It was a truly marvellous night of raising our voices in song at the 16thannual Gil’s Hootenanny on April 30th. With a full house at the Unitarian’s on a lovely Spring evening, the room was in all its glory as the sun set behind the performers over the Ottawa river.
It was a show graced with buckets of local talent. Arthur McGregor led the opening procession with a rousing version of “Solidarity Forever” and, later on, Mark Evenchik shared his inspirational new song called “It’s the Children”.
Opening the evening was another Ottawa legend, Tony Turner. This year marks the 10th anniversary of his song “Harperman”which became a viral hit and ultimately got him suspended from his job in 2015. Along with “Harperman”, he led us in songs including “We Shall Overcome”, “This Land” and his own critiques of the American regime in the twin songs “#45” and “#47”. Tony was joined by Ann Downey on bass and banjo and together they got us all singing. Tony also closed the evening with his well-known tune, “Circle of Song”.
The headliner this year was Ottawa’s own Rebecca Campbell who delivered a spellbinding selection of songs ranging from the Labour and women’s movement anthem “Bread and Roses” to Willie Dunn’s “Son of the Sun” and Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”. Rebecca was joined by stellar local talents Fred Guignon on guitars and Ann Downey on bass. Together they wove tapestries that lifted the whole room. Rebecca’s unique and sinuous voice made each song something special.
All in all, the room was treated to a full evening of songs of hope and protest at a time when we all need these so much. The evening served as a balm for this roomful of souls.
It was fitting, on an evening celebrating social action, to see, as we entered, that the woods around the building were festooned with hanging red dresses reminding us of the plight of Canada’s murdered and missing indigenous women. The dresses waved gently in the light breeze as if beckoning to us. There’s so much work to do.
Thanks to all the volunteers, organizers, musicians and audience members who made the evening possible.
“In the circle of song we are one.”