This weekend I have mostly been spending my time at the Calgary Folk Music Festival. One of the first things Ashley told me when I got to Calgary was that I really ought to go and this proved great advice. The whole festival was terrific, with wonderful weather, delicious lemonade and really great easy-going atmosphere. It seemed to me that coming a few weeks after the redneck tomfoolery of Stampede it was a chance for alternative/progressive Calgary to emerge and enjoy Mongolian throat singers and a vegan corn-dog and enjoy it they did. The music was very diverse too; their take on folk seeming to be anything that wasn't chart friendly pop.

The venue was Princes Island Park in the middle of town where of course I ran into the Aryan Guard last weekend. It was a very different scene this weekend - probably the stuff of their nightmares! Being on an island, however close to shore, also gives the event a bit of a special atmosphere as you have to cross a bridge to get there. I didn't know many of the acts in the line-up but that I thought would just improve the chances of serendipitous discovery and so it proved. Here's my highlights

Here's my highlights.

Most Funky
Despite being a folk festival there was some competition for this coveted award. Early contenders were the superb New Orleans Social Club, featuring Ivan Neville of the Neville Brothers and an impossibly cool pianist called Henry Butler. However the title must go to "the dynamic soul funk" (as my new t-shirt says) of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. They were one of the few acts I had heard of, courtesy of my friends at the houseofhotsauce. I was eager to hear them and they didn't disappoint. Super-tight, super-charged, funky raw soul. Outstanding.

Most Fun
I can't deny that since coming to Cowtown my interest in old-timey music has grown in leaps and bounds. First it was the magnificent Highwater Jug Band a few weeks back and then at the folk fest I could really take my fill of old-timey bluegrass fun. The best of the bunch were a group of guys from Toronto called the Foggy Hogtown Boys. They played with real brio and in a nice old-timey touch they all clustered round the one microphone stepping forward to sing or play a solo.

Most Gay
Rufus Wainwright. In lederhosen. Singing Judy Garland.

I love Rufus's voice and some of his songs. But I have to say many of them are a bit boring. I did rather wish his sister Martha was playing instead. However all is forgiven when he sits down at the piano and plays Hallelujah which is pure spine tingling, tear jerking magic. And then on the final evening I was lucky enough to catch Sarah Slean from Toronto who sounds just like Martha Wainwright playing the piano instead of the guitar.

Most unusual cross-cultural mashup
At the folk fest they have a main stage in the evening and 6 smaller stages during the day spread out around the park. Unlike every festival I have been to in the UK where everything is in the middle of a field there are actual trees around the stages and you could find very welcome shade (so long as you got there early!). Each of the smaller stages has a mixture of individual concerts and "workshops" where 3 or 4 bands play a few tunes each and are encouraged to jam a little. I went to one remarkable workshop featuring England's one and only Chumbawumba, a Canadian band called Nathan and all the way from Tuva, Mongolia: Chirgilchin (the aforementioned throat singers). In one song by Nathan the two rather lovely ladies singing and playing guitar and banjo were suddenly joined by the throat singers in the background. It was an extraordinary moment and the two singers were really moved I think.

Most Awesome
I had immediately marked the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir as a band I wanted to see on the strength of their name alone. When I read their blurb in the programme I realised I had seen them jamming at a party I went to shortly after coming to Calgary. I thought they were pretty good then but their full on concert show was incredible. I don't know how to describe their sound other than Tom Waits backed by a freight train that's sold its soul to the devil. Righteous.