Saturday 6/26/10 (12 a.m.) Out of all of the evening performances that I experienced during the trip this Saturday night performance was by far my favorite. The M.C. was John Roberts- a wildly amusing English Folk singer and one hell of an entertainer. In between numbers he sang some hilarious, and often only mildly offensive folk songs. My personal favorite among these songs was a silly piece involving the narrator's rear end. This evening's concert consisted of performances by Tim Eriksen, Moscow Nights, Debra Cowin, Babik, Gadelle, Brian Peters, Matt and Shannon Heaton, and Kim and Reggie Harris.

- Tim Eriksen had a singing style much like that of Elizabeth LaPrelle and, likewise, he specialized in performing traditional ballads. He was a very talent musician- playing the guitar, fiddle, and banjo. I was intrigued to learn that he had a history as both an ethnomusicologist and a teacher. Throughout the festival he lead a number of shape note workshops.

- Moscow Nights proved to be an extremely interesting group of musicians. Originating in Russia, this group performed mostly Russian folk music. They performed most of their songs accompanied by an accordion and both a soprano and bass balalaika. The balalaikas were pretty amazing instruments and the performance was filled with beautiful pieces of Russian culture.

- Debra Cowan's performance was a very nice interpretation of traditional folk tunes. She had a very clear voice and was not afraid to perform pieced a cappella. She also sometimes played guitar as she sang.

- This was the third time I had seen Babik perform and it certainly would not be my last. During my second semester at Buffalo State Babik had put on a performance in collaboration with the Buffalo Philharmonic. It was absolutely amazing, so of course, I had pretty high standards for them going into tho this. Luckily, they did not disappoint. The performance was fun and energetic. Besides being brilliant gypsy jazz style musicians, the group is also comprised to two very talented singers. Two of the songs stood out as particularly humorous and fun. The first was a number in which the band members tried to portray a war-like setting by combining a few well-known songs together in fun and interesting ways. The second was a song entitled the Sheik of Araby during which Stewart Fuchs played a funny sounding instrument which resembled a small section of piping. It was not at all surprising that this group turned out to be the highlight of the evening for me.

- Gadelle was a wonderful group comprised of four women. They were a traditional French-Acadian group made up of extremely talented instrumentalists. More impressive, however, was the fact that they were also all very talented dancers. Throughout the entire performance fiddle/harmonica player Louise Arsenault kept he feet tapping in order provide a wonderful percussive accompaniment. Then, to top it all off, toward the end of the performance the women stood up with their instruments and began to step dance, all the while continuing to play. I was extremely impressed, if not slightly jealous. I am a failure when it comes to multi-tasking and this group went above an beyond simply multi-tasking. Gadelle's performance was wonderfully entertaining in more than one artistic field.

- Brian Peters was an traditional English Folk performer. His interesting english-accented voice gave him a unique musical sound. He also had an interesting personality when relating to the audience, the kind that makes you stop for a second and think- "Did he really just say that?" Many of the songs that he performed were very repetitive, but we like that here at folk fest. It allowed for a lot of audience participation which is always a plus (especially when everyone can sing well and keep a beat :-D).

- Matt and Shannon Heaton put on a beautiful performance of traditional Irish music. Shannon played beautifully on both the flute and whistle. Meanwhile, Matt often played guitar and they both did their share of singing. I enjoyed the pieces that they performed and, much like Paul McKenna Band, I was arrested by the beautiful sounds of the flute and whistle.

- Out of sheer exhaustion my camping cronies and I retired to the tent during the final act- Kim and Reggie Harris. What I was able to hear of their performance, however, was very interesting. It was a folky kind of a gospel/jazz blend.

- It has been a wonderful night of performances and we're all excited to see what tomorrow will have in store.