We Can’t Keep from Singing Along A beloved element of Gil’s Hootenanny is the Hootenanny Band. The Band starts off the show with a procession into the hall as they sing, play, and encourage the audience to join in the...
Continue reading...Archived
Gil’s `Grassroots` Hootenanny
A 13th Anniversary Sing ’n Jamat the Ottawa Grassroots FestivalSaturday, April 23 at 3:00 pm Bring your voice and, if you like, your favourite musical instrument to St. Andrew’s Hall (basement) of St. Andrew’s Church, 82 Kent Street at 3pm...
Continue reading...James Keelaghan, A Student of History
Gil’s Hootenanny 2022 will feature Canadian singer-songwriter extraordinaire James Keelaghan as the headliner for its 13th Annual May Day sing-along. Keelaghan is one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters, with numerous Juno and Canadian Folk Music awards and nominations to his credit....
Continue reading...Gil’s Hootenanny 2022 Tickets Now on Sale
Time to get your tickets and start warming up your voice for the 13th Annual Gil’s Hootenanny, Sunday, May 1st at 2pm at the RA Centre (Clark Hall), 2451 Riverside Drive. This year’s featured performer is internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter James...
Continue reading...Gil’s Hootenanny: From the Archives
Gil’s Hootenanny was a feature story on the WPBS current affairs program, ‘WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories’ in April 2021. The 5-minute segment featured Tamara Levine sharing the history of Gil’s Hootenanny and plans for last year’s event. Tamara also...
Continue reading...James Keelaghan to Headline Gil’s Hootenanny 2022
Gil’s Hootenanny 2022 will feature James Keelaghan, one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters, who will bring his distinctive voice and masterful storytelling to this 13th annual May Day community sing-along celebrating the stories, struggles and victories of working people. First presented...
Continue reading...The Protest Legacy of African American Spirituals, Part 1
The songs that emerged from the period of slavery in America had an enormous influence in shaping today’s blues, jazz, rap and much other popular music. In the first of this two-part essay, sociologist of music Stephen Richer looks at...
Continue reading...Happy Holidays from Gil’s Hootenanny
We invite you to join Maria Dunn in singing “God Bless Us Everyone”, a song that she sang with us at the Gil’s Hootenanny 10th Anniversary sing-along in 2019. Written from the perspective of Tiny Tim Cratchit in Charles Dickens’...
Continue reading...A Remembrance Day Message from Gil’s Hootenanny
“Down by the Riverside” is an African-American spiritual and anti-war song that pre-dates the American Civil War. The sentiments in the song’s chorus originate with a Biblical verse from the Book of Isaiah: “nation shall not lift up sword against...
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