Music legend Bruce Cockburn added to Winnipeg Folk Fest lineup

CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 12:25 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The Winnipeg Folk Festival has travel afloat ellipse for its 50th edition, bringing backmost legendary Canadian instrumentalist Bruce Cockburn, who played astatine the event that started it each backmost successful 1974.

Cockburn volition instrumentality the Big Bluestem stage at 3 p.m. connected July 12 at Birds Hill Provincial Park.

It's the people icon's archetypal clip backmost astatine the fest since 2017, but he's acold from a prodigal son. He's shared his euphony with Birds Hill crowds in 1975, 1978, 1984, 1998 and 2006 arsenic well.

The singer-songwriter, who turns 80 aboriginal this month, is making a peculiar detour from his circuit to beryllium portion of the milestone celebration, said a quality merchandise from festival organizers.

An advocate for quality rights and the environment, Cockburn uses his euphony to entertain portion sending messages.

If a Tree Falls speaks to the demolition of the Amazon rainforest, while If I Had a Rocket Launcher was inspired by a sojourn to a Guatemalan exile campy successful confederate Mexico, where Cockburn was outraged to larn the Guatemalan dictatorship would regularly deed the campy with machine-gun occurrence from helicopters.

Over his 5 decades of performing, Cockburn has written much than 350 songs and released 34 albums.

Some of his best-known songs include Lovers successful a Dangerous Time, Wondering Where the Lions Are and The Coldest Night of the Year.

In 2005, the Winnipeg Folk Festival presented him with its Artistic Achievement Award, fixed to an creator who has demonstrated philharmonic excellence, reflects the values of the organization and has contributed astatine an exceptional level to the tract of people euphony and the assemblage arsenic a whole.

This year's festival runs from July 10 to 13, bringing a wide scope of euphony genres, from gospel, funk and R&B to country, stone and respective variations of folk.

A afloat lineup is available connected the Folk Fest's website.