Home To FilKONtario!

FilKONtario is less than a month away! For those who aren't aware, this year's Toronto filk convention is special in that the Guests of Honour are the sixteen (16!!!) members of n'Early Music Consort (a.k.a. "n'MC"), an a capella filk choir based in Great Britain.

FilKONtario, Interfilk and n'MC have been raising funds for this event for the past three years. Here are the sketches I did for a fund-raising t-shirt:








Buttons were also made from these sketches, courtesy Blind Lemming Chiffon:



This may very well be the ONLY TIME that all of n'MC performs in North America, so make sure you buy your FKO membership soon!

In addition to concerts by n'MC and individual members within the choir, there will also be concerts by:

	Gwen Knighton: Gwen is a London-based master of the wirestrung harp and is a member of Three Weird Sisters. Gwen competed at Celtic festivals and Highland Games, and was named the Scottish Harp Society of America's National Journeyman Champion for the year 2000, which earned her a trip to Scotland's Edinburgh Harp Festival (!!).
	I first heard Playing Rapunzel perform Sholem in Germany, and was absolutely blown away. I could listen to Mich Sampson and Marilisa Valtazanou sing forever, I swear. You can hear samples of songs they perform here, including Sholem (*swoon*). Mich and Marilisa are also members of n'MC.
	Tom Smith made the switch to being a full-time musician in the past couple of years and has a HUGE fan following. With at least 12 albums under his belt, Tom has also gained a reputation as an incredibly fast songwriter...he has been known to write a parody of someone's song before the person has even finished performing it. :-)
	And yay for Toronto's own Phil Mills getting his own concert! I remember when Allison came back from a housefilk with praises for Phil's Universal Follower song. You can read the lyrics to some of Phil's other great songs on his music page. I've also gradually learned what a terrible/wonderful punster Phil is. :-)

There's a songwriting contest (theme: "Harmony") and lots of other fun programming planned. Please note that the info under Concerts hasn't yet been updated as of 1:26 pm today; Urban Tapestry does NOT have a concert this year...some of you were asking me in e-mail.

My own feelings about FilKONtario weekend can be summarized in a song I wrote years ago. I've posted the lyrics below along with some photos taken at previous FKO weekends. Urban Tapestry has been honoured to be asked to perform the song at the end of the convention each year, and it's wonderful to hear everyone sing along on the chorus:

HOME TO FILKONTARIO
===================
by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
(c) March 1999

I used to feel the lyrics slide inside my head
The music filled me up, and I felt I would explode in a
burst of coloured static, and the people all around, their eyes
on the ground.




CHORUS:
Bring me home to FilKONtario
Stay, sing with me we'll
be all right, sing all night
with my friends at Filkontario.

One fateful weekend, my friend took me to a filk, "What's a
filk", I said, and she laughed and took my hand, led me
to a room of people with guitars and easy smiles, and I
stayed a while.



CHORUS:
Bring me home to FilKONtario
Stay, sing with me we'll
be all right, sing all night
with my friends at Filkontario.

(plus counterpoint #1)
Bring me home to FilKONtario
Bring me home to FilKONtario
I want to go to FilKONtario



(plus counterpoint #2)
Filk FilkOntario...Filk FilkONtario
I want to go to FilkONtario

So now I'm hooked, I go to filk cons every year, never
get much sleep, why sleep? I could be filking...
The circle changes but the smiles are still the same, and the
song remains.



BRIDGE (a capella):
(but each time, I) find it harder to say
good-bye at the end of day,
may our paths cross again,
my friend.

Our voices may not be all perfectly on key, but we
lift each other up, and share the melody as we
fill the room with music, and I know I'll be all right as we
sing into the night.

 

CHORUS (twice):

Bring me home to FilKONtario
Stay, sing with me we'll
be all right, sing all night
with my friends at Filkontario.

(plus counterpoint #1)
Bring me home to FilKONtario
Bring me home to FilKONtario
I want to go to FilKONtario

(plus counterpoint #2)
Filk FilkOntario...Filk FilkONtario
I want to go to FilkONtario

FilKONtario 17 March 23-25, 2007 Delta Toronto Airport West Mississauga, Ontario Membership: $60 Filk Hall Of Fame Banquet: $36 Web site: FilKONtario.ca

Link O' The Day

Stabbing at Leia's 22nd Birthday Party: When my friend Ray sent me this link, I was totally turned off by the title ("why would I want to watch a stabbing?!?") and postponed watching it until Jeff encouraged me. Be warned that there IS strong language (i.e. not appropriate for kids) but if you're a Star Wars fan, this is pretty funny. :-D



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