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18-Nov-09 12:00 PM  CST  

Top 10 iFest Music Moments 

Rick Mitchell’s Top 10 iFest Moments

 

            I have worked with the Houston International Festival in various capacities since 2000. Prior to joining the iFest team, I covered the festival for ten years as the chief pop music critic at the Houston Chronicle. As a reviewer, I often found myself rushing from stage to stage, trying to take in as much of the action as possible. Now, as the performing arts director, I find myself rushing from backstage to backstage, trying to make sure the trains run on time and everyone gets paid. With eight to ten stages operating concurrently, I probably run the equivalent of a 10K on any given festival day. Consequently, I almost never get to hear a full set anymore, and there are many sets I don’t hear at all. But here are some of the most unforgettable bright moments I’ve experienced at iFest during the past 20 years.

 

1. Youssou N’Dour, 1992 – This was my first full realization of what the Houston International Festival means to the city of Houston. The setting sun reflected off the glass skyscrapers and African elders in full robes stood in rapt silence next to suburban soccer moms in running shorts as the Senegalese superstar sang Sufi hymns of love and peace from the steps of Houston City Hall. I remember thinking, “Why can’t downtown always be like this?” We have been trying to get Youssou N’Dour back ever since…
2. All-Irish Finale, 2001 – It opened with Paul Brady singing a trance-like “Homes of Donegal,” then segued into a Celtic hippie drum circle with the members of Belfast’s Different Drums of Ireland and climaxed with the Irish band Kila standing on one side of the stage and the Irish-American band Solas on the other side trading solos on a medley of traditional reels. On and on and faster and faster they went, long past the scheduled stopping time. Jim Austin and I looked at each other and shrugged. You don’t want to stop the movie in the middle of a reel.
3. Celtic-Conjunto Finale, 2009 – Eight years later and we are honoring Ireland again. Los Lobos, the last band on the World Stage, graciously invites conjunto accordion master Joel Guzman and Sean Graham of the Irish band Beoga to sit in on their closing number, “La Bamba.” The Wolves take a brief break while Joel joins Beoga and Irish fiddler Kevin Burke on a couple of traditional numbers, then Los Lobos returns to encore with a rocking blues featuring Houston zydeco man Lil’ Brian Terry on accordion. It looked smooth, as if it had all been planned in advance. Trust me, it hadn’t.
4. Burning Spear, 1998 – A contemporary of Bob Marley, Spear brings a fiery spiritual intensity to his performances rarely seen in contemporary reggae music. Judging from the scene in front of the stage, every dreadlocks Rasta between Austin and New Orleans turned out for the show, and they all fired it up at the same time. If Mayor Lee Brown, the former drug czar in the Clinton administration, had ventured back downtown on a Sunday, he might have declared a state of emergency on account of all the smoke. As for me, I was behind the stage dancing with Mr. Yellowman and his female entourage.
5.  George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, 2007 – When we booked this, my main worry was that the show would not start on time. Instead, the Mothership landed in Sam Houston Park ten minutes early and kept the largest crowd we had ever drawn to one stage on their collective feet for more than two hours. At 10 p.m. curfew time, the police started screaming at us to shut it down. (Actually, it was only the white cops who were yelling; most of the black cops were too busy dancing.) Uncle Jam didn’t want to stop. He was singing every song he could remember – “Shake Rattle and Roll,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” World Stage manager Lupe Olivarez was frantically trying to get George’s attention from the side of the stage. I motioned to singer Gary Shider (who had changed out of his oversized diaper) to pull George away from the mic, which he did, leading to a chorus of boos from the crowd. By this time, the police were threatening to pull the plug, which might have resulted a tense situation. Fortunately, George relented, and social order was maintained. 
6. Steve Earle, 2003 – Steve Earle has a favorite adjective, one that is not commonly printed in mainstream media contexts. Before he went on, I explained to him that the Houston International Festival is a family-friendly event, and that if he could refrain from using his favorite adjective, we would really appreciate it. So the first thing Steve says when he comes onstage is, “Hello, Houston, how the (bleep) are you?” Sure enough, we got a complaint or two from patrons offended that their young-uns had been exposed to such language. But you know what? I’m glad he said it, and the set (bleeping) rocked.
7. Johnny Bush and Don Walser, 2001 – At the request of the late Rory Miggins, these two legends of Texas honky-tonk music came together on the Texas Stage to duet on “Danny Boy,” the Irish-American standard that has found new life as a country ballad. When they finished, as some in the crowd wiped their eyes, I remember borrowing a cowboy hat and announcing from the stage, “I can die now.”
8. Super Rail Band and Maraca, 2001 – I have at times tried to orchestrate jam sessions among musicians at the festival. Some have worked better than others. But this one came about of its own accord, as the members of the Cuban band Maraca strode onstage carrying various horns and drums and shakers toward the end of the set by Mali’s Super Rail Band. Super Rail guitarist Djelimady Tounkara launched into pan-African soukous groove with chord changes similar to the Cuban standard “Guantanamera.” Before it was over, the Africans and Cubans were joyfully trading instruments and dancing the trans-Atlantic rumba together. Not long after this, the Bush administration instituted a policy of denying all Cuban performers entry into the US.
9. Grady Gaines and the Texas Upsetters, sometime in the early Nineties – I can’t remember what year this was, but in an inspired bit of programming by former festival artistic director Baraka Sele, Grady Gaines – the Houston tenor saxophonist who played with Little Richard in the 1950s and was working as an airport skycap when I arrived in Houston in 1989 – was playing ahead of the World Saxophone Quartet, the avant-garde jazz group from New York. I was standing next to the WSQ’s David Murray, who was listening intently to Grady’s blues-based honking and shouting. After the set, I introduced Gaines to Murray, who complimented him on his sound. Grady replied, “I’d like to stay and hear you but I gotta go play a wedding.” Such is the life of a local hero.
10. Drum Circle, 2008 – It was the final day of the 2008 festival, and we had dodged a bullet when a big storm that was headed right at Houston miraculously changed course at the last minute and veered to the north. I was passing through the Living Museum area in Upper Sam Houston Park, where Baba Ifalade (also known as Alafia Gaidi of the band D.R.U.M .) was leading one final Out of Africa drum circle on the Gullah Stage. Alafia had set his djembe drum at the side of the stage to join a posse of white-clad women in some inspired dance moves. Nature abhors a vacuum, so I picked up Alafia’s drum and joined the circle. Carried away by the layers of polyrhythm, of which mine was but one of a dozen, I sort of lost track of time. When I finally looked at my watch, I realized I was almost late for the World Stage, where Taj Mahal would soon be jamming with the Africans in the festival finale. But after all the hard work and stress of planning and producing a major music festival, what a liberating joy it was to get back to the basic act of making music.

These are just a few of the amazing musical moments over the years. We are sure that our iFest fans have their own that are not on this list. Come on iFest Fans, let us hear your favorite iFest moments musical or not!

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For additional information on this articles article, please contact:

Tracy Golden
(713) 722-9433

Source: Tracy Golden

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