Sat 2/15 @ 1-6PM & 7:30PM
We’ll still be in the dreary days for another month or two, but we’re already seeing the first glimmers of northeast Ohio’s vibrant festival scene, with Brite Winter next weekend (February 22) and Kurentovanje on March 1.
But already this weekend, you can enjoy a full day of music and friendship at the ninth annual Lake Erie Folk Festival, presented by the Northeast Ohi Musical Heritage Association. It takes place on the Case Western Reserve University campus, with campus radio station WRUW-91.1 FM as a partner.
This event takes place in two parts: a free afternoon of workshops, jams and other participatory events, and a ticketed evening concert.
During the afternoon session, led by noted Cleveland-area musicians, participants are invited to bring their instruments and take part — kids are welcome to join in too. Sessions such as “Rhythm Sticks,” hosted by Girl Leaders in Action, where participants create patterns of sound and rhythms are promoted as “a very kid friendly activity.” Bassist/keyboard player/songwriter Afi Scruggs will lead a songwriting workshop; Henry Barnes will teach “a traditional Ohio tune”; Bob Frank, longtime member of Blue Lunch, more recently pursuing a solo blues career, will host sessions on blues harmonica and blues guitar; and Sheela Das will initiate people into the basics of playing pennywhistle in one session and ukulele in another (if you don’t have a uke, Sheela will have some you can borrow.) Chris Coole of the Lonesome Ace String band, and one of the evening’s headline performers, will be offering a workshop called “Coole’s Cool Banjo Tunings.
Other workshops include creating your own melody on mandolin, musical experimentation and youth storytelling. There’s also one on band dynamics hosted by Dave Kennard and friends of the band Brand New Hat, which titillatingly promises to share “how to arrange and play original and cover songs, avoid annoying fist fights, and sing and live in harmony.” You’ll see if they’re still friends at the end of the session!
We’re also intrigued by a session on “Cell Phone Orchestra,” hosted by harp player and improvising experimental musician Stephan Haluska, who runs the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) and alters his instrument in various ways to create new sounds. Why is this at a folk music festival? “Unlike other forms of music making, electronic music doesn’t require years of mastering an instrument or even require knowing how to read music,” they tell us. “This accessibility has fostered a new DIY, folk music culture in the digital age. Anyone can make electronic music with tools they most likely already have. Taking the idea of a laptop orchestra, a chamber music ensemble consisting of musicians performing from laptops, we bring it to the smartphone.” Participants should have a smartphone with internet access to be part of this experimental session.
There’ll be informal concerts in the atrium by ensembles such as Sunporch, Sugarmules and Sweet Killarney. There’ll be hosted jams in room 201, and you can also expect to find people jamming informally in various corners of the building. Don’t be shy about joining in!
The evening concert will take place at CWRU’s Harkness Chapel, just around the corner from Thwing Center, at 7:30pm. Performers are fiddler John Showman and banjo player Chris Coole, leaders of Toronto-based bluegrass/old-time/folk band, the Lonesome Ace String Band; banjo player David Howley, formerly a member of the Galway, Ireland quartet We Banjo 3, which dissolved in 2023; and Cleveland-based world music band Global Connections, which performs a variety of international sounds. Get tickets here. Get more information and a full schedule here.
Also there are tons of food options on campus if you want to stay between the afternoon programming and the evening concert.