Hillside Festival Archives | Page 2 of 2

Folk Roots Radio Episode 204: Hillside Festival 2015

Jul 17 2015

This week’s Folk Roots Radio focuses on the upcoming Hillside Festival, taking place from July 24-26 at Guelph Lake. The show features interviews with Hillside Artistic Director Sam Baijal and Chris McKhool, the leader of the Hillside-bound Sultans of String. Hillside has something for everyone – a great mix of music, fabulous community workshops, a dedicated children’s area, an artisan village and great food… and there are still some weekend and day passes available. To learn more about the festival, visit hillsidefestival.ca – one of the best and most informative festival websites out there. Yet another thing that the Hillside Festival does very well indeed!

Jul 16 2015

The 32nd Hillside Festival takes place from July 24-26 at beautiful Guelph Lake. As usual, the festival has something for everyone – a great mix of music, fabulous community workshops, a dedicated children’s area, an artisan village and great food… and there are still some weekend and day passes available. Buy Tickets HERE. To learn more about this year’s festival, we caught up with Artistic Director Sam Baijal. For more information, visit hillsidefestival.ca. Music: Michael Franti & Spearhead “Life Is Better” (Acoustic) from “All People” (2013, Boo Boo Wax), Great Lake Swimmers “Don’t Leave Me Hanging” from “A Forest Of Arms” (2015, Network), David Francey “So Say We All” from “So Say We All” (2014, Red House) and The Good Lovelies “Watching TV” from “Burn The Plan” (2015, Six Shooter Records).

Sultans Of String – The Interview

Jul 16 2015

The Sultans of String brilliantly blend together Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz musical influences to create a wonderfully rich cinematic sound that is almost intoxicating. The band is lead by 6-string violinist Chris McKhool who grew up in a Lebanese-Egyptian (Makhoul) family and guitarist Kevin Laliberté who write much of the material. Always pushing boundaries, their latest album “Symphony” (2013, Sony/Red) was recorded with a full orchestra while their new release, “Subcontinental Drift” (due in September) will feature sitar virtuoso Anwar Khurshid. Whether playing as a duo, five piece or with a full orchestra, their live show is something to behold – a fiery violin dances with a rumba-flamenco guitar while a bass lays down a funky unstoppable world rhythm groove that can’t help but bring a smile to your face as an irresistible urge forces you to get involved whether that is by clapping along or getting up to dance. They’re out on the festival circuit this summer including a visit to the Hillside Festival on July 26. We caught up with Chris McKhool at home in Toronto. For more information visit sultansofstring.com. Music: Sultans of String “Road to Kfarmishki”, “Josie” (excerpt), “Luna” (excerpt) and “Monti’s Revenge” (excerpt) from “Symphony” (2013, Sony/Red).

Hillside Festival 2015

Jul 12 2015

The 32nd Hillside Festival takes place July 24-26 at Guelph Lake, rain or shine. As usual, they have a very eclectic line-up featuring something for every musical taste, alongside some very interesting spoken word programmming, Drum and Dance, community workshops, a great children’s area, great artisans and fabulous food. The full schedule has been announced. Check it out HERE. There are still some tickets available including weekend passes. Buy Tickets HERE. Check out the full line-up below.

Nov 26 2014

Hillside Inside takes place on the weekend of February 6-8 2015 across Downtown Guelph. The musical portion of the Hillside Festival’s younger sibling kicks off on Friday February 6 with a cabaret style show featuring Oliver Mtukudzi with special guest Alex Cuba at the River Run Centre at 7:30 p.m. Later that night at 10 p.m., Kid Koala will take to the stage at St. George’s Church (Mitchell Hall) with bizZarh. Saturday February 7 features two shows, Owen Pallett with special guest Jennifer Castle in the Sanctuary at St. George’s Church at 3 p.m. and The New Pornographers with special guests Operators in St. George’s Church (Mitchell Hall) at 9:15 p.m. The festival concludes on Sunday February 8 with Stars and special guests Hey Rosetta! at the River Run Centre at 7:30 p.m. Details of community events taking place during the festival are yet to be announced.

Jul 17 2014

Singer-songwriters Stephen Fearing and Andy White will both be playing the Hillside Festival this year. This year’s visit will be a bit different from previous appearances because they will be playing together as Fearing & White, the project they started with a self-titled album in 2011. They’ve just released its follow-up, “Tea & Confidences” and we talked with Andy White from Edmonton. For more information on Fearing & White visit fearingandwhite.com. Music: Fearing & White, “We Came Together” and “Think Of Me Like Summer” from “Tea & Confidences” (2014, Lowdenproud Records)

Matt Andersen – The Interview

Jul 17 2014

Canadian powerhouse blues performer Matt Andersen returns to the Hillside Festival this year. Matt released his latest album “Weightless” this past February. Matt is currently on the summer festival circuit in North America, and before heading to Europe for a tour of the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands this fall, we caught up with him at his home in New Brunswick. For more information, visit www.stubbyfingers.ca. Music: Matt Andersen, “Weightless” and “Let You Down” from “Weightless” (2014, True North Records).

Episode 158: The Marrieds, Young Novelists & Elephant Revival

Jul 15 2014

Folk Roots Radio on July 12 2014 (Episode 158) featured interviews with The Marrieds, Graydon James and Elephant Revival. Fortunately we found time to squeeze in a new mystery theme and guilty pleasure, and, of course, lots of great music.

