Latitudes Festival 2007

The 2007 Latitudes Festival was held at the Victoria Park, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. They were hosted by the K-W Multicultural festival, a very busy event with thousands of people passing through. We got there tewnty minutes to 6pm and I began my storytelling ten minutes early, filling the gap left by the last storyteller who may also have started early. The tent filled rapidly to Fule's drumming and my audience was enthusiastic as I told one story and then another, interspersing the folktales with songs and chants and the irresistible drum undergirding our voices. What a delightful day, filled with the colours of the whole wide world, the sun warm and yet not punishing and people walking about at ease, linking arms, hugging and greeting one another. There were lay photographers strolling about, watching out for the perfect picture to capture, of lovers staring at the dark green lake, children running around underfoot and babies squealing in their strollers, munching apples right down to the core. Among all these music filtered and swirled as though through a sieve of human bodies and intentions. We walked along without a care. If only summer would last forever....