CITYFOLK MONTHLY - August 2006

The Ottawa Valley of Canada—home to fiddling and step-dancing star April Verch—lies along the Ottawa River between Ottawa on the east and the Algonquin Provincial Park on the west. The Valley encompasses almost 8,000 square miles in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, more than half of it considered wilderness. It’s a beautiful landscape of lakes and rivers, rolling forests, farms and not all that many people, as most of the Valley’s inhabitants live in and around the city of Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

The Ottawa Valley was home to the Huron, Algonquin, Iroquois and Outaouais tribes when French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1613, becoming the first documented European to see the Ottawa Valley. Champlain spent the next couple of years exploring and charting the Ottawa River, laying the groundwork for the fur-trading industry that would be this region’s first commercial enterprise and the basis of its economy for nearly 200 years.

A s the French voyageurs traversed the region trapping and trading furs over several decades, they spread the seeds of a French-speaking culture, which is strongest today just across the Ottawa River in Quebec and in other French-Canadian regions scattered throughout Canada. A logging boom hit the Ottawa Valley in the early 1800s, right about the time the fur trade was playing out. The Valley’s vast stands of white pine attracted timber workers from all parts of the world.

Lured by land grants and the promise of work in the area’s sawmills, immigrants flooded into the Ottawa Valley in the mid-1800s. They came from all over, but the most numerous were from Ireland, Scotland, France, Poland and Germany. The mixture of French, Irish and Scottish dialects created a distinctive regional accent known as the “Ottawa Valley Twang.” English and French are both spoken today in everyday use in the Ottawa Valley.

Just as the combination of the immigrants’ speech created a new accent, the combination of the musical traditions they had brought with them to the New World created a new style of music in the Ottawa Valley. The musical traditions in the Valley bear a striking resemblance to those in Cape Breton, a maritime province several hundred miles to the east. Like its Cape Breton counterpart, music in the Valley is social in nature, most often played at community dances and gatherings. The fiddle is the primary instrument and is most often accompanied by the piano or accordion, especially at dances.

Fiddles were especially prized in the Ottawa Valley lumber camps. Most of the work in the isolated lumber camps took place in the winter (as snow on the ground made it easier to move the felled logs), making for long, cold, boring nights for the loggers. Entertainment was at a premium, and the fiddle, both portable and versatile, served the loggers well. Those from Ireland, Scotland and France drew upon rich national traditions of fiddle music and dance tunes, and as those traditions were mixed and blended, a new musical synthesis was formed.

Those in the logging camps who didn’t play fiddle made their own contribution to entertainment and tradition both by creating a rhythmic, percussive and highly energetic form of step-dancing. Scholars have identified three distinct “schools” of step-dancing in Canada—Cape Breton, Ottawa Valley and French Canadian. The Ottawa Valley style is distinguished from the other two by its aggressiveness, the use of the dancers’ arms and the height of the steps from the floor.

April Verch is a proud daughter of the Ottawa Valley (pictured here). Born and raised in Pembroke, Verch has been dancing and fiddling since she was a very young child. She has now recorded six albums (the last three for Rounder) and on each of the albums, she has included songs or a set of traditional tunes from the Valley. Verch is especially fond of the old tunes associated with fiddlers Reg Hill (“The Logger’s Jig”) and Graham Townsend (“La Gigue du Grand Slaque,” “Reel St-Jean de I’lle D’Orleans” and “Donnie Gilchrist’s Breakdown,” among many others).

Though its history and folkways are not that well known to outsiders, the Ottawa Valley has produced a vibrant folk culture that lives today through traditional music and dance. April Verch is the foremost standard-bearer for those traditions, but the young, charismatic performer seems more than capable of the task. “My dad always says, ‘Don’t forget where you come from,’” proclaims April Verch. There doesn’t seem much danger of that happening.

Kathy Anderson is one of the most sought-after contra and square dance callers in the country. Her enthusiasm and simple way of explaining moves makes her a hit when teaching beginners the ropes, and more advanced dancers love to dance to her quirkier dances. Not only does she call at Cityfolk's Contra Dance Parties once or twice a year, she has also called in Alaska, Costa Rica, and beyond.

