Gils Hootenanny

Kathy Kennedy

Evemarie Brunelle and the Joy of Voices Rising Together

​“Dynamic… magnificent… joyful” are some of the superlatives used to describe the experience of singing together in harmony led by Evemarie Brunelle. After a knock-out, sold-out event in 2019 that left Ottawa participants clamouring for more, the Montreal-based singer, choir leader, and performer will return on October 22 with BIG SING OTTAWA!  

​Evemarie comes from a musical family. At age seven, she began singing beside her mother in a church choir conducted by her father. After graduating from the Community Choir Leadership Training in 2009, she founded the Allez Chante! non-auditioned choirs in Montreal. Today, over 200 people attend and sing with Evemarie each week.

​A fun, energetic, sing-along harmony event, BIG SING OTTAWA! is jointly sponsored by Gil’s Hootenanny and Spirit of Rasputin’s. For Gil’s Hootenanny team member Tamara Levine, “Evemarie is so much more than a song leader. Within minutes of gathering, for those lucky enough to join her – young and old, with or without singing experience – Evemarie has every voice in the circle unselfconsciously rising to join her in spirited songs from around the world. We leave her with songs in our hearts and hope for the world.”

​Designed for all ages and voices and requiring no experience, BIG SING OTTAWA! will take place on Sunday, October 22, 2023 at the Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Ave. N, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

​Tickets for BIG SING OTTAWA! are $25 and are available at the door.

September 17, 2023 by Big Sing

Building Community Through Song

A beloved element of Gil’s Hootenanny is the opening procession, when the performers promenade into the hall singing, playing, and encouraging the audience to join in the music. The beginning of this year’s hootenanny will feature three musicians who are community builders, are adept at leading singalong songs, and bring musical energy and joy to the Hootenanny.

Carmel Whittle and Patricia Reynolds

​The opening procession will be led this year by Carmel Whittle, an Irish / Mik’maw activist, community organizer, drummer, visual artist, musician, songwriter and filmmaker who hails from Newfoundland. She is coordinator of the annual No Borders Art Festival and program coordinator with the Thunderbird Sisters Collective. In 2022, Camel was part of the team that staged productions of Beverley and Melody McKiver’s Odaabaanag Song Cycle in Ottawa and Toronto and she participated as soloist and No Borders Community Voices choir member. She also received the Spirit of Tony Turner award for contributions to community music, and produced and directed the short film There is no Word … featuring Grandmother Louise Garrow. In the summer of 2022, Carmel participated as storytellers at the inaugural Come Home Queer festival in Newfoundland. Currently, Carmel is working with colleagues at McMaster University on Echoes from This Land fine arts project focussing on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.

Arthur McGregor

​Arthur McGregor will be joining Carmel in leading the Gil’s Hootenanny audience in two remarkable and renowned songs of hope: Solidarity Forever and Jacob’s Ladder. Arthur founded and led the Ottawa Folklore Centre from 1976 to 2015. He is an experienced, versatile performer who has played on stage since he was 12 years old. Besides being a Rathskallion, and Moore & McGregor (CD 2016: Dream with Me), he leads community singing, writes songs about topical issues and arranges unusual versions of national anthems. For 19 years, Arthur opened the Ottawa Folk Festival playing his ragtime version of O Canada. He is the recipient of the Helen Verger Award (municipal), the Estelle Klein Award (provincial) and the Canadian Folk Music Award’s ‘Unsung Hero’ award (national) for his work in folk music across Canada. Arthur is the Canadian Vice-President of Local 1000, the union representing travelling musicians in both the United States and Canada.

​Accompanying Carmel and Ulyn Georgette will be Patricia Reynolds whose musical influences and interests range from classic country, Texas swing, and rockabilly to traditional and contemporary folk music. A teacher by profession, her musical career began in Morin Heights at Roses’ Cantina and in Montreal at the Blue Angel and The Yellow Door coffee house. She has been a member of the Gil’s Hootenanny planning committee for eight years, sings and plays with Local Colour Band, Just Voices: An Activist Choir, the No Borders Community Voices and also arranges and performs with Carmel Whittle. Other local musical projects have included the Elizabeth Riley Band and the musical theatre performances Shake Rattle and Roll and Lafferty’s Wake in Kemptville / North Grenville. She recently participated in Beverley and Melody McKiver’s Odaabaanag as organizer, accompanist, and member of the No Borders Community Voices. Patricia currently works with Unmasked Connections, a project bringing music to residents in long-term care.

