This weekend marked the 7th annual Porchfest in Ithaca and I have to say, it was a highlight of my time here at IC so far. The people, the music, and the atmosphere of this event was something I have never experienced before. Since I am a big fan of folk music and the beauty of creating a song with minimal instruments and vocals, the entire day was a blast for me.
Walking down the street to this event, my group followed the sound of music playing in the distance to find our way to this event. The first group we saw a group of men playing for a huge group of people (and their dogs). With a saxophone, bass guitar, drums, and acoustic guitar, they immediately took my breath away. I have to say, one of their songs entitled "Collegetown" impressed me a lot. In class, and in previous blog posts, we talked about how important the relationship between the lyrics and the melody are to a song. Since this song is about the town, I found it amazing how they took the sound that a lot of people would connect Ithaca to (folk music), and created a song. Like my friend Olivia said, folk music is community, which is exactly was Porchfest was. A community coming together to share music.
The rest of the bands were just as fantastic. The texture of the music was slow and steady. At time, you could clearly hear the beat of the songs they were playing. For example, there was one group that was using a box instrument to keep a steady beat for the entire song. Because the beat was easy to find, the people of the town had no trouble tapping their foot to the beat (and it one case a little girl was dancing a long to the music).
I would like to point out how talented the people of Ithaca are. I was blown away by how creative everyone was and how accepting/supportive the entire town was. Great job performers!
Porchfest was also one of the highlights of my time in Ithaca. It was such a new and enriching experience and there was so much diversity in the music. I am sorry I didn't see the song "Collegetown" but even without it there was on doubt if the strong ties to community that resonated throughout the festival. All the bands were so good it was hard to pick which artist to watch, they all did a fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteI have to also agree that Porchfest was a culture-rich fun festival! I had an amazing time. I agree with Josh I wish I had come across the "Collegetown" tune but it was such a big and spread out festival everyone had different encounters. I too was blown away with the talent and the way it brought people together. I also have to say I was surprised by the amount of teenagers playing in bands at Porchfest.
ReplyDelete-Kelsey