The Spirit of Tony Turner Award honours people who have made a special contribution to the Ottawa-area folk music scene. The pandemic prevented presentation of the 2020 and 2021 awards, so we brought it all up to date as part of the concert Tony Turner & Friends on November 19, 2022. The recipients:
Sjef Frenken – 2020
Sjef Frenken began attending the Open Stage sessions at the old Rasputin’s on Bronson in 2004, reading poetry and stories, and singing his own songs. He soon teamed up with a few other Rasputin’s regulars, resulting in one concert with Missy Burgess and three others, with David Simmonds and the late Bob Froese.
After the fire that shut down Rasputin’s, Sjef arranged to have Rasputin’s refugees find a home at the Legion on Kent Street. That was in the fall of 2008.
The following year Spirit of Rasputin’s moved to the Elmdale Tavern, where Sjef set up the sound equipment and hosted proceedings. When the management of that establishment and Sjef couldn’t agree on what constituted a “listening environment”, the time had come to find a new home. Thanks to Mark and Heather Evenchick’s intercession, that home became Whispers in Westboro, where Sjef hosted proceedings for the next decade, with Mark co-hosting. A year or so ago Sjef handed hosting duties over to Alan Sandeman.
For the first ten years of the Ottawa Grassroots Festival, Sjef also hosted the Open Stage part of the activities. He is a member of the board of directors of Spirit of Rasputin’s, a position that demands some commitment, but offers no financial compensation.
Sjef is usually in charge of kitchen duties at the various concerts Spirit of Rasputin’s puts on at the Westboro Masonic Hall.
Carmel Whittle – 2021
Carmel Whittle is an accomplished Irish and Mi’kmaq visual artist, musician and song writer, educator and independent filmmaker. She lives in Ottawa, a guest on the unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin Anishnaabe Aki territory. She hails from Newfoundland – a province whose harsh beauty and strong people have moulded her into an artist with a deep understanding of the struggles that Indigenous people experience.
Her work as a cultural community artist and Indigenous liaison supports her striving and thriving in decolonized community arts. She has animated discussion groups specific to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls To Action in the arts, for example the Canada Council digital project Podcast #83. She is founder of the Indigenous Artists Coalition and program coordinator for the Thunderbird Sisters Collective.
Community projects include the No Borders Art Festival, developed, directed and curated in collaboration with community partners the Thunderbird Sisters and the Eagle & Condor Collective, Saw Video, Artengine, and Toronto’s Jumblies Theatre. Carmel is currently a member of the Elder/Knowledge Keeper Circle advisory counsel for the University of Ottawa’s OPIRG program. She is program manager with the Thunderbird Sisters Collective, sings with the No Borders Community voices and is a key member of the choir’s steering committee.
Arthur McGregor – 2022
Arthur McGregor has been a folkie for most of his life. His parents played old Scottish ‘folk music’ (some ‘vaudeville versions!) on the stereo. He started his first coffee house at age 13 (the Eve of Destruction Café) and has been playing guitar since he was eight years old.
He started Rooster’s Coffee House at Carleton University in 1973. He was a director of Bytown Live Entertainment Association in the ‘70’s and was a host of their weekly open-stages.
Arthur started the Ottawa Folklore Centre in 1976 and ran it for over 35 years.
He was a founding director of the Canadian Folk Music Awards. He performs as Moore and McGregor and in a children’s duo, The Celtic Rathskallions, as well as a solo artist.
He is the recipient of the Unsung Hero Award (CFMA), The Estelle Klein Award (Folk Music Ontario) and The Helen Verger Award (Ottawa Folk Festival)
Arthur is the artistic director of the Upper Canada Folk Festival and Gil’s Hootenanny. He is the Canadian Vice President of Local 1000, the North American traveling musician’s union.
He has played his ragtime version of O Canada at folk festivals for decades, starting with the Ottawa Folk Festival and now at the Upper Canada Folk Festival.