut in a big way with four shows throughout the weekend.

"It's a big dream for me to play here. It's huge for all of us," said Sean Buchanan, prior to the band's appearance in the Woe is Me workshop with the Deep Dark Woods, Tom House, Amelia Curran and Hayes Carll.

"This is the highlight of our weekend; it was like we got put with all the people we wanted to see."

The daytime stages are known for collaborations. The Song Remains the Same workshop was a good example of once-in-a-lifetime moments you can't see anywhere else as Joe Pug played Hank Williams' Lost Highway, joined by C.R. Avery and Amelia Curran.

After performing at that workshop, Idaho's Josh Ritter showed off his own roots-pop originals and won over the crowd with his laconic charm and mile-wide grin to kick off the mainstage.

Mali's Oumou Sangare and her ensemble got the crowd dancing with music from her homeland. Along with the danceable rhythms, Sangare showed off her huge voice that probably would have soared across the field without the help of any amplification.

One of the most anticipated sets of the night was for the Del McCoury Band, a family act who lived up to their billing as traditional bluegrass legends.

Still to come at press time were two more must-see acts of the festival, South Carolina singer-songwriter Sam Beam, who records and performs under the name Iron & Wine, and alt-roots songstress Neko Case.

The action continues today with music starting at 11 a.m. Tonight's mainstage lineup includes North Carolina bluegrass group Chatham County Line, Peterborough, Ont. singer-songwriter Serena Ryder, 11-piece British folk group Bellowhead, Jamaican reggae pioneer Burning Spear and acclaimed indie-folk-rock group Okkervil River.

-- With files from Jill Wilson

Rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 11, 2009 C3