Sounds of Old Strathcona Fest, Edmonton, Part 4
Sounds of Old Strathcona Fest, Edmonton, Part 4
Sunday the last day of the festival. The streets on Whyte avenue were shut down, and two large stages were set up two blocks apart. Vendors dotted the street selling books, and beaded things, the standard festival fare, but they were certainly not the main event, and it captured a solid all ages party atmosphere, with kids and parents dancing along side Edmonton’s hip Youth. I was only able to catch two bands on this closing day of the festival. The first not really a group but just a guy with some tech. Yoav from Israel, on the surface seems to be just a guy with a guitar, and if you start listening to him in the middle of the song, you will find yourself wondering where the rest of the group is. Yoav uses a system of foot controlled samplers to take samples of himself live and work them into his songs, he’s a sort of a modern take on the one man band. His style is certainly easy and family friendly, a sort of mellow approachable folk pop. His focus is on his music and nothing else. Despite what I feel would be quite a complex solo performance he is no frills. Dressed in Denim and a black shirt, holding nothing but an acoustic guitar.
Following Yoav were local Edmonton Fave the Shout Out Out Out Out’s, who at the last kind of event like this I am told they insighted a riot. My information coming from a trusted source I decided to keep an eye out to make sure I would be safe, though the crowd of mostly families didn’t seem like the riot type, but then again this was Edmonton, and anything is possible in the heat of the summer. The Shout Out Out Out Out’s are a band with two drummers, and three guys up front who all seem to play a variety of rolls, including keyboards, guitars, and vocals. They are a dance rock band, and they had the crowd immediately on their feet and rushing the stage. Shouts came from behind me pushing the band on, fearing the worst I took my shots and got the hell out of there. I stole myself to the side of the stage where I listened and watched, and reflected upon the whole weekend.
It had been a weekend of not just music but good music. Having previously been from Edmonton I kind of knew what to expect. I knew there was good music and bands to be had, but I don’t think I was prepared for the sheer volume and diversity of what was put together for this festival. The SOSfest organizers took a page from Calgary’s Sled Island Festival, and created something I feel at least in this initial outing is more important than the other. Unlike Sled Island, SOSfest took an approach to focus on the local, bands from Alberta, and Bands from Edmonton, with the international offering being negligible. While it’s important to bring in international acts, too often festivals focus on that, after all Edmonton has the Folk Fest which itself has a large global outreach, but to see so much local music in one place doesn’t often happen, and in a place like Alberta where culture so often takes a back burner to industry it is just that much more important. It’s not a festival to put Edmonton on an international map, it’s a festival for the people of Edmonton, by the musical community of Edmonton, and revitalizing a community that has long been in need of reconnecting with it’s roots. When speaking to my friends over the course of the weekend, they all seemed to think that SOSfest wasn’t the Sounds of Old Strathcona, but Save Old Strathcona, a way to bring back what the street used to be. Bill Carley said to me that during the weekend he had seen more musicians walking down Whyte than he had in 10 years. He seemed a little relieved, and perhaps a little nostalgic of the change this festival had brought even if it were for just a weekend. I hope that some of this change can catch hold on Whyte Avenue, and bring back some of the permanent culture that has been lost over the years.
All in all, SOSfest was a great festival, a great showcase of local and independent musicians. A success for an upstart festival, and I’ll be back next year to see what happens, to see it grow, and catch even more music than I did this year, because there is so much to see and discover, and Edmonton, despite my sometimes negative views, is a great place, well at least in the summer, and it certainly knows how to throw a party.
by Dean Belder