April 28, 2023 by 2023 Archived

Countdown to Gil’s Hootenanny 2023

The 14th annual Gil’s Hootenanny is today!

Canadian singer-songwriter Coco Love Alcorn headlines the 14th annual Gil’s Hootenanny on Monday, May 1, starting at 7:00 pm at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Avenue. The Hootenanny will also present a tribute to folk singing legend and civil rights activist Odetta by Ottawa vocalist UlynGeorgette.

Tickets are $20 (kids free).

April 24, 2023 by 2023 Archived

A Tribute to Odetta featuring Ulyn Georgette

Gil’s Hootenanny is proud to announce that our 2023 program will include a tribute to Odetta by Ottawa-based singer Ulyn Georgette. 

Odetta was a classically trained vocalist and accomplished musician who revolutionized folk music by performing songs with the emotional intensity traditionally found in opera. She researched and performed prison and work songs and songs rooted in slavery from recordings she found through her research in the Library of Congress and other sources. Odetta referred to her music as “liberation songs”.

Odetta’s personal and musical background led to her work with the civil rights movement. As Odetta said “… as far as the human spirit goes, I learned through folk music.” Referred to as the Voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Odetta the Queen of American folk music. 

According to The New Yorker, Odetta “transformed how people conceived of popular music”.  Bob Dylan said that “The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta”. Her arrangements are still performed today by artists such as Rhiannon Giddens.

Ulyn Georgette was born in Trinidad and has been living in Ottawa for most of her adult life. She credits her mother for her passion for music and at age 13, she was introduced to Classical, Jazz and Opera by her adopted-by-love grandmother “Bubbi” Sondra Davis. She has participated in various performances, festivals and recording projects with Opera Lyra, Gospel Ensemble Chosen, the Jazz band, Jazz and Velvet. She currently sings with the vocal ensemble Voices of Praise, No Borders Community Voices and her own jazz ensemble Ulyn & Friends. 

Ulyn has a strong love for her community. When not immersed in composing, singing and recording, you can find her planning and hosting events raising awareness about children’s mental health.

Gil’s Hootenanny will take place at 7:00 pm on May Day, Monday, May 1, at 30 Cleary Avenue, the campus of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. Tickets to the Hootenanny are $20 each.

April 19, 2023 by 2023 Archived

Gil’s ‘Grassroots’ Song Circle

Led by Christine Graves
Saturday, April 22 at 2:00 pm

Bring your voice and, if you like, your favourite musical instrument to St. Andrew’s Hall (basement) in St. Andrew’s Church, 82 Kent Street at  2:00 pm on Saturday, April 22 for the Gil’s ‘Grassroots’ Song Circle. There is no cost to attend this musical event which is part of the program for the Ottawa Grassroots Festival, an annual family oriented celebration of folk music, dance and spoken word!

​The song circle will be led by Ottawa based singer-songwriter Christine Graves and will include other musical friends of Gil’s Hootenanny including, Arthur McGregor, Patricia Reynolds, Carmel Whittle, Ulyn Georgette and Mark Evenchick. Come sing and jam to rousing renditions of familiar and new songs of hope and protest that showcase the stories, struggles and victories of working people and the peace, environmental and human rights movements.  

​Gil’s Hootenanny is honoured to once again be hosting this Ottawa Grassroots Festival workshop, which provides a tantalizing taste of Gil’s Hootenanny 2023, which will take place on May 1 at the campus of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Avenue.

As folk music legend Pete Seeger once said, “A good song reminds us what we’re fighting for”.

April 13, 2023 by 2023 Archived

Let’s Sing! Let’s Play! with Coco Love Alcorn

If you love to sing, time to “get your sing on”. Gil’s Hootenanny will present a 2 hour singing workshop on Sunday, April 30 led by Canadian singer-songwriter Coco Love Acorn.

Let’s Sing! Let’s Play! will explore the joy of singing through melody, harmony, rhythm, creativity, improvisation, and ideas in a spirit of soulfulness, playfulness and fun. All voices are welcome.

