Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 acts to get you moving at the Mission Folk Music Festival

Tio Chorinho and Flávia Nascimento’s vibrant Brazilian rhythms, Shpilkis’s brass-driven klezmer, Julian Taylor’s soulful voice, and more

By Janet Smith

Tio Chorinho with Flávia Nascimento

Mission Folk Music Festival takes place July 25 to 27 at Mission’s Fraser River Heritage Park

FROM OLD-TIME TROUBADOR Americana to Brazilian rhythms and rockin’ klezmer, Mission Folk Music Festival offers an impeccably curated mix of roots styles in its 38th edition at Fraser River Heritage Park.

Below are five acts that stand out amid the range of genres hitting multiple stages in the pastoral setting just east of Van City, where there’s also a Food Court, Artisan Market vendors, and a shaded Beer Garden onsite. 

#1

Tio Chorinho with Flávia Nascimento

Saturday at 11:15 am on Fraser Stage, 12 pm on Market Stage, and 2 pm on Fraser Stage; Sunday at 2 pm on Fraser Stage and 8:25 pm on Main Stage

We can only describe this music as a pure, unfiltered blast of Brazilian sunshine. And yet, the group is based right here in the Great White North, as the country’s first ensemble dedicated to performing the vibrant, rhythmically uplifting choro music that was born in Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century. And wait until you hear Brazilian-born, Quebec-based vocalist Flávia Nascimento, who joins the band for this Mission Fest must-see: drawing on Northeastern Brazilian styles like forró and maracatu, she brings extra wattage to the sounds of traditional choro instruments like the cavaquinho (a small string instrument) and accordion. Bring your sunglasses—and dancing shoes—for this one.

Shpilkis.

#2

Shpilkis

Friday at 8:30 pm on Main Stage; Saturday at 12:35 pm on Ursa Minor Stage; Sunday at 1:40 pm on Market Stage and 3:30 pm on Fraser Stage

“Shpilkes” is a Yiddish word that literally means “pins” but also refers to a kind of ants-in-your-pants restlessness—and trust us, it’s going to be impossible to sit down through this Seattle klezmer gang’s show. In fact, if appearances at other fests around the Pacific Northwest are any indication, you might find yourself kicking it in a traditional Yiddish dance line—or as the band likes to say, “shaking your tuchus”. Powered by big, deep brass booms—yes, there’s a sousaphone!—the self-taught group revs up traditional Eastern European Yiddish music but also digs into archival 19th-century songs from Kiev and beyond, adding its own flourishes of jazz, punk, and folk.

#3

Julian Taylor

Saturday at 11:15 am on Ursa Minor Stage; Sunday at 12:30 pm on Fraser Stage and 9:40 pm on Main Stage

Warm, burnished, soulful, and emotionally raw, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Julian Taylor’s voice commands attention. The Black-Mohawk artist straddles forms like blues, roots, and folk and bringing a profound sense of humanity to his lyrics. Though he often performs solo, this is a chance to see him with his full band; expect him to play songs from the nakedly honest, introspective 2024 album Pathways, whose title track features a mesmerizing duet with Allison Russell, or from 2022’s Beyond the Reservoir, whose “Stolen Lands” explores Indigenous land rights.

#4

Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons

Saturday at 11:15 am on Ursa Minor Stage (Ben Hunter), 12 pm on Market Stage (Joe Seamons), 3:40 pm on Fraser Stage, and 6:55 pm on Main Stage; Sunday at 1:40 pm on Market Stage

Looking for authentic, old-timey travelling troubadours? You’ve found heaven in these two dapper Washington musicians who draw on storytelling, pay tribute to the history of their ’1920s and ’30s string-band predecessors, and make a habit of lifting unheard voices in Americana. Both sing, with Hunter killing it on fiddle, guitar, and mandolin, and Seamons playing guitar, harmonica, and banjo. Prison ballads, acoustic blues, novelty songs, Black Americana, field hollers, and early jazz: it’s all here, with plenty of hokum and stories thrown in.

#5

Mimi O’Bonsawin

Saturday at 11:15 am and 3:45 pm on Ursa Minor Stage; Sunday at 12:30 pm on Ursa Minor Stage, 3 pm on Market Stage, and 7:25 pm on Main Stage

Raised in Northern Ontario amid her Abenaki and French-Canadian cultures, singer-songwriter Mimi O’Bonsawin developed both a connection to Mother Earth and a profound sense of the healing power of music. Listening to her songs is like witnessing someone opening their heart and offering an outstretched hand to pull you up from whatever’s been grinding you down. O’Bonsawin’s songs simply make you feel good in the most authentic, nonsaccharine way. With her glacier-stream-clear, ethereal voice, set against pop rhythms, she weaves personal stories and offers messages of hope, care of empowering lyrics like “Here’s to all the women who have carried us to where we are.”  

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