The Filberg Festival celebrates excellence in Canadian arts and crafts and music and features over one hundred juried crafts booths as well as musical entertainment on two stages.
For the past 30 years this festival has successfully raised the money needed to restore and maintain the beautiful nine-acre Filberg family heritage property in Comox.
With musicians performing all day long on the two stages there are bound to be some magical musical moments at the Filberg Festival. Here is some information on several opportunities to listen to groups of musicians playing together, communicating with the audience, and each, other through the language of the well crafted song.
Friday Blues Panel
Host of the Blues Panel concert this year is guitarist Sam Hurrie who will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Michael Jerome Browne, guitarists Ken Hamm, and Paul Pigat, harmonica player Gary Preston, and Anita Bonkowski on bass/percussion.
Each performer is an accomplished musician with their own individual style, but on Friday afternoon they come together and share their extensive knowledge of the Blues with the audience. Their material might range from their own original compositions, to tunes by their Blues heroes from the past, such as Robert Johnson, Elmore James or Sonny Boy Williamson. Each musician takes a turn as lead performer as they showcase the Blues past and present, teaching you a little Blues history along the way.
Saturday Song Swap
Ridley Bent and Sean Hogan, both country singer songwriters, get together to swap songs on the main stage. Bent, with his unique blend of country, rock and hip-hop, and Hogan, with his unique blend of alt-country and modern pop roots come together to share tunes and communicate with one another through their music. Ridley Bent is an exceptional lyricist who seems to have an endless cast of characters running around in his head. With numerous awards and accolades to his name, it is clear that Bent’s enthusiastic story telling has not gone unheard. In 2008 and 2009 he was nominated for more than twenty awards, including CCMA and BCCMA awards. With three acclaimed albums under his hat already, the multi-award winning singer-songwriter and outlaw storyteller is an incisive, witty, and an exceptionally literate lyricist. His albums read like a collection of short stories, showcasing Bent’s keen fascination for characters whose life on the straight and narrow rarely lasts past the nearest exit to a short, crooked road.
Hogan is known for his well-written soulful songs. The response to his debut album in 1996 was extraordinary, immediately catching the attention of country radio and music fans across Canada, leading to his first CCMA award. His next two albums were each named Best Country Album at the West Coast Music Awards, and were followed up with the CCMA’s Roots Artist of the Year award in 2003. The next album won three more music industry awards and was named the second best album of 2005 by the Country Music News.
Sunday Fiddle Panel
For the first time ever Filberg presents a Fiddle Panel Concert featuring musical guests from across the country. The performers include: PEAR: a husband and wife duo from Alberta. Denis and Lynae were formerly members of Barrage, the most successful fiddle show in the world. Patti Lamoureux with multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Rusu: from Manitoba. Lamoureux was the first woman in history to win the prestigious Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship. Carli and Julie Kennedy: a powerhouse duo, from B.C., who play a fusion of country, folk, jazz and Celtic tunes. Daniel Lapp: also from B.C., Daniel is a legendary force in Canada’s fiddle scene.
Monday Great Canadian Songs
This year the festival has one of Canada’s most influential songwriters, Canadian folk icon Murray McLauchlan. Murray has been a part of the fabric of Canadian folk music for many years.