Submitted
Starbelly Jam Music Festival is ready to go for it’s 12th full year on the dates July 15 to 17, Crawford Bay.
This is a wonderfully eclectic celebration of community spirit and artistic expression, featuring diverse genres of music from folk to hip hop. There will also be workshops, kids interactives and entertainment, grounds performances, extensive food and craft vendor. There is access to excellent cheap camping right across the road (2 mins walk), with easy highway 3A access, ample parking nearby, and gorgeous mountain views round out the picture.
Our traditional Friday eve rev up will be enhanced this year with the offering of three examples of innovative and successful home-grown talent. We Are The City is a trio originally from Kelowna who’s atmospheric progressive-pop sound has been getting a lot of attention from both from fans and the critics. They won a $150,000 ‘battle of the bands’ contest in Vancouver.
Then, local electronica wizards Kashoo will engage with their innovative dub effects and beats, leading up to an Adham Shaikh extravaganza in the form of the new Outworld Orkestra, featuring brilliant world fusion & treatments supporting a variety of live local talent, including Ben Johnson, Slava Doval, Boris Sichon, and Shine.
Saturday and Sunday feature the usual Starbelly eclecticism, starting with the deep groove zones of reggae headiner Midnite, all the way from St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Island), master songwriters Ron Sexsmith, funky hip hoppers the Coup from SanFrancisco, and those hip hucksters of French gypsy hot jazz, The Lost Fingers. For soulful heart ballads of love, loss and life, Frazey Ford (from the Be Good Tanyas) and American Nathaniel Rateliff will reveal their mighty inner selves within truly great song-writing. The engaging lyrical & instrumental artistry of veteran performers Rick Scott and Tippy Agogo will captivate the parents as much as the kids. Rounding out the roster, deep-talent, rootsy jam banders Cast of Clowns, and both the Russian and Chinese quintet Namgar, and the South Saharan Tuareg artist Bombino, will totally rock out while maintaining very conspicuous roots in their ethnic inspirational sources. Of course, on Saturday night the improv dub step duo EOTO will remind us all to keep on dancing.
Full details on Starbelly Jam Music Festival can be found at www.starbellyjam.org