National Folk Festival News

by | 19 Jan, 2009

National Festival Program is Developing.

We reported earlier that the themes for the 2009 festival will feature South Australia, Natural Fibres and The Music of the Americas. Some of the international names have already been announced for 2009 and more are pending.

Old Man Luedecke

oldmanluedecke

Old Man Luedecke is described on his website as one who sings his songs – melodic gems blending old time sensibilities with an unusual vision and poetic sense – accompanied only by his loving five string, foot stomps and the occasional yodel. He left the big old city of Toronto, met a girl in the Yukon, fell in love, bought a banjo and fell in love again. After a couple of years of love and banjo and the makings of a brilliant performing career in sunny Halifax, he returned to the Yukon with his sweethearts. There he woodshedded. He wrote a tone of songs over the next year and a half. He held regular gigs playing banjo in a gambling hall with can-can girls and in a honky tonk called the Snakepit accompanying piano barnacle Bob.

April Verch

aprilverchBorn, raised and now living in Pembroke, Ontario – where her family has lived for generations. April grew up in an area with a rich, distinctive musical and stepdancing tradition shaped by the diverse roots of the immigrants drawn to the region’s lumber camps. Emulating her older sister, she began taking stepdancing lessons when she was three, but right from the start, she was drawn to the fiddle, too-though her parents made her wait for three years before giving her a fiddle for her sixth birthday. Her talents in both arenas quickly became evident, as she began winning fiddle and dance contests on her own, and performing with her sister and the Pilatzke brothers as a member of the Dueling Dancers, a troupe that earned regional and national attention for its blend of innovative and traditional Ottawa Valley stepdancing.

Ticket Sales

The Festival is using a new ticketing system for the 2009 Festival. The new system will issue individually barcoded wristbands and PDF Tickets sent via email. The wrist bands – WrisTickets – will replace the wristbands used during previous Festivals and will require all attendees to scan in and out of the event.

Early Bird ticket sales finish on January 30. Until this date an Adult Season Ticket is just $166. With a Season Ticket you can attend the Festival every day and experience hundreds of concerts, workshops, dances and much, much more.

National Folk Festival Website

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