Coco’s original songs have been used widely in TV and film and have been sung by choirs around the world. Alcorn also leads the Wonderland Singers, an online community choir and creative singing workshop series with hundreds of regular members from across Canada, the United States and beyond.

Let’s Sing! Let’s Play! takes place on Sunday, April 30 at 2 pm at the Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Ave. N., Ottawa. Tickets are $20.

April 5, 2023 by 2023 Archived Featured Artists

Tickets for Gil’s Hootenanny 2023 and Let’s Sing, Let’s Play workshop

Time to get your tickets and start warming up your voice for the 14th Annual Gil’s Hootenanny, Monday, May 1st at 7 pm at 30 Cleary Avenue, the campus of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. 

​Headlining this 14th annual Gil’s Hootenanny is Canadian singer-songwriter Coco Love Alcorn, winner of the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Singer of the Year. Alcorn is an engaging performer who forges a deep connection with her audience. She was described by last year’s Hootenanny headliner, James Keelaghan, as a “musical spark plug”, noting “I have never seen another performer able to bring people together like Coco does”.

​Gil’s Hootenanny is also sponsoring an Alcorn-led singing workshop entitled Let’s Sing! Let’s Play! which will explore the joy of singing through melody, harmony, rhythm, creativity, improvisation, and ideas in a spirit of soulfulness, playfulness, and fun. The two-hour workshopwill take place on April 30 at 2:00 pm the Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Ave N. All voices are welcome!

​Inspired by the legacy of Gil Levine (1924-2009), the founding Director of Research at the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Gil’s Hootenanny was first presented in 2010. Gil and his wife Helen hosted hootenannies at their home for decades. Helen and Gil’s vision of a better world included bringing people together to share and sing about the stories, struggles and victories of working women and men. Gil’s Hootenanny continues that legacy. 

​Gil’s Hootenanny will open with a rousing procession and a selection of new and traditional sing-along songs led by the multi-talented artist and singer-songwriter Carmel Whittle. Ottawa vocalist Ulyn Georgette will also present a moving tribute to folk singing legend and civil rights activist Odetta.

​Tickets to the Hootenanny and the singing workshop are $20 each. For both the hootenanny and workshop, the price is discounted at $35. Tickets are now on sale.

March 28, 2023 by 2023 Archived

Coco Love Alcorn: “Musical Spark Plug”

Coco Love Alcorn will headline Gil’s Hootenanny 2023, bringing her distinctive performance style to the 14th annual May Day sing-along.

​Alcorn is a perfect fit for Gil’s Hootenanny with its focus on the collective power of singing together. Last year’s Gil’s Hootenanny headliner James Keelaghan has called Alcorn a “musical spark plug”, noting “I have never seen another performer able to bring people together like Coco does”.

​Recently awarded the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Contemporary Singer of the Year, Alcorn’s music combines diverse musical influences including jazz, R&B, pop, folk, and Gospel. Her love of improvising, and willingness to engage fearlessly with the audience has made Alcorn an established presence on the Canadian music scene. Alcorn’s career has spanned more than 25 years, 9 solo albums, cross-Canada tours, collaborations, festival appearances, and award nominations. Her original songs have been used widely in TV and film and have been sung by choirs around the world. Alcorn also leads the Wonderland Singers, an online community choir and creative singing workshop series with hundreds of regular members from across Canada, the United States and beyond.

​Gil’s Hootenanny is also sponsoring an April 30 Alcorn-led vocal workshop entitled Let’s Sing! Let’s Play! which will explore the joy of singing through melody, harmony, rhythm, creativity, improvisation, and ideas in a spirit of soulfulness, playfulness, and fun. The two-hour workshop will take place at 2:00 pm on Sunday, April 30 at the Westboro Masonic Hall. All voices are welcome!

​Gil’s Hootenanny will take place at 7:00 pm on May Day, Monday, May 1, at 30 Cleary Avenue, the campus of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. The venue is accessible, has ample parking and is serviced by OC Transpo. 

​Tickets for the hootenanny will be $20; kids can attend free of charge. 

Workshop tickets will be $20.  

Tickets to both the hootenanny and the workshop will be discounted to $35.

Stay tuned for further information about ticket sales.

March 17, 2023 by 2023 Archived Featured Artists