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National Music Centre exhibit highlights contributions of music festivals to Alberta

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They may not be the most prestigious artifacts in the Festival Alberta exhibition.

But one section of the National Music Centre exhibit has a distinctly personal touch. It’s filled with festival passes and lanyards and faded T-shirts, including a paint-splattered one from the Ness Creek Musical Festival.

It turns out they were all donated, temporarily, to the National Music Centre by members of its own staff. Sam Cronk, manger of exhibitions at the NMC, calls it the swag wall.

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“The passionate people kept their lanyards,” says Cronk, during the launch of Festival Alberta Thursday morning at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre. “I know that sounds silly. But their T-shirts and lanyards, these are precious. These are incredibly strong memories.”

No, not the most interesting of artifacts perhaps. But it does show what Cronk thinks is at the heart of Festival Alberta, a temporary exhibit that will run in the Studio Bell’s Drop-in Zone until April as part of its ATB Storytellers program.

The festivals — with their musicians, volunteers, attendees and organizers — are a key part of Alberta’s musical story and shows the interconnectedness of many in the scene.

“What’s most impressive to me is the sense of community that has evolved,” Cronk says. “Certainly, there’s a camaraderie among the musicians themselves, who remember the events and support each other on albums and gigs, but also the volunteer community. It’s impressive to see the kind of work that is involved and people coming back year after year.”

Festival Alberta offers a broad overview of these “festival families” and also an unofficial history of the eclectic musical events that have taken over the fields, parks, small towns, clubs and urban centres of the province over the years. There are 65 Alberta music festivals represented among the exhibits, which include posters, merchandise, photos and videos. 

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Those featured include everything from our biggest events, such as the Calgary and Edmonton Folk Music Festivals, Sled Island and the Big Valley Jamboree, to smaller festivals such as Canada’s Biggest Little Music Festival in Beaumont or the International Organ Festival and Competition, which ran from 1990 to 2002 and is directly linked to the National Music Centre. The installation of the pipe organ at Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall in 1987 inspired the festival and was also the roots of the National Music Centre, which was known for its collection of organs and other instruments in earlier incarnations.

Albertans can also check out some interesting musical history, dating back nearly half a century. There’s a poster promoting the Travelling Folk Festival and Goodtime Medicine Show, a precursor to the Calgary Folk Music Festival that took place in August of 1980 at Prince’s Island Park and featured Stan Rogers, Valdy and Sylvia Tyson and the Great Speckled Bird.

While not officially an Alberta event per se, the exhibition also features a spot for the Festival Express, a notoriously raucous tour featuring the Band, Ian & Sylvia (According to his biography, Ian Tyson broke his hand on “some knucklehead’s noggin” outside the Cecil Hotel during the Calgary stop), Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead crossing the country by train. It arrived at McMahon Stadium, its final destination, on July 4, 1970.

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“It was loaded with musicians and booze and music and more booze,” says Cronk. “It was very ’70s, and we’ll just leave it at that.”

Cronk says he hopes the exhibit evokes strong memories for those who attend festivals and also inspires people to expand their horizon when it comes to taking in music in Alberta.

“I’m hoping they’ll find something familiar,” Cronk says. “They’ll find a relatable photograph or event, maybe even themselves. We’ve had people go through and say ‘Hey that was my band’ or ‘I was there at that gig.’ But also I hope they find something surprising, something they haven’t heard of. Whether it’s Astral Harvest (in Driftpile) or the big jazz festival in Medicine Hat. I hope there’s a greater awareness of the diversity of musical experience across the province.”

Festival Alberta will run in Studio Bell’s Drop-In Zone until April 2018.

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