Mission Folk Music Fest:
A spotlight on some great Celtic artists
 THE FOUR singers and multi-instrumentalists of Le Vent du Nord are known for their rollicking take on traditional music along with new composition.
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 SCOTLAND’S Findlay Napier and The Bar Room Mountaineers perform what’s been called “A beautiful amalgam of Scottish soul, funk and folk.” Napier was the founding member of the multi-award winning band Back of the Moon. He has a background in traditional Scottish music, but also loves Americana and classic songwriting.
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 THIS will be the first year that local favourites The Paperboys play the Mission Folk Music Festival.
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MISSION, BC – This year the annual Mission Folk Music Festival is stepping out to present one of the largest lineups, with the most diverse and eclectic range of music from across Canada and around the world in many years.
The festival is held over the weekend of July 23-25 just east of the City of Mission in Fraser River Heritage Park.
This year, not only does the festival feature legendary Canadian singer-songwriters such as Ian Tyson and Murray McLaughlan, but offers a broad range of world music artists from Latin and South America to Africa, Finland, Cuba and the South Pacific as well. You’ll hear Aboriginal and Blues music in the mix as well.
The Mission festival also shines a giant spotlight on francophone-Canadian music as well as presenting some great Celtic music artists from Canada and the UK.
Scotland’s Findlay Napier and The Bar Room Mountaineers perform what’s been called “A beautiful amalgam of Scottish soul, funk and folk.”
Findlay and his band are leading the Scottish nu-folk revolution with anthem-like songs of love, debauchery and sin laced with black humour.
Napier draws on influences from the darker side of genres like Folk and Country with a sound that remains uniquely Scottish, and all his own.
Napier has a background in traditional Scottish music, but also loves Americana and classic songwriting.
He is a graduate of the BA Scottish Music Degree course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he studied Scots song and guitar. On leaving the RSAMD he went onto form multi-award winning band Back of the Moon.
Findlay began working with Nick Turner in 2002 in a writing project called ‘Queen Anne’s Revenge’. Looking for a live outlet for the songs they were writing led Findlay to form ‘Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers’. The band is currently working on their second album to follow up 2008’s Out All Night and have released two singles.
As part of the “Celtic-inspired” component of the festival, Findlay is joined by The Paperboys and The McDades, as well as Matt Gordon.
Gordon took up fiddling at the ripe old age of 25, and soon after expanded his talents to include Appalachian clog dancing, joined the Fiddle Puppets and Footworks, and went on to become a consummate Irish step-dancer.
The festival also features six groups from francophone Canada, ensuring that the air will be full of the sounds of great songs, wailing fiddles and the electrifying rhythms of foot percussion.
Quebec’s Les Charbonniers de L’Enfer indeed feature podo-rhythmia along with the voices of five great male singers. They specialize in interpreting the repertoire of Quebec’s oral tradition.
Galant, tu perds ton temps, on the other hand, are five women from Quebec who are reviving the overlooked heritage of traditional Québécois women’s songs.
Having these two groups together at the same festival is a rare treat for those who love great harmonies and a cappella singing. Adding the four talented Acadian women of Gadelle into the festival mix will ensure that women’s voices are definitely heard!
But that’s not all! Les Mononcles, the self-described “guys from Lanaudiere” (a region of Quebec known for great music) offer traditional Quebecois music that they recommend for curing ills and beating depression!
The four singers and multi-instrumentalists of Le Vent du Nord are known for their rollicking take on traditional music along with new composition. Réveillons fire up Quebec’s great legacy of jigs, reels, songs and step dances.
Each of these groups offers a unique take on the great French-Canadian music tradition. The weekend is going to be some feast of music! For more information, go to www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca.
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