Jamie Bowman Special to Black Press
No one does it like Cumberland Wild.
Fresh musical ideas, pushing boundaries, making it intimate, keeping it uncrowded, flamboyant. All that it is.
Try female-forward hip-hop. Or an Indigenous drag queen comedienne, hosting and MCing the Saturday line-up.
“Social justice is important to us,” says Wild co-producer Avigdor Schulman. “So we’re showcasing artists who don’t fall into mainstream stereotypes, and those less considered.”
Schulman is also well aware of the music industry’s notoriety for being far too full of “all-male, heterosexual performers and crew.” So, to tip the scale back toward gender equity, the Wild chose to make its whole Saturday program full of “non-binary and female-forward” acts.
It’s a point of pride for Schulman that Kinnie Starr, Indigenous Juno-awarded artist and producer, recently wrote him a letter about the festival’s choices. “She said she was amazed that we’d hired Indigenous, international, rainbow artists.”
In choosing performers, Schulman says their music “has to be something that turns my ear.”
But it’s more than that. They are clearly a reflection of the organizers’ own values, to reject the standard, the ordinary, the tried-and-true, racism, sexism, gender roles and all such narrow thinking. Instead, it’s love and positivity wrapped in creative genius.
When Ella Lamoureux takes to the Wild stage, it will be the first time any local festival has featured an Indigenous drag queen.
“It could ruffle a few feathers, but let them be ruffled,” said Schulman.
Likewise, Cartel Madras is an act also known to push boundaries. Hip-hop sisters originally from India, pushing back against gender expectations, they are far from the ordinary.
“We want to acknowledge the inequities in the system, to showcase artists who speak to that,” Schulman says. “I don’t have to talk about their social values, they will.”
How does that square with Cumberland Wild’s rep as highly family-friendly, with a huge kids’ area and a bouncy-castle zone?
“Parents will explain to their children how everyone is different, and that’s OK. In fact, it’s healthy for kids to know that,” Schulman says. “We were one of the first to cater to and speak to that.”
This year’s version of Cumberland Wild is a more boutique, intimate festival. So, instead of selling thousands of tickets, this year the stage area will be limited to 600 ticket holders. Instead of drawing festival-goers from all over the region, the Wild organizers have been focused on the Comox Valley, particularly Cumberland, a village of only 4,500, but renowned for its attention to music culture.
“We’re not looking for people coming from Vancouver and Victoria. We really like to have an event tuned to this community.”
“Live PA is one of my favourite genres now,” he says. “Artists who compose all the parts of their music, record them and then invite live musicians to play with them. This year (at CW), that’s Manic Focus.”
The musical menu features a different flavour line for each of the two days, plus the all-night ‘silent’ (read rented headphones) disco. As such, Cumberland Wild this year is three concerts in one weekend. Music fans can buy all three or drop in for one or two.
Schulman and co-producer Ben Howells blend their connections and talents.
“Ben’s strength is with the electronic world — he has a wealth of knowledge about EDM — and I have more of a roster of live bands. Agents and artists approach Ben on the electronic side and the live acts approach me.”
All the tech effects
Cumberland Village Works festivals were the first in the Comox Valley to introduce large production screens, projectors, and lasers, and Cumberland Wild is no exception.
“That was all coming from EDM,” says Schulman. “It appeals to us as producers.”
Over the years, the organizers have paid particular attention to excellence in sound quality, especially the bottom end.
“We’ve hired sound companies who specialize in being very bass-heavy. Now we have a line of subs along the front of the stage.”
RSC Sound, which also did the CVW Pachena Bay festival July 14-15, “are amazing,” he says.
With a festival filled with both live acts and DJs, “it’s easier to have a bass system accommodate acoustic or live acts, than it is the other way around.”
“This is the only festival I know that is made up of three distinct concerts,” said Schulman. “For example a lot of people might get a ticket to just Saturday or just Sunday or just the all-night silent disco. We’ve curated each to be its own show and style.”
Cumberland a perfect fit
The art and cultural scene in Cumberland are why Schuman and Howell have chosen to continue hosting festivals there, he says.
“Cumberland is a youth-based demographic. Young families move here because of the festivals, the music and the mountain biking. Cumberland Wild is in the middle of the village. Arts and culture bring more people here than any other community on Vancouver Island.”
“The younger people who moved here a decade ago now have children, so the festival has responded by morphing to more of a family event.”
Cumberland Wild was the first festival on Vancouver Island, in 2018, to have an all-ages site-wide liquor licence.
“It’s a family vibe and it mitigates drinking because when you have your five-year-old beside you, you’re going to be more responsible about your drinking,” he says.
Since then, more local events have secured site-wide licences, such as Woodstove Festival, Foggy Mountain Fall Fair and Filberg Festival.
Schulman says that not only has the Wild embraced Cumberland, but “the community also embraces the festival. Artists stay in the hostel, people go to the restaurants in town, and we get a lot of sponsorships from local businesses. The Cumberland Brewing Company sponsors the CW bar, the Waverley, Biblio Taco and Riders Pizza provide meals for the performing artists, and the Waverley puts the artists upstairs in their guest rooms.
“It’s really about community engagement here. We’ve been adopted by the community.”
Saturday night, the festival goes silent — at least for anyone not equipped with headphones streaming CW DJs.
“It’s so unique that we have 600 to 800 people, all with headsets on, and all you can hear of them is the dancing of their feet,” Schulman says. “The neighbours of the festival are very appreciative of that.”
While the organizers have tried out different styles over the years, it’s been “an evolution to what we have now. We haven’t changed focus; we’ve refined. The young and the young-at-heart crowd.”
Tickets and more information are available at cumberlandwild.com.
