The story of Spirit of Rasputin’s

Spirit of Rasputin’s is Ottawa’s folk music society, which carries on the tradition of Rasputin’s Folk Café on Bronson Avenue. The Café, founded by Dean Verger in 1981, had a long and celebrated history in the Ottawa and Canadian folk music community. It became known nationally and even internationally as an intimate venue to hear and meet some of our country’s finest singer-songwriters.  

It was Rasputin’s that first introduced Lynn Miles, Loreena McKennitt, Garnet Rogers, Roy Forbes and Stephen Fearing to Ottawa stages. Other performers were Ian Tamblyn, David Francey, Terry Tufts, Tamarack, Malaika, Finest Kind, Dario Domingues, Fred J. Eaglesmith, Pierre Schryer, Guy del Villano, The Toasted Westerns, Sneezy Waters and many others.

The Café succumbed to a fire in 2008, but a number of its friends decided that its spirit should live on and founded the Spirit of Rasputin’s Arts Society in 2009. 

Spirit of Rasputin’s sponsors concerts featuring talent based in the Ottawa area or having roots here. We also run two regular musical events: The Open Stage on Monday evenings and the Zoom Open Stage on the first Thursday evening of each month on Zoom.