Anderson found old-time music -- the main musical accompaniment here in the Midwest -- through playing banjo and piano. From there, she started contra dancing and by 1982 she started calling and writing dances. She always brings a wireless mic when she calls, so she can help stuggling dancers -- and join the dance when she can tell the dancers have got it!

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MATERIAL CULTURE: Out of the Fire: Made from Metal Wrapup

The Miami Valley has long been a hotbed of activity in metalworking, and “Out of the Fire“, this year’s material culture exhibit, celebrated this heritage. The nature of metalworking suggests an outdoor venue, so after two years in the cozy, controlled climate of Memorial Hall, the exhibit moved outdoors. Dragons Plaza turned out to be an excellent location, close to the action on the Main Stage and easily visible and enticing to the visitor. And having the International Beer Garden close by didn’t hurt a bit. I especially enjoyed the random acts of music coming from there.

It was a hot festival, but most of the time there was a welcome breeze through the tent, and we had plenty of shade. As you approached the display area you could see Jeff Rutledge’s blacksmithing set up. Aka Pereyma set up a sculpture garden that was delightful. Aka brought a number of her birds, chairs and other welded sculpture and displayed them out in the grassy area to the north of the tent.

Rick Aiello, builder of aluminum guitars, brought about a half dozen of his guitars with him. Rick filled the air with the sound of his guitars almost continually. From time to time, Bobby Ingano--the great steel guitar player from Hawaii--was coaxed into demonstrating Rick’s guitars as well. Over the course of the festival Rick made a sand mold and cast a guitar on the site.

One of the most popular areas was Mark Crockett’s jewelry shop, where visitors could observe the entire jewelry making process, from design to furnace and finish. There was almost always a big crowd visiting Mark. It was sometimes hard to drag him away to the stage, where the artists discussed and displayed their work.

Each year the Ohio Heritage Fellows are announced at the Cityfolk Festival and are featured on the Material Culture stage. This year Bob White, a great mandolin builder, was recognized as a Heritage Fellow and displayed many of his tools and mandolins. The Cleveland Hungarian Heritage Society and Ray Sponaugle also received Heritage Fellowships.

Willie Boitnott specializes in antique rifles and muzzle loading guns and has an international reputation in the field. An excellent machinist and repairman, he and his son built the reproduction rifles and blunderbusses used in the Lewis and Clark reenactment a few years ago. He brought a number of antique and reproduction firearms.

We were delighted to bring Marylyn Doyle back to the exhibit. She was featured last year’s material culture exhibit, ”Threads and Yarns”. Her needlework with gold has remarkable luminous quality.

On your way out of the tent was the unique kinetic sculpture of Bob Potts. Bob’s sinuous wings and whales fascinated festival goers and was a focal point of the exhibit.

As you made your way from the Material Culture tent to the Beer Garden, you could visit Bob and Sharon Smart and their rocking beam steam engine. They also displayed some of the work of Bob Zeller. Zeller, who passed away in the 1990’s, was trained as a blacksmith and was active in steam engineering. He inspired and taught many people the basics of blacksmithing and steam engine operation.

Check out one of these books from your local branch of the Dayton Metro Library. More are available by searching under the subject heading "metal work" on their online catalog. Our thanks to Joy Schwab for compiling this list.

PROFILE: CULTURE BUILDS COMMUNITY PROJECT

This spring, Cityfolk and East End Community Services Corporation (EECSC) joined forces to create Culture Builds Community (CBC), a new program that is already invigorating the missions of both organizations. CBC is a three-year partnership that will bring high-quality cultural programming to Twin Towers, a financially challenged neighborhood that has traditionally had little access to the arts and culture. The overarching objective of CBC is to bridge racial and ethnic divisions in the Twin Towers community by helping residents develop a greater sense of pride and identity in their own cultural traditions while forming respect and appreciation for the other diverse cultures present in their community.

Already a longstanding hub for Appalachian migrants and their descendants, Twin Towers is quickly becoming a new hub for Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans migrating from other parts of the United States. There is also evidence that Twin Towers is one of Dayton’s prime destinations for immigrants from other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Asia and Africa, as well as for African-Americans from other neighborhoods in Dayton.

