Weekend Plans: Old Town's Folk and Roots Festival
By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 8, 2009 7:00PM
The Old Town School of Folk Music presents its twelfth annual installment of the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival this weekend in Lincoln Square. The Festival, spread across Welles Park, brings a steady stream of activities to a usually friendly, laid-back crowd: performances by Old Town staff, open jam sessions by the gazebo, dance lessons with live music, and a tent for kids, although we should point out that that's an area with entertainment for children, not a place to store them.
The main attraction, of course, is the main stage, where the Old Town School has once again brought in a wide range of performers. The opening act, the Midwestern Fiddle Competition, underscores the diversity. The battle is a cultural Olympics, bringing together fiddle-forward groups from Greece, Ireland, and Mexico, as well as a couple from the US of A, to fight, bows a-wobblin', for $1,200. With the exception of Lamajamal, the Chicago-based Near Eastern musical melting pot, American music will carry the rest of the day. Traditional folk music will be represented by old-time fiddler and Indiana native Rayna Gellert and her father Dan, country crooner Caleb Klauder, and Cedric Watson and Bayou Creole. Honey Honey, a little more pop-y than the Festival's acts usually are but who produce svelte, clever songs nonetheless, will follow; and the night will end with raucus, raw rock from Austin's Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears (who'll also be performing, at a much higher admission price, at Lollapalooza).
The Festival goes international on Sunday following a pair of brief performances, one by the Young Stracke All-Stars, a group of nine- to twelve-year-old Old Town students, and another by the Old Town School faculty-created Woodstock Flashback Band (if the first drug reference went over your head, the Festival's site describes it as "3 days of Peace & Music rolled into a 30 minute fatty"). Venezuelan and West African folk music will be played by Maestros del Joropo Oriental and Mbolo Moy Dolle, respectively, and after a domestic interlude by Louisianan Curley Taylor (can't say no to more zydeco), the Festival tries something new and closes out with a trio of electronic acts: the Marseille-based, culturally-ambiguous Watcha Clan; Indian fusion from Chicagoan DJ Warp, Radiohiro, vocalist Gaurav Venkateswar, and dancer and sometime tabla player Anjal Chande; and even more Indian electronica from Karsh Kale and Timeline.
The full main stage schedule, along with more information about the performers and video samples, can be found here.
Welles Park at N. Lincoln and W. Montrose, Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12, 12:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m., $8 suggested donation, $4 for children and seniors