Jun 18 2014

The performers for this year’s Hillside Festival were announced on April 17 2014. We caught up with the Hillside Artistic Director, SamBaijal, that very same day. Full artist bios are available here.

Tickets go on sale on May 3 at 10 a.m. at ticketbreak.com or by phone at 1-866-943-8849. Tickets are also available from The Bookshelf (41 Quebec St.) and The Beat Goes On (23 Wellington St. E.) in Guelph; Encore Records (54 Queen St. S.) in Kitchener; and at Soundscapes (572 College St.) in Toronto. For more information, visit hillsidefestival.ca. Music: Basia Bulat, “Wires” from her 2013 album “Tall Tall Shadow”.

Drew McIvor – In The Studio

May 09 2014

Owen Sound based musician Drew McIvor joins us on Folk Roots Radio for a chat and a few live songs from his great new album “Porchlight”. Drew should well-known to Guelph listeners as a member of reggae-acid-funk combo House of Velvet. These days however, Drew front’s his own band ElectroNova and also spends time with Mambo Nation, Nicehaus, and the Mackenzie Blues Band. For more information, visit drewmcivor.com.

Episode 146: Record Store Day / Hillside Festival

Apr 21 2014

Folk Roots Radio on April 19 2014 (Episode 146) included a couple of interesting interviews – Mark Logan from Encore Records in Kitchener discussing Record Store Day and Sam Baijal, Artistic Director at the Hillside Festival discussing the performers appearing at Hillside 2014.

Apr 17 2014

The 2014 Hillside Festival takes place July 25-27 2014 at Guelph Lake, Guelph, Ontario. The performers have just been announced, and, as usual, there is something for everyone.

Can’t wait for summer!

Feb 13 2014

Hillside Festival 2013

Jun 28 2013

Hillside Festival, Guelph’s volunteer powered festival of music and community celebrates 30 years, from July 26, 27 and 28, 2013 at Guelph Lake.

Jan 23 2013

Hannah Georgas and Doug Paisley will be in Guelph on February 2 2103 for a show in St George’s Church (Sanctuary) as part of Hillside Inside.

Mar 20 2012

Hillside Inside is continuing to develop it’s own identity. After some very successful 2012 shows featuring Kim Churchill, Harry Manx, Dan Mangan, The Wooden Sky and Lowlands, there are two more shows coming up… Cold Specks and Special guests at the Co-operator’s Hall, River Run Centre on March 21 and Shane Koyczan & The Short Story Long at the Red Papaya in Old Quebec St Mall on April 5.

Ticket information for Cold Specks has yet to be announced.Tickets for Shane Koyczan go on sale on Saturday February 25 and are available at Ticketbreak.com, Ground Floor Music and Hempire.

About Shane Koyczan (courtesy Hillside Festival)
With self described “Experimental Acoustic Folk” music by The Short Story Long, Shane moves from subdued, deep, sad love poetry to power chord hip-hop. He brings enormous vitality and virtuosity to every performance. His warmth, wit and sincerity are a hit with crowds and his lyricism inspires all who listen.

Shane Koyczan is one of the world’s premier spoken word performers. His performance at the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies brought the 55,000 seat house to their feet with his tear-jerking homage to Canada “We Are More”. The Guardian (UK) and the Globe and Mail (Canada) hailed his book, Visiting Hours, as a Book of the Year Selection. His second book, Stickboy, is a novel in verse. Written for anyone who has ever been a child, Stickboy continues to be hailed by teachers, academics, and mental health experts alike for its deft handling of the subject of bullying. Shane’s third book, Our Deathbeds Will Be Thirsty, released in 2012, proves once again to be an outstanding addition to an amazing repertoire.

Now the multi award-winning spoken word performer breathes life into the new genre of talk rock with his band The Short Story Long: a group whose musical range stretches from folk to funk, from ambient to rock. Their sound showcases a blend of original music and Shane Koyczan’s remarkable performance poetry. Along with Koyczan, the group has created a whole new style of song/verse. This is Talk-Rock. This is something new. This is worth checking out. Winning “Best New Artist” at the BC Interior Music Awards in 2009, receiving standing ovations at festivals across Canada, and selling out theatres and cafés alike, the band is turning heads on the Canadian independent music scene. Their soon-to-be released album ‘Remembrance Year,’ (due out on March 16th, 2012) has already garnered acclaim from music reviewers and fans alike.

“Listening to ‘My Darling Sara’ (I left the ignition on, long after I’d parked, to hear the end of that one)… it all sounds like something’s coming – a sound everyone asks for.”
– Gordon Downie of The Tragically Hip

Shane Koyczan & The Short Story Long:
Shane Koyczan – Poetry & Vocals
Maiya Robbie – Guitar & Vocals
Olivia Mennell – Keyboard & Vocals
Jesse Lee – Stand Up Bass
Jordie Robinson – Cello

Royal Wood with Hannah Georgas

Nov 15 2010

Singer-songwriter Royal Wood is back in Guelph on November 24 2010 for a show at Dublin Street United with special guest, Vancouver based pop/roots performer, Hannah Georgas.