r s Entertai ment T HEIGAN DAILY Pictured are scenes from the Mariposa Folk Festival 1976, held in Toronto, Ontario June 25- 27. Clockwise, from above, are festivalgoers on their way to Toronto Island via the ferry, guitar- ist and violinist in unusual pose, Taj Mahal, Morris dancers, and Steve Goodman with cameo appearance by his son. Ma iposa 9 6 By JOAN BORUS TXEE YEAR in late J a a , hundreds of Ann Arborites make the annual pilgrimage up to Toronto to attend the Mar-i- posa Folk Ftestival, one of the most influential and highly ac- claimed events of teh folk music world. This year's festival, held last weekend, once again creat- ed the kind of memorable exper- iences that keep people coming back again and again. Mariposa is one of the few ventures which succeeds in try- ing to be all things to all peo- ple. Each year sees a subtle change in either the program- ming or festival-site layout which reflects an ever-increas- ing responsiveness to audiences' changing needs and tastes. In the best sense of the word, Mari- posa tries to provide an over- view of the rich and varied folk music scene. Although it f e a- tures several well-known artists, (Steve Goodman and Taj Mahal appeared this year) the festival tends to dowvgrade individual performances, stressing their relationship to the music scene as a whole. Instead, Mariposa utilizes a workshop approach, which takes a topical approach toward the music and allows the individual to pick and choose what sort of sounds assail his ears. This year's festival-goers had a choice of six different festival sites, including a special child- ren's area and the popular Na- tive People's site, stressing the folklore of Canadian Indians and Eskimos - one of the more nov- el offerings was Eskimo throat music; not everyone's cup of tea, but a definite learning ex- perience, which, ultimately, is the whole point of the festival. WITH THIS sort of set up and with such a wide variety of programming - this year fea- tured French Canadian f i d d I e music, country blues, jug band music, gospel singing, and the ubiquitous blue-grass music which never seems to lose pop- ularity. Part of the festival's magic lies in that each individ- ual has a uniquely personalized experience. Depending upon his or her orientation and where he tr she happened tobe at any giveni moment, every person who went to the festival w ill have a different set of memor- ies. Whether they laughed their way through Gamble Roger's tales of Southern rednecks "fraught with horn," crowded up to see Steve Goodman, clapped and stomped to the electrifying rhythms of Sweet Honey in the Rock, a black gospel group, or wore out their dancing shoes at the square dances, no two per- sons' experience of Mariposa is quite the same. However, if nothing else, the weather lent a common denom- See FOLK, Page 7 Photog ra phy by Ken Fink