While some stakeholders worry that divisions and tensions will grow amidst this assemblage of cultures, Kelsa Rieger, CBC program coordinator and cultural community-development specialist, prefers to operate under an asset-driven model. “I see a community rich with diversity and cultural traditions. This is the kind of place where best practices in the marriage between community-arts and community organizing are born.”

Best practices are also found amid strong partnerships. John Harris, Cityfolk's executive director, explains the impetus for the program. “We have always had a strong interest in fostering awareness, understanding and appreciation of folk arts, especially in communities that have little access. Doing this requires expanding our educational initiatives to include more cultural-based learning opportunities—as opposed to skills-based learning—and bringing them directly to those in our service area with the least probability of having these opportunities. When we learned of East End Community Services' goals, we knew this would be the perfect place to begin.”

“Our work used to focus more on Appalachian culture and heritage,” Jan Lepore-Jentleson, executive director of the EECSC explains. “In recent years we have heard community members lament the loss of that focus. Our job is to listen and respond to the community’s needs and desires. We were looking for opportunities to bring back that earlier engagement in the cultural traditions of our community members.”

Culture Builds Community

After a few short months of planning, the Culture Builds Community partnership was set in motion this summer. First, Appalachian storyteller and mountain musician Randy Wilson (pictured here) brought the tales and music of the mountains to the 2006 Cityfolk Festival. A few days later on July 8, Cityfolk provided one of the highlight performances at the 8th annual Twin Towers Appalachian Festival. The Appalachian Festival began as a vision of the Block Leaders, one of EECSC’s key community-leader groups. According to the Block Leaders’ Chairperson Diana Watkins, “This years’ festival was a huge success.” They had the largest turnout and helped build a significant pot of funding to keep the festival growing in the coming years. According to Watkins, “The Comet Bluegrass All-Stars were a huge hit! Everybody loved them! We are so appreciative of what Cityfolk brought to our festival this year. We are grateful for this new relationship.”

Artist residencies will be the crux of the CBC program. Cityfolk will provide at least three residencies in the community each year with some of world's most acclaimed ethnic and folk artists. The first residency, set to take place this October, will highlight Appalachian and Mexican-American folk music and dance. It will be presented collaboratively by Dayton’s own internationally-acclaimed Rhythm in Shoes and Santiago Jimenez Jr., one of the leading figures in Tex-Mex border music (pictured below, photo by Andy Snow). This residency will include in-school and after-school workshops and performances for area youth, a large community performance and party celebrating the traditions of both groups through food, music, and dance; as well as other community events.

Other elements of the CBC program include deeper cultural learning and sharing opportunities. Some of these initial projects will include “Culture Days” at Miracle Makers, an after-school program at the East End Community School; an oral history project facilitated by Wright State history professor and Cityfolk Board member Marjorie McLellan; and a multi-cultural mural project led by Alicia Pagan that will become part of a larger Peace Exhibit being built in Standing Rock Reservation near the North Dakota Border, a project linking youth in Little Eagle, N.D. and Dayton, OH.

The Power of Art & Culture

In addition to her work with CBC, Rieger is leading the evaluation of Building Community through the Arts, a new pilot program spearheaded by the Local Initiative Support Corporation/Chicago which aims to incorporate cultural activities into neighborhood development plans for three Chicago communities in order to leverage new local resources. Rieger is bringing this expertise to Dayton by helping EECSC create a larger plan for utilizing cultural assets to address a number of community development issues including crime prevention, youth empowerment, and economic development. According to Rieger, “The partnership with Cityfolk was the catalyst, and [CBC] will continue to be a central feature of this plan.”

The most challenging aspect of CBC, according to Rieger “will be making sure the program reflects the myriad of voices, ideas and visions that are present in this community. She believes CBC has the potential for great success, “Culture is the glue that binds people together, and art is one of the few spaces where you can capture the dialectical characteristics of life. In one mural, one poem, one theatrical performance, you can capture and celebrate many different voices, traditions and experiences. Very few aspects in life can do the same.”

