2011 Cityfolk Festival in Review

Thank you, Dayton, for helping to make our fifteenth festival another great one! Relive the fun at our Photo Gallery or YouTube channel.

Big Sam of Big Sam's Funky Nation

Thank you to everyone who helped Make the Music Happen! We met our goal of $40,000!

Thank you to everyone who bought something to drink at the Festival. We set a new record for beverage sales! (Thanks to Mother Nature too, for the hot weather that inspired such consumption.)

Thank you to everyone who volunteered! About 450 people filled over 900 slots -- that's a lot of beverages served, trash cleaned up, artists and festivalgoers greeted, and merchandise sold! Our small paid staff of six people is especially grateful to the volunteer Festival Directors, who pour hours of their spring and summer into making this Festival happen. There is no way we could see to all the details without their skill and dedication.

Convening The Fellows

Edwin George receives his Ohio Heritage Fellowship
plaque from OAC Board Member Sharon Howard
at the 2011 Cityfolk Festival.

One of the nice moments at the 2011 Cityfolk Festival was Ohio banjo master Tony Ellis making the trip in from his home in Circleville on Sunday, July 3 to be there when his friend, Navajo painter and storyteller Edwin George, was awarded one of this year's Ohio Heritage Fellowships (OHF). The day before, two previous OHF Awardees--Doug Unger and Rick Good-- flanked fellow banjo man Tom Duffee for a session on the Sound Effects workshop stage at the Festival.

Kanniks Kannikeswaran

The Ohio Heritage Fellowships were created in conjunction with the Ohio Arts Council in 2004 to honor lifetime achievement in the folk arts in Ohio. Performing and visual artists and advocates who have preserved and vitalized a globe spanning array of traditions while living in the state have all been honored. This year's awardees are Edwin George and Indian composer Kanniks Kannikeswaran, whose new recording Vismaya beautifully fuses Indian and Celtic traditional music.

Edwin's paintings and his unique storytelling were both displayed at the Cityfolk Festival. Unfortunately, Kanniks had already booked a trip to his native India and could not be there. They both will be honored on Thursday, July 28, at the Ohio State Fair with the presentation of the OHF Awards at 4 PM at the Natural Resources Park Amphitheater

In a fitting capper to the ceremony, their fellow OHF awardee Tony Ellis and the Musicians of Braeburn will follow the ceremony with a performance. Ellis, one of America's premier banjo players and a beacon for the deep traditions of bluegrass in the state of Ohio, received one of the inaugural OHF awards in 2004.

Have You Heard?

Nigerian musician Sean Kuti

Nigerian musician Sean Kuti is carrying on his father Fela Kuti's legacy -- both on stage and in the political arena.

Amina Alaoui is navigating her own path through the music of Spain and Morocco.

One of the musicians named as a 2011 NEA Jazz Master is saxophonist Von Freeman. Not familiar with that name? Geoffery Himes of A Blog Supreme explains why this award is still a perfect fit.

You may have had a chance to enjoy Sierra Hull and Highway 111 at the 2011 Cityfolk Festival. Believe it or not, another young female mandolinist is taking stages by storm: Sarah Jarosz.

If you haven't spent time wandering down American Routes, I urge you to give it a try. Host Nick Spitzer is a master at pulling together diverse American music and putting a theme to it that gives you a deeper understanding of our country's music and the people who play it.

Hocus Pocus

by former Cityfolk intern Laura Cotard


Before our French intern Laura headed back home in May, she wrote about another band from her homeland. Now that the Festival is behind us for another year, we have the time to share this with you:

This time I’ll introduce you to another French band, from my own town of Nantes. This one is completely different from La Rue Ketanou, but I do love it a lot also. So I hope you’ll do so.

Created in 1995, Hocus Pocus is a French rap hip-hop band which is mostly influenced by bands from the 1990s American jazz rap scene such as A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, Jay Dee, Jurassic 5 and Pete Rick. This band managed to bring Hip-Hop back to the French scene. The band has 6 members: 20syl (MC and composer), DJ Greem, David Le Deunff (guitar and singing), Herve Godard (bass guitar), Mathieu Lelievre (piano), Antoine Saint Jean (drums), sometimes including brass instruments.

At the beginning, the band was composed of only 20syl and another MC called Cambia. They met DJ Greem and began to perform together. But having two MCs did not work very well on stage, so in 2000, 20Syl and Dj Greem began to work with a new and original stage layout: an MC and a DJ. Between 2000 and 2005, they composed songs, but at the beginning it was not so successful.

In 2005, their first album was finally born, called 73 Touches (73 keys). Then in 2007 was the real recognition for the band with the release of Place 54, thanks to songs such as “Vocab!” featuring T-Love and The Procussions and especially “Smile” featuring Omar it. The latter gave ‘smile’ to French Hip Hop which was not really popular, and also affirmed Hocus Pocus’ musical style: acoustic, groovy and technical hip-hop rap played with real instruments, all in a positive spirit.

In 2010, their most recent album 16 Pieces was released. Same atmosphere: sometimes jazzy, sometimes soul, still with a positive spirit and simple topics, which allows listeners to recognize their favorite band.

Hocus Pocus’ musical style has evolved a lot since 1995. First seen as an old school rap hip-hop it finally results in a sedate jazzy rap hip-hop, moving away from the original rap. They remain mainly inspired by English lyrics, that they consider “easier to sing” as it is feels smoother than French. For instance in the song “Vocab!”, they make fun of the French Language which sounds more chopped while singing even though is a beautiful language. Hocus Pocus’ music allows French to be more jazzy and musical thanks to a background of American old school rap hip hop.

I have been to one Hocus Pocus concert in November 2010 in Nantes. It was awesome, I even lost my voice! It was amazing to see the big connection between the band and its public. For instance, how often do you see the singer going in the public and beginning to dance among it without any bouncer? And after the concert I spoke to some members: 20syl (the MC) and DJ Greem. I took photo with them, it was a wonderful time! It was nice to see that they remain simple guys even though they have performed in some of the biggest auditoriums all around France.