LaRena Clark | |
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 Clark, c. 1966 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | LaRena LeBarr |
| Born | November 21, 1904 Pefferlaw, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | May 3, 1991 (aged 86) Orillia, Ontario |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1961–1980 |
LaRena LeBarr Clark (1904-1991) was a Canadian traditional singer and folksinger.
Clark was born near Pefferlaw, Ontario, Canada in 1904 near Lake Simcoe. Her father and grandfather were hunters and guides. [1] Her mother Mary Frances Watson was also a singer. [2] [3] She frequently identified herself as a "ninth generation Canadian." [4] [3]
Clark became involved in the folk music circuit in Canada and the United States in the 1960s and recorded an album in 1968. She performed at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1965 and 1966. [5] She also performed at the Madoc Music Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and others in Canada and the United States in the late 1960s. [6] [7] In 1967 she and her husband built a model Canadian pioneer farmstead and toured it around the province as part of Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967. [8] [9] [10] In the late 1970s she set out to record 25 albums of traditional Canadian folk and popular songs, working with a local radio station CHAY-FM, as well as recording half hour television programming in Owen Sound. [4] [11]
Clark was married three times and during her first two marriages she bore six children. [2] During World War II she worked as a cook in a mess hall for the Canadian Armed Forces at Camp Bordon. [12] While working there, she met Gordon Clark, a veteran, and the two married in 1947. The couple were living in Ottawa in 1961 when she met folklorist Edith Fowke, who collected and recorded her songs. [1]
She died in 1991. [1]
Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Central Ontario. The population in 2021 was 33,411.
The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, vernacular music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles, Mainland Europe, or Africa. Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks."
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Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr. Crawford Jones, brother David Major and Pete McGarvey organized the first Mariposa Folk Festival in August 1961. The inaugural event, covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, featured all Canadian performers. The festival grew in popularity, size and rowdiness until the popularity of the 1963 festival, and the lack of sufficient security, led to a backlash from town locals. The city of Orillia secured a court injunction to prevent the festival from continuing in the town limits. The first festival held in the Toronto area, in 1964, was at Maple Leaf Stadium. The subsequent three festivals were held at Innis Lake in Caledon, northwest of the city. In the 1970s it was held on the Toronto Islands before shifting to Harbourfront (Toronto) and Bathurst Street and later Molson Park in Barrie. In 2000, the Mariposa Folk Festival was invited back to Orillia by city councilors Tim Lauer and Don Evans. The festival continues to be held in Orillia. As well as folk music, the festival highlights other aspects of folk culture including dance, crafts, storytelling.
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Edith Fowke, (néeMargaret Fulton; 30 April 1913 Lumsden, Saskatchewan – 28 Mar 1996 Toronto) was a Canadian folklorist. Fowke was educated at the University of Saskatchewan. She hosted the CBC Radio program Folk Song Time from 1950 to 1963. She wrote numerous books in collaboration with folklorist and composer Richard Johnston, including Folk Songs of Canada, Folk Songs of Quebec, Chansons canadiennes françaises, and More Folk Songs of Canada. She is particularly noted for recording the songs of traditional singers O. J. Abbott, LaRena Clark, and Tom Brandon. Edith Fowke died in Toronto in 1996.
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Music of Canadian Cultures is a wide and diverse accumulation of music from many different individual communities all across Canada. With Canada being vast in size, the country throughout its history has had regional music scenes. The music of Canada has reflected the multi-cultural influences that have shaped the country. First Nations people, the French, the British, the United States and many others nationalities have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada
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Margaret Christl is a Scottish-Canadian folksinger. Christl was born in England, grew up in Scotland and West Wales and emigrated to Canada in 1966. She became active in the folk revival scene, playing many folk festivals, including the Mariposa Folk Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival and the Calgary Folk Music Festival, as well as the club and coffeehouse circuit. She has released a number of albums with different folk labels, including The Barley grain for me. This album was recorded with Ian Robb and William Laskin in 1976 with Folk-Legacy Records and was dedicated to Edith Fowke, a very important scholar, folklorist and collector of folk music in Canada. Christl performs traditional Scottish and Canadian songs, as well as more contemporary songs. She is often accompanied by guitarists, but also plays the mountain dulcimer and the Bodhrán. Christl frequently performed with Ian Robb, Grit (William) Laskin and Stewart Cameron.
Carrie Blanche Grover was a Canadian folk singer, fiddler, and folk song collector. She was a recognized authority on folk music, whose songs were recorded for the Library of Congress by both Alan Lomax and Sidney Robertson Cowell.
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