The face of the recording industry completely redrawn in recent years, and the business of jazz CDs has changed along with it. The good side is that it’s no longer necessary to have a “deal” with either a small or large label to deliver the goods. Independent projects can now be effectively distributed to a specialty listenership, ideally equipped to find out about the music with the power to purchase online. In our own backyard, two efforts are surely destined to find a far flung audience while reminding us again of how deep the talent pool is right here in Southwest Ohio.

You Asked for It is the latest from Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers, as good a traditional band as you will find anywhere. The new CD features oft-requested favorites from the enormous Stompers repertoire such as “Everybody Loves My Baby”, “Caravan” and “Saints”. The spirit of New Orleans sits at the center of the new CD: “Basin Street Blues”,“Saint James Infirmary” and “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” are all rendered with heart and polish. Also included is “Annamoon” a bittersweet original from multi-instrumentalist Eric Greiffenhagen. A lovely feature for pianist Ted DePlantes, clarinetist Greg Dearth and the composer’s splendid soprano sax, "Annamoon" reveals how effective this band’s softer side can be when they’re not stomping. On the weeks you can’t catch their popular weekly Wednesday gig at the top of the Crowne Plaza Dayton, You Asked for It will keep you nice company.

Back in 1990, Cityfolk presented a tribute to Duke Ellington that featured three accomplished former Ellingtonians: Norris Turney, Britt Woodman and Harold Ashby. At the piano that night was Steve Schmidt. While his profile has diminished in Dayton over the years, his playing has soared to new heights. One of the best modern piano CDs of the year is his self-produced Red and Orange. Recorded in New York City with two of Gotham’s best and busiest players, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jeff Ballard, the CD offers definitive proof of what a complete musician Schmidt has become. Among the ten tracks -- split between jazz standards and original material -- are his gorgeous original ballad “Forgiveness” which reveals a shimmering lyricism, and his clever revamping of Wes Montgomery’s “West Coast Blues” powered by Ballard’s crisp drumming, and popping with two-fisted soul. The liner notes come courtesy of pianist Fred Hersch, authoritative testimony about Schmidt from a master musician with strong Cincinnati ties.

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	Antique Trader Metalwares Price Guide: Including Silver, Aluminum, Brass, Chrome, Copper, Pewter & More, 2nd Edition; Husfloen, Kyle, editor; c2003	739.075 A633
	The Art Of Albert Paley: Iron, Bronze, Steel; Lucie-Smith, Edward; c1996	730.092 P158L
	The Artist Blacksmith: Design And Techniques; Parkinson, Peter; c2001	682 P248AR
	The Blacksmith's Craft: A Primer Of Tools And Methods, New Edition; McRaven, Charles; c2005	682 M174B
	Color On Metal: 50 Artists Share Insights And Techniques; McCreight, Tim; c2001	739.15 M132C
	Decorative And Sculptural Ironwork: Tools, Techniques, Inspiration; Meilach, Dona Z; c1977	739.4 M513D
	Decorative Tin & Wirework; Maguire, Mary; c2002	745.56 M213D
	Edgar Brandt: Master of Art Deco Ironwork; Kahr, Joan; c1999	739.47 K12E
	Jewelry: Fundamentals Of Metalsmithing; McCreight, Tim; c1997	739.274 M132J
	Metal: Forming, Forging, And Welding Techniques; Ares, José Antonio; c2006	745.56 A681M
	Metalcraft For The Home: 20 Step-By-Step Craft Projects; Brown, Lisa; c2001	739 B878M
	The Metalsmiths; Knauth, Percy; c1974	671.09 K67M
	Metalwork And Silver; Wissinger, Joanna; c1994	739.097 W816M
	Metalworking: Tools And Techniques; Bray, Stan; c2003	684.09 B827M
	Opportunities In Metalworking Careers, Revised Edition; Rowh, Mark; c2000	671.023 R881O
	Silver Wire Jewelry: Projects To Coil, Braid & Knit; From Petersen, Irene; c2004	745.5942 F931S
	Steel Canvas: The Art Of American Arms; Wilson, Robert Lawrence; c1995	739.42 W752S
	Thomas Mann: Metal Artist; Codrescu, Andrei; c2001	739.27092 M282C