Willamette Valley
Folk Festival
By Sally Mathieson
I think there should be a
national carnival, much the same
as Mardi Gras in Rio. There
should be a week of national
hilarity... a cessation of all work,
all business, all discrimination,
all authority. A week of total free
dom. That’d be a start...It would
just last for a week and then go
back to the way it was.
-Jim Morrison in a July
1969 Rolling Stone Interview
It may not have been the
Mardi Gras, but the 1989 Wil
lamette Valley Folk Festival was
a much needed respite from the
pressures of upcoming finals,
papers and deadlines. Many stu
dents decided to ditch their books
in favor of enjoying themselves
on the EMU lawn.
As men, women and chil
dren danced in the unpredictable
weather, the feeling of celebra
tion floated through the air. In
between acts, crowds would form
at the food stands as people refu
eled for the next set or quenched
their thirst with homemade lem
onade.
The Folk Fest, eagerly
awaited by most UO students
and the Eugene community, fea
tured talented performers rang
ing from acoustic guitar to Afri
can drums. The Folk Fest gave
the audience a chance to hear and
appreciate music they normally
wouldn’t listen to. The featured
performance Friday night, Fox
fire, was a Southern Oregon
group with bluegrass roots. Al
though they started off a bit slow
paced, Foxfire soon had the crowd
on its feet. As dancers formed
human chains, winding their way
through the crowd, or whirled
their partner wildly about, every
one became caught up in the foot
stomping rhythm.
Saturday dawned hot and
sunny, but despite many sun
burned faces, the crowd relished
the beautiful weather.. The fea
tured performer was Obo Addy.
Addy, a native of Ghana, has
been a master drummer since the
age of six. His band Kukrudu, in
their colorful African costumes,
fuses traditional and contempo
rary African music with Ameri
can jazz and funk. The result sent
the crowd into a frenzy of dancing
and chanting, as one by one the
crowd let the music take over.
Chanting a refrain from one of
the band's songs,the crowd man
aged to persuade Addy to come
back for a 10 minute encore.
Sunday, although cloudy
and chilly, did not stop people
from showing up. James Cotton,
harmonica player and blues
singer, took the stage at 8:00.
Cotton, who has played with art
ists such as B>B> King, Elvis
Presley, the Grateful Dead and
Janis Joplin, is known
world-wide for his unique style of
musical performance.
Local and regional artists
performed a wide variety of mate
rial including contemporary
original folk, Celtic, Latin, new
acoustic guitar, folk harp, old
time string band, country blues,
and folk/Latin/jazz guitar.
Throughout the weekend,
which coincided with Parent’s
weekend, workshops were held
such as Cajun dance, dulcimer
techniques, bottleneck guitar
introduction, harp history and
styles, rare and unusual instru
ments and flute of the Andes. The
EMU courtyard was the scene of
an open mike and children ‘s
performances.
As Monday rolled
around(just like it always does),
there were a few regrets as stu
dents came back to the real world
of books, tests and commitments.
But the three days of dancing,
relaxing in the sun with friends
and enjoying the music surely
recharged many a weary student
for the last stretch of Spring
term.