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Festival season beats at the Celtic Festival
by CHRIS BARRY
For starters, the Celtic festival takes place on the grounds of the Douglas Hospital in Verdun, so if the mere thought of munching on Haggis while watching some Irishman stroke his fiddle bores you to tears, you can rest assured there will be plenty of mental patients wandering the grounds, participating in step-dancing workshops and just simply doing the things that mental cases like to do. So there’s no need to worry where your hearty Irish laughs will be coming from, the mentally ill rarely disappoint. But I digress, because the Celtic Festival is certainly more than just a wonderful opportunity to hob-nob with the insane. Much more.
April O’Donoughue is its founder, and perhaps unlike some of the other festival promoters in our fair city, claims to be motivated not by money but by a genuine love of Celtic music and culture. “We’re entirely non-profit and entirely organized by volunteers. It’s all from the heart, everybody just wants to see this thing happen. I started this festival only because I want to share this music with people. I was always going to Cape Breton for vacations and desperately wanting to bring everybody there so they could enjoy it along with me. But since I obviously couldn’t do that, I decided I would do the next best thing and bring this music and culture to the people of Montreal.” And if last year’s turnout of 30,000 Celt enthusiasts is anything to go by, then so far she and her 250 strong crew of volunteers are doing a pretty good job. “If the weather is decent, I suspect our attendance this year will be closer to 50,000,” says O’Donoughue confidently. The product of a unilingual French Canadian
father and an anglo Nova Scotian mother, O’Donoughue says that
almost 40 per cent of Quebecers have Irish roots. “They might
not speak a word of English,” she explains, “but as soon
as they hear this music they discover that they love it. What’s
so great about Celtic music is that it’s totally from the heart,
telling the stories of the everyday lives of ordinary people. It’s
not music that is created and taught formally in schools. That’s
why it speaks to so many people from so many different cultures. It
can tear your heart out when it’s sad, or make you want to clap
your hands and dance when it’s happy.” Like a good Robin
Williams movie, if there is such a thing, O’Donoughue is certain
the bittersweet songs of the sea will make you laugh and make you cry. “This isn’t just for kids,” claims O’Donoughue, “Michael is a true storyteller in the ancient tradition. A lot of what he does has been passed down from his ancestors. It’s a skill, and like Celtic music, highly improvisational. He closes his eyes and transports you to another place, to hear him is truly amazing.”
But if first-rate Celtic music, dancing, storytelling and workshops on such things as “Beginners’ Gaelic” and spoon playing don’t exactly fry your burger, perhaps you might want to check out the 32nd annual Sunday in the Park going down in NDG Park this, duh, Sunday. Sponsored by the good people at Head and Hands, organizer Becky VanTassel says this year’s Sunday in the Park is being directed towards youth. “Obviously we want families to come as well, but we’re really trying to keep Sunday in the Park as a reflection of Head and Hands, of the politics of what we do here. It’s a good outreach for us, so if we can attract young people to the event it will increase the chance of them being aware of our services—which is our ultimate goal.”
“Omen is going to take six kids and they’ll be painting on the north side of the chalet wall,” says VanTassel excitedly. “Whatever they come up with will remain there permanently and the subject will be on youth diversity—different lifestyles, choices, stuff like that. The whole thing is actually being funded by the city, which is great but a little surprising.” Outside of the requisite festival activities like face painting, arts and crafts, sculpting, and yes, more storytelling, Head and Hands is expecting somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 to 50 dedicated community groups to set up camp in the park and enlighten the masses with their various agendas. Among them will be Project 10, a gay and lesbian rights group who will be holding workshops intended to help kids come to grips with their sexuality, and the Collective Against Police Brutality, who will be giving lessons on how to stay mute the next time the MUC cops take you down to their bunker for a torture session. A rollicking good time is guaranteed for all. : Sunday in the Park at NDG Park (corner of Sherbrooke and Girouard), from 12–7pm, free The Montreal International Celtic Festival on the grounds of the Douglas Hospital (6875 LaSalle), from Aug. 9–11, $10/day for adults, free for kids under 12 >> Music Listings |
Ah
Montreal, city of the endless summer festival. And this weekend you
can add two more of them to your must attend list: Sunday in the Park
in NDG and the Third Annual Montreal International Celtic Festival.
Wow, you say, just what we all need, another round of festivals, great.
Sure sounds like fun, eh? Well, it definitely could be, kids, because
both these events are mercifully offering up activities that stray from
your typical jazz/comedy/film/patate festival fare. And that’s
got to be worth something.
And
how do they intend on attracting the young’uns to this year’s
festivities? Besides presenting local bands Arc of Infinity, Orgypop
and Belly Rash on their main stage, VanTassel has high hopes that their
graffiti mural workshop, hosted by none other than the charming and
talented Omen, will really pack ’em in this year.