The Deep Roots Of Cityfolk

Cityfolk Announces The 2008 Festival Line-Up

(*Note: This is an old article from 2008 that I lost in a computer crash. I found a copy and am now reposting it.)

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
~Victor Hugo

The Robert Browning quote, “Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once” has never been so eloquently illustrated as it has been by the Cityfolk Festival. The festival encompasses and embraces the most diverse melding of cultures, arts and music within the region and throughout the world, bringing together people for a three day reprieve from the solitude of our daily existence.

“The festival is really there to provide something for every corner of the Dayton community.” said Dave Barber, Cityfolk's Program Director, during a recent interview. “We usually try and cover a blues and R&B base and a jazz base. We try to cover our Celtic base, because that's an audience that we're very involved in and have a deep connection with. Both bluegrass music and country music have a strong base and a long tradition here, so that's absolutely essential to the mix. We're going to present a lot of Latin music, which we have this year. Then we have other pockets that we present in there. You'll see music from the Middle East and even French-Canadian and European.”
Barber went on to include some of the local elements that will be featured by stating, “We also showcase a lot of local bands too. We annually showcase Rhythm In Shoes and we present some old time bands like The Corn Drinkers, so there's another tier where we're trying to bring music that's in the region into the mix.”

When asked what differences audiences could expect from this year's festival, Barber said, “This year, the big change, schedule-wise, is that the festival is on Thursday through Saturday rather than Friday through Sunday and we're not closing with the fireworks night. The fireworks night will be on the first night of the festival, which is on Thursday. This year, I think we've got a great line-up. Ricky Nye, a great R&B, blues and boogie-woogie player from Cincinnati, Ruthie Foster, who's becoming a big star and Geno Delafos will all be on the main stage on fireworks night.”

Beyond the music, there are family friendly activities like a marionette workshop presented by the Mock Turtle Marionette Theater, a retired ambulance replete with computer and magnetic activities for children provided by the Children's Medical Center, interactive activities from Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and art-making projects created by the Dayton Art Institute and the K-12 Gallery for Young People.

Whether it's the soulful voice of Ruthie Foster, the Big Easy slide of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the spiritual a capella renderings of the Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Quartet or the conga rhythms of Poncho Sanchez, there is a little something for every musical taste. You can come for the music, the food, the art or to just to be a part of Dayton's community of culture.

“I think whatever experiences that you've had in life comes out into that instrument, because of the things you might have went through. You can be playing the blues, right? You might have went through a period of your life that was really the blues, and that comes out through the instrument. But, if you've never really experienced anything, you really don't have nothing to say.”
~Roger Lewis
Baritone & Soprano Sax and Co-founder of the The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band has been rewriting the history of New Orleans music since 1977, re-energizing the sound with its incorporation of funk and be-bop into the mix. Between their interpretation and unique arrangements, their style has brought about a resurgence in the New Orleans traditional sound, letting the beat go on for future generations to come.

DCP: Everyones familiar with the tradition sound of New Orleans, but what's The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's blend of it?
Lewis: Well, our band is a combintion of a lot of different styles of music. We don't play one kind of music. We play New Orleans traditional music, which is hymns, and we play be-bop...there's a variety of different sounds that we do. We play cover tunes...we play everything! You name it! Sometimes we play it all in one song! You might hear a little bit of everything coming out of one arrangement. You might hear some avant garde, you might hear some traditional. You might hear some be-bop, you might hear classical sounding stuff...it's a big musical gumbo of sounds. It's also dance music. It's music for your mind, body and soul.

DCP: What does the group want to bring to an audience?
Lewis: Me personally, man...people go through a lot of stuff in the course of a week with what they have to deal with in life and when they come out to hear some music, it's an escape from that grind or whatever they're going through. My thing is, I want to spread peace, joy and happiness throughout the world through my music. I think that's what God made me to do. He allowed me to do this. I want everybody to have a good time and enjoy what we're doing. We got enough pain and the devil is just trying to get us in every way possible, so I'm trying to bring some joy to the people as a positive force, an energy force, you know? You know, it's a happy occasion and everybody's bumpin' and shakin' what they got to shake.

DCP: When you play the festivals, where you may have an audience that hasn't heard you before and who may have broad mix of musical tastes, what do you want them to take away from the performance?
Lewis: Well, we play a variety of different styles. We play a lot of our own personal arrangements and it's usually happy. I think it's uplifting, me personally speaking...it makes me feel good! I think when everybody leaves a Dirty Dozen concert, they feel spiritually uplifted. I don't mean 'spiritual' like gettin' religion, but as in their spirit being really uplifted and making them feel good. It must be working because we've been doing this music for thirty-something odd years and people seem to love the sound of the Dirty Dozen.

“We have some unique pulsating grooves and low brass and use more space than a band from the Balkans”
~Matt Moran
Founder, Writer and Percussionist from Slavic Soul Party

Matt Moran, Brooklyn based Slavic Soul Party's percussionist and band leader, says that their sound is more “heart and feet music” as opposed to more of the intellectual “head” jazz that was part of his curriculum at the New England Conservatory of Music. Their music is more of an eclectic blend of jazz, funk, gypsy, Big Easy brass with an influence of contemporary hip-hop and dance all held together by the rhythms of the Balkans. I was able to catch up with Matt Moran with some queries about the sound of Slavic Soul Party and what uninitiated listeners can expect to experience at their performance.

DCP: How would you describe the sound of Slavic Soul Party to those who have not heard it before?
Moran: I'd tell people to imagine a beer-hall style, oompah-type brass band from Brooklyn playing music that's half Gypsy and half jazz and funk that makes everyone want to dance because it's played with exuberance and passion and doesn't need a stage or a sound system, like an all night party in a hot, little red room.

DCP: Do you feel that Slavic Soul Party's sound brings traditional European styles to an audience that might otherwise have never been exposed to it that culture?
Moran: We definitely bring music to people all over the US and beyond who haven't heard it before, but it's only partly true to say that we're bringing traditional music to them. We do play a few traditional pieces from Serbia or Macedonia or Bulgaria, but mostly we're playing originals or untraditional arrangements of traditional material. The traditional part of what they're getting is the instrumentation and the energy.

DCP: What do you bring to the performance and what do you want an audience to take away from the experience?
Moran: What we bring is a chance for people to lose themselves for a little while, to get transported and feel better and forget about the difficulties of life. People often come up to me and say, “You know, when I got here, I wasn't feeling great. I didn't think I felt like being here, but then the music just overcame me and now I feel great!” That's what we can do for people, send them away feeling better. They can remember the tunes, the solos, how they felt when they were dancing, the energy of the band and feel good for a while. That's the one big part of being a musician: knowing how to bring the energy of sound into a positive, healing force in people's lives.

(This article originally appeared in the April 16, 2008 edition of the Dayton City